Fish tank newbie--I messed up. Help please w/cycle.

[syrcaid]

Ok, so I messed up. I decided to get a fish tank. But I haven't had one since I was a little girl and my dad set it up. Looking back, I know we must have done nearly everything wrong--I'm surprised any fish lived at all.

Any way, so I find myself in a predicament. I have a brand new-uncycled tank with *way* too many fish in it. I don't want them to all die(a few already did, but I got more to replace them thinking it was stress or something). I have a 10 gallon with 8 male guppies in it. I have an external filter, heater stays at 76, I am adding a small amount of aquarium salt and I do have an air pump with one of those bubble strips.

I also have an empty 5 gallon. If I put several in the 5 gallon with no gravel and do daily water changes can I keep them alive until the 10gallon cycles with one or two fish in it?

I feel bad and I don't know what to do. :/

 

[marchmaxima]

Hi syrcaid. Welcome to AA.

It's not the gravel you really need. With no filtratation at all on the 5G, I wouldn't recommend putting any fish in there. It may be hard to hear, but a better option is to return some or all of the fish to the fish shop.

If you're not happy with that, you'll have to manage the cycle with the fish in it. This means the unpleasant task of lots water changes until the cycle is done.

The other thing you can do to help your fish out is buy a good dechloronator that turns ammonia into a less toxic form, but can still be used by the beneficial bacteria as food. Seachem Prime does this as does Amquel+. It doesn't mean that you can get away with less water changes, but it will make a little difference.

Also, do you know anyone with an established desease-free tank? If so, pull a favour and get them to squeeze out their filter pads. The yukkier the better! Put this in your tank and your cycle should get a good kick start.

Best of luck

 

[jsoong]

Welcome to AA!!

First of, you did the best thing possible for your fish ... by posting here. You will get lots of help & support to get you through the rough spots.

I agree that it is best to return the fish if possible & cycle the tank without fish. You can read more about cycling here:
Beginner FAQ: The Nitrogen Cycle
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/24/1/Nitrogen-Cycle-/Page1.html

If you are stuck doing a fishy cycle, you will need to get a test kit & do lots of water changes. I would suggest a liquid test kit (API is people's favorite) as the stripe tests are not accurate.

Essentially, what you want to do is to measure your ammonia & nitrite (& later nitrate) levels daily, and do as much water changes as necessary to keep them below toxic levels. The first phase involve growing out the ammonia eating bacteria. you should see the ammonia level climbing (it is prob high in your tank already .... that's prob the cause of the fish death), and you need to change out enough water to keep the level below 0.5. <This may mean daily or even twice daily water changes of 50% or more.> Once the bacteria start to be established, the ammonia level will fall & nitrite level increase, you do water changes to keep that level below 0.25 until that falls & nitrates start to rise. You are done when you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite & some nitrate. The whole process will take 6-8 week.

You can speed things up by seeding your tank as Sharon had mentioned. Prime or Amquel can tie you over some rough spots when you have an uncontrolled spike. However, with diligent monitoring & lots of pwc, you cna go through the cycle even with sensitive fish.

 

[Pacei]

Seriously, you need to look for some source of bacteria. Can you ask your LFS if they can give you some used media or even some gravels from their display tanks? Bacteria population roughly doubles every 24 hours. If you start from zero, its a verrry slow process to get to the # you need. It really helps to get some established media/gravel/plants/etc.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Also, do you know anyone with an established desease-free tank? If so, pull a favour and get them to squeeze out their filter pads. The yukkier the better! Put this in your tank and your cycle should get a good kick start.

This is exactly what I did to jump start the cycle on my 55g and it worked fantastically. Trustworthy LFS had several bare 10g tanks with old sponge filters, they squeezed one out into a bag of water (about 2 dozen times, it looked like sewage) and I had a less than 10 day cycling period during which my ammonia never went above 0.5ppm, nitrites never above 0.25ppm.

On a smaller tank, you will get more fluctuations, but IMO it's the best way to go, especially if you already have fish (it won't hurt them)

 

[WhiskeyD]

I also started my 55G without cycling. I did have a dirty filter and some gravel from another tank that really seemed to speed up the process. Its been 2 weeks now and my ammonia is almost completely gone, my nitrites are at .75 (which is not too good) and I got my first nitrates 2 days ago (10ppm as of this morning). I have been doing a 10G PWC every other day. I'm worried about my nitrate levels but all my fish seem ok. So just keep an eye on your levels and do water changes as needed to dilute the ammonia/nitrite and you should be good to go.

btw, my first tank was a 10G which i did not cycle either (i didnt know ANYTHING at the time). I believe i had about 8 fish also and I dont think i changed the water for nearly a month. All the fish lived through the cycle. I did end up losing 2 fish eventually since I didnt know you had to clean the filter. It was so clogged that no water could flow through it and the tank was overloaded with toxins. You learn from your mistakes though

 

[veggievettech]

You sound exactly like me 3 months ago... I did daily water changes for 9 weeks! It sucked at the time, but I made it. My tank is now healthy and my fish survived. It's hard work, but it gets better.... trust me, I was there!
You live and you learn

 

[marchmaxima]

I did daily water changes for 9 weeks! It sucked at the time, but I made it. You live and you learn

Yeah, and fortunately, having lived through it, you'll only ever make that mistake once

 

[meegosh]

Just thought I would add, you don't need to add any salt for a tank with guppies. I have kept and bred guppies for years and I never used any salt. I think it is just an unnecessary expense.