Cycling wit Fish and Bacteria in a Bottle

[Mumma.of.two]

This is what i did first week that i've set up - i bought some bio-things in a bag for another brand of filter and a sponge - and fitted that around charcoal filter that came with aquarium. So is this enough - without charcoal?

Now my other guppy appears to be sick - they both now sit at the bottom of the tank by the air-stone, and the other guppy does not eat. The one that's about to explode - eats well tho ( but spits some of the food)

my water parameters staying the same.

Yes. All you need is mechanical (sponge) to remove particles and biological (bio rings/ceramic rings) for the BB to colonize (they will colonize the sponge too). Charcoal IMO is not needed. It's chemical filtration used to remove meds and smells from the water which a healthy tank doesn't have.

I don't know what else to suggest for the guppies. They all must have had something when you got them. You can try salt baths to see if you can bring down the swelling.

 

[VictoriaC]

SO i lost all the guppies ( i had one new with the 2 - both passed), and got a girl guppy. I think shes pregnant - now first day male was all over her second day - he did not eat anymore.. on day 3 - he was gone now i notice the girl has white patch on her side ( like a line), becomes more visible. I lowered the tank temperature and added salt. Got some Methyl Blue for baths. I also have 3 shrimp - and they are doing fine.
Oh based on my research it is columinaris...

My water parameters yesterday -
ammonia .5
nitrite .5 ( first time it changed color)
nitrate 40

SO i did like 6 gallon water change yesterday.
Parameters today
Ammonia .25
Nitrite .25
Nitrate 20

Should i do another one today?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

SO i lost all the guppies ( i had one new with the 2 - both passed), and got a girl guppy. I think shes pregnant - now first day male was all over her second day - he did not eat anymore.. on day 3 - he was gone now i notice the girl has white patch on her side ( like a line), becomes more visible. I lowered the tank temperature and added salt. Got some Methyl Blue for baths. I also have 3 shrimp - and they are doing fine.
Oh based on my research it is columinaris...

My water parameters yesterday -
ammonia .5
nitrite .5 ( first time it changed color)
nitrate 40

SO i did like 6 gallon water change yesterday.
Parameters today
Ammonia .25
Nitrite .25
Nitrate 20

Should i do another one today?

Good diagnosis! I'm sorry about your guys. Try and refrain from purchasing any more fish until you have a healthy tank for at least 2 weeks. Try to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 as you can. It will be less stress on the fish.
Your really not having much luck are you :/

 

[VictoriaC]

I know - my hubby insisting that i clean out the whole aquarium, disinfect and start over but i don't want to do that - its been almost 5 weeks now... any thoughts?

Ok this is weird my water today
ammonia 0 ( maybe a lightest tint of green - but not even close to .25)
nitrite 0
nitrate 10 ( or 20? both colors look veeery similar)

what does it mean?
ok again my hubby insisted we use filtered water for water change this time - so it had 0 ammonia in it... but there still was amonia in the tank yesterday - does it mean the bio filter is working?

we also added pimafix and melafix yesterday - should i keep doing that?
fish is getting salt+metha blue baths for 30 minutes daily,.. but guppy just getting worse and white stuff now started coming up on the other side... she also has red patch in the midle of her white stuff-fuzz

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I know - my hubby insisting that i clean out the whole aquarium, disinfect and start over but i don't want to do that - its been almost 5 weeks now... any thoughts?

Ok this is weird my water today
ammonia 0 ( maybe a lightest tint of green - but not even close to .25)
nitrite 0
nitrate 10 ( or 20? both colors look veeery similar)

what does it mean?
ok again my hubby insisted we use filtered water for water change this time - so it had 0 ammonia in it... but there still was amonia in the tank yesterday - does it mean the bio filter is working?

we also added pimafix and melafix yesterday - should i keep doing that?
fish is getting salt+metha blue baths for 30 minutes daily,.. but guppy just getting worse and white stuff now started coming up on the other side... she also has red patch in the midle of her white stuff-fuzz

Tough choice. If you readings are 0 ammonia and nitrite with rising nitrate for a few more days you would be cycled. The guppy sounds awful and would be highly contagious. Pimafix and melafix isn't going to do anything except make the water smell IMO. Keep up the low temp, salt and baths. If your willing you can try antibiotics but she might be too far gone. Columnaris is a gram negative bacteria so you need something that treats that.

If she doesn't make it I would disinfect the whole tank and start with fresh media. All your hard work for the past month or so will be out the window but at least you know all disease will be gone from the tank.

 

[HeatherW]

I wish you luck! I just got done treating my tank for columnaris. It is no fun! I started out with the maracyn 2 to treat. That did not kick it all the way out so then I switched to kanamycin. The maracyn 2 was ok with my bb but the kanamycin kinda killed a little of my bb. I am now kicking out ammonia but the nitrites are ok. So anyway... I had one fish that seemed to get a lot better with just the salt and lower temps. You will just have to watch him. I hope he gets better!

 

[VictoriaC]

Elise, Heather

Thank You!

I would hate to start over
I thought guppy would not make it till this morning - but shes still alive, hiding in a little house.. she never entered it before. I don't think she would be able to give birth she looks like she got skinier. She lost scales on one side - and looks like loosing on the other.

My stats today:
Ph 8.0
Ammonia almost .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

Now since i've been ading pimafix metafix, i'll just keep doing it for the rest of the week, and then what do i do? do i use carbon filter to remove it from the system? do i wash my existing filter? would that damage the colony i'm building?
I'm definetly vacuuming the gravel, and what about washing half and then the other half? or vacuuming is enough?
I also plan to wash all natural plants that i have ( some stuff is stuck to them, including stringy poo) - is there a safe way to disinfect?

Is it worth to spend money on stronger meds now? i tried to grab something at the store - and the guy told me its too strong and will kill everything in my tank.. that is why he suggested melafix

Apparently this stuff does not bother shrimp - they all thriving.. one of the shrimp i got few weeks back had eggs and dropped them few days ago - wonder if they have a chance?

 

[HeatherW]

I would try treating the wound with hydrogen peroxide . You put some on a qtip or cotton ball and dab it on the sore. Do this daily. Then return him to the tank. Try to be quick - should take 5-10 seconds to treat him. As far as your filter do not clean it at this point. Finish your round of meds and then clean with the charcoal on your filter. Let's see how he is doing by the end of the week

 

[VictoriaC]

Thank you! Its too late now... she ended up bleeding and dying last night

but i still have 3 shrimp and one dalmation mollie (don't ask... could not convince hubby to leave with only one fish from the store) mollie and guppy (that passed) were from the same store and bought the same day.

So mollie is doing great - swimming all over and eating everything ( loves fresh zucchini)

this is what we did - took all the water out, washed gravel in tap water, washed plants and decoration and put everything in with fresh water.
I did not touch the filter.

No more additions until the water parameters good.
I don't know where hubby gets all his info - but i keep "fighting" with him on how to care for the tank. Last time we decided he will get his own - and will raise the fish the way he thinks is right. The latest argument was i said to lower the temperature for sick guppie - he said it should be raised...
oh well!

 

[HeatherW]

Lol good luck with your molly! Keep a close eye on her (him) for 2-3 weeks and make sure your tank is "clean" - meaning no more illness in there

 

[VictoriaC]

SOo molly is doing good - yesterday we were without power for 5 hrs, i had filter media in a cup with aquarium water. After it restarted - water was super cloudy, but is fine today.
Water parameters the next day after water change were
ammonia .25
nitrite 0
nitrate - barely 5.0

Today ( day 4 after rinsing gravel)
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5.0

hoping it did not mess up my cycle

 

[VictoriaC]

After i wrote previous post - noticed molly is not swimming well... next day - it was trying to swim but out of balance mostly with its tail up...i think its swim bladder disease?
today he's sitting at the top for the most part.. he has great apetite - but can't swim to food i have not fed him for 24 hours.. read about peas - hopefully not too late to try?

My ammonia went up to .25, then yesterday it was back to 0, i still did a water change ( about 30%) and today its 0.
Nitrites 0
Nitrates - 10

One of my shrimp got eggs again!!! we purchased it 2 weeks ago.. after a day or so it dropped its eggs and i don't know what happened. then we washed gravel, changed 100% of water - now yesterday i see her - she's full of eggs!!!

Its been a week since 100% water change - can i say that tank was cycled? is it enough ammonia with 3 shrimp and sick molly? what should i do with him? i hate to see another fish go... i'm scared to buy anymore...

I ordered a 5 gallon tank for my betta ( currently in a 1.5 gallon) - would it be safe to use media from my 10g in the new one?
My bettas fins are curling - but he's building some bubblenests all the time.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I would wait to add any more fish after what happened to the guppies. At least 2 weeks to make sure there is no disease.
As for the new Betta tank it's up to you if you want to use some media. Personally, in this case, I wouldn't. The tank is only JUST cycled and has had disease recently. I wouldn't want to expose the Betta to the possibility of getting sick.

 

[VictoriaC]

That is exactly what i wanted to hear! will cycle new 5 gallon with betta only from "Scratch" - would hate to see him in 1.5 gallon any longer...he looked so majestic swimming in a 10 gallon!
if molly passes ( i hope not!) it would be safe after 2 weeks?
its been a week since the last guppy passed...would the whatever caused the illness just "live" in the tank untill another fish comes by?

Thanks again!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If the Molly is healthy for two weeks it's fine to add more fish (sorry what size tank is it again?) If the Molly passes away you've got a dilemma. You would want to keep the tank cycled but you don't want to subject any new fish to whatever is killing them off. You have three choices IMO. You can dose pure ammonia to the tank to keep it cycled and ( hopefully) any disease will die in 2-4 weeks or disinfect the tank and start again or add a fish and hope the other deaths where a fluke.

 

[VictoriaC]

Can shrimp produce enough ammonia to keep it cycled?
Its 10 gallon with 3 shrimp - one full of eggs now.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Probably not. Shrimp produce next to no ammonia. 3 isn't going to help.

 

[VictoriaC]

SOOO good news
after few days of no food mollie started swimming normal again. But then he seemed very sick sitting at the bottom and not eating.. all of the sudden he started swimming and eating again. I don't know if its coinsidence - but i replaced sponge that i had in my filter. it was full of gunk and i could not wash it out. I just rinsed bio-beads in aquarium water and replaced sponge.
My water parameters are gr eat and i have added 5 neons to the tank...

Now i think i'm overstocked? or is it enough space for a mollie and 5 tetras? they are tiny - less than inch long.

Can i add another male mollie - or its too much? now i'm worried about him being bored all by himself?

I setup my 5 gal with betta - he's happy. He got 3for a $1 shrimp as company, and tried to get them few times - but they are too quick. Plus i got lots of plants for hiding places. My 5 gal is half hex - so it looks bigger than 5 galons.
Got filter heater and light.

 

[VictoriaC]

Ok this is weird...

I setup my 5Gal on tuesday.. Today - day 6 - tested my water ( very busy week)
Ammonia .25
Nitrite .5
Nitrate not quite 0 but not 5.0 yet... got an orange tint...
PH 8.2

Is that possible?
I started fresh and added API quick start and some of my gravel came from tank that betta lived in - but that tank was not cycled, and i used to rinse it at every water change... Also got 2 live plants that came from LFS - but were in a tank that had no fish..

also - should i lower my PH?both of my tanks are at 8.2

 

[Mumma.of.two]

The gravel from the Betta tank could have contained a fair amount of bacteria if there was no filter and you rinsed in dechlorinated water. Totally possible it's jump started the cycle that much IMO. And your pH is fine. Don't mess with it.