Tetra safestart and fish-in-cycling

[Razzy]

Hi!

I started up my 5 gallon fluval spec and I had no idea about needing to cycle fish tanks at all. However I am in the process of cycling it or attempting to with the TETRA safestart bacteria as I've heard a lot of good reviews on it.

I purchased a safestart bottle for 15gallon tanks and plopped it all in 2 days after i treated the water with prime and the instructions say to not change water for 2 weeks and also says to add fish in within 2 hours after adding tetra safestart. Which I did.

I added two oto catfish and I do have a API freshwater master test kit and I just tested my water just now and the ammonia reads 0.25ppm. But what concerns me is the really high nitrites and nitrates.

Nitrites read : 2.0 or 5.0ppm the colors look the same on the chart
Nitrates: 40 or 80ppm colors look the same.

I'm kind of worried for the fish since the readings are so high! What should I do? I tried looking for answers here and there and was conflicted since I did add tetra safestart into the occasion.

Thank you all!

 

[dalto]

Change the water since there are fish in the tank. The nitrites are concerning. You want the nitrites to be much lower. You may need to do a series of changes over the next few days to keep them down.

 

[Razzy]

Change the water since there are fish in the tank. The nitrites are concerning. You want the nitrites to be much lower. You may need to do a series of changes over the next few days to keep them down.

I was thinking of doing that too. But wasn't sure since tetra safestart said to not do a water change for two weeks.

So I should do small water changes for the next couple days starting today ?

Should I condition the water with prime each time? I was afraid it might kill the bacteria or something. The spikes are really high.

 

[dalto]

Unfortunately, you will need to do large water changes if you want to keep your fish alive. I would do daily 50% water changes until you nitrites fall below 0.5ppm.

You should use prime each time, in fact, I would use twice as much prime as normal for the next couple of changes because it will temporarily detoxify the nitrites. Prime will not harm your bacteria.

 

[Fishanatic]

Im definitely gonna side with Dalto on this one, no fear for the prime overdose either. Water changes are a must in these circumstances. Anyways, keep us posted!

 

[fish wrangler]

I would highly recommend taking the otos back and getting a hardier fish for a fish-in cycle otos normally don't eat commercial algae wafers. Keeping them alive woth the changing params and i am assuming no real algae could spell disaster

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[Razzy]

Return the oto? really? i guess ill consider it.. I really dont want them to suffer but I do really love the two i have. I noticed they werent liking the algae wafers i got so i fed them since fresh veggies.

I'll start doing water changes now and will keep updated.

 

[trennamw]

Otos are sensitive fish that really need a mature tank.

I disagree about them not eating algae wafers. I've gotten a lot - different species from different stores at different times - and they all love Omega One wafers. They will even come out of hiding and stubbornly sit on the wafers while the tetras try to get down and take them, in my tank.

But mostly they eat biofilm and algae. One reason they need a mature tank.

Another is that they seem to be extra sensitive to water conditions.

The tetra safe start might work ok but might have been stored in a way that the bacteria died.

I'd strongly suggest returning the Otos and doing a fishless cycle. It's sad to lose them and you can get more later. They really need more than 2 also.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[Razzy]

My ammona is stil 0.25 and nitrates and nitrites are slowly falling down but are still quite high. I've been doing water changes everyday and adding a bit extra prime.

 

[Razzy]

Everything went down by a little bit and the ammonia looked really light almost 0 and nitrates and nitrites were lowered by a bit.

But I just tested the water again today, and everythings rising back up. I'm still keeping up with the partial water changes and prime in the water.

I'm afraid my safestart might have died or was DOA so the bacteria can't survive such high spikes can it.

 

[dalto]

I don't think the bacteria are dying from the nitrite levels unless they are really high. More likely your safe start isn't doing all you hoped.

 

[Razzy]

My nitrites and nitrate are realy realy high. I do water changes everyday to keep them low but they just rise again.

I'm thinking of purchasing another bottle to add in. Any ideas or advice? So far been running this aquarium 3 weeks. Hoping the cycle will end soon..