Okay so I have a 10g and I want to do a non fish cycle, but here is the thing. There is already a dwarf Cory catfish in it. I did not place it in there, my mother did it as a surprise. The ammonia is around .25-.4 can I bring the fish back and use that amount if ammonia to start my cycle?
Help Cycling 10g!!!!!!
- Thread starter Keepswim
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Brian_Nano12g
Aquarium Advice Addict
Try Tetra SafeStart it will jump start your cycle if you have to keep the Cory in there. Wait a while till your tank starts to establish before adding tankmates.
i don't have to keep the Cory. i will return the fish hopefully. my Nitrates are around 5.0. i cannot test for nitrites since i do not have a tester for that. but i will get it tomorrow. can someone please help? if i return the fish, can i then cycle the tank fishless? and will it be a quicker cycle due to those two parameters? please.
Brian_Nano12g
Aquarium Advice Addict
You should read the sticky on fishless cycling. I'm sure if you return the fish and dose with pure ammonia or throw in a raw (not prev. Frozen) shrimp to decompose you'll achieve the goal. You need to get a test kit to monitor the progress. I like the API master test kit.
librarygirl
Look It Up
Hi Keepswim, welcome to AA! Yes if you return the fish you could do a fishless cycle. And props to you for wanting to do so! I think the cory might not do well in a new tank anyway but I could be wrong, I''m not an expert on species yet lol. So to answer your question yes if you return it you can certainly cycle fishless. I'm curious as to where the nitrates are coming from..do you have those in your tap water? Fishless and fish-in cycles probably take about the same amount of time but with a fish-in cycle you'll be doing a lot of water changes to keep the fish alive (and the cycle could eventually be slower due to this). There's two links in my signature below; one is if you plan to keep the cory and do a fish-in cycle, the other is to the fishless cycle guide. Good luck!
librarygirl
Look It Up
Hm, it could be from the fish although usually you'd have nitrites first. Have you ever had nitrites? And it seems a bit early for that anyway. I would test your tap water, as some tap water has been known to have nitrates.
Nitrates at 5 are OK for the fish though, so that isn't at a dangerous level. If your ammonia is higher than .25 you might want to do a water change to get it down.
librarygirl
Look It Up
lol thanks, yeah I saw his info on the ammonia after I posted so then I edited my reply; you must have quoted me just before I changed what I said.
Similar threads
