Bronze catfish and gourami acting strange

[Onewayoflife]

Hello!! I have recently got a new aquarium, an stupidly, put fish in straight away.(i know.) i got 2 small bottles with the tank, one called Nutrafin Cycle (i added all of this) and Nutrafin something plus.The water is slightly cloudy, and my bronze catfish is frantically swimming round, and my dwarf gourami is sitting at one corner. other than putting the fish in early, did i do something wrong? is this normal behavior, or should i worry? (sorry, i am new to fishkeeping!)

 

[Rosenweiss]

Putting the fish in an uncycled tank sounds like your problem. If you can't return the fish, you'll need to do 50% or more water changes every day until you can verify that the ammonia and nitrItes and 0 and the nitrates are showing, around 5-40.

If you don't already have a liquid test kit that tests for these, you'll need to purchase one.

 

[Homedog98]

Well, adding the entire bottle of nutrafin cycle probably didn't help much either lol... You need to do a 50% water change... fast.

 

[Rosenweiss]

Indeed. Rather than provide nitrifying bacteria, usually what those bacteria-in-a-bottle things do is jumpstart the production of ammonia by breaking down waste faster. So in essence, you may have given your fish an even more lethal dose of ammonia than they would have in a regular, uncycled tank.

 

[Onewayoflife]

Possibly, my dad has a liquid test kit somewhere, I will have to dig it out. The nutrafin cycle bottle was only a starter, about 25ml(?). I will do 50% water changes daily an water tests. Should I still use the tap water conditioner when I part change the water? ( sorry for all the stupid questions!)

 

[Homedog98]

Possibly, my dad has a liquid test kit somewhere, I will have to dig it out. The nutrafin cycle bottle was only a starter, about 25ml(?). I will do 50% water changes daily an water tests. Should I still use the tap water conditioner when I part change the water? ( sorry for all the stupid questions!)

25 ml is still waaaaaaaay too much. Maybe more like 5 ml. Go ahead and do that water change, to try and get that nutrafin down to a reasonable level. When you change the water, treat the whole tank BEFORE you put the water back in. For the test kit, if your dads kit is old, don't bother with it. You'd be best to go out and buy yourself the API master kit. It may seem pricey, but it's worth every penny!

 

[Onewayoflife]

It was him that said put 5-6 capfulls in! He had a 6th tropical, but if you think I put too much cycle in, I will take the necessary precautions to get the level down.

 

[Homedog98]

It was him that said put 5-6 capfulls in! He had a 6th tropical, but if you think I put too much cycle in, I will take the necessary precautions to get the level down.

either way you'll have to do water changes daily... You'd might as well start now! Lol. It's kind of gonna be a rough start, but once you get there, it's worth it! (I did it too... Don't worry!) there's this guy with the username eco23 on here. He's a cycling pro! I highly suggest you shoot him a PM, and check out the link in my signature on fishless cycling.

 

[Rosenweiss]

I doubt the starter itself is what's toxic to the fish. You just need to read up on cycling, as they're probably been stressed from the move to an established to a new aquarium.

 

[Homedog98]

Also, I forgot to ask! What sized tank is this? That should determine whether you overdosed or not.

 

[Onewayoflife]

About 65 litres, but about 50 litres with equipment and decor. I will check eco23, and send a PM. Thanks for help everyone!

 

[Rosenweiss]

Yep, good luck.