Oh Noo!! fish in an uncycled tank!

[exactionfigure]

So I woke up this morning and my fish tanks light was already on...
and there are 2 swordtails swimming around in there!
apparently my girlfriend went out and bought a male and female sword tale and put them in the tank!

the tank has been up for only a week and has not cycled, I was going to go to the store today and get ammonia but now I don't know what to do

the lfs doesn't take fish back even though I told them what happend

what should I do? will the fish be ok through the cycle?

 

[Tiffi]

You will have to make a lot of water changes, monitor the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) every day and the cycle will take even longer that way. And you can't add the pure ammonia anymore or the fishes would die.

Or you could go to a "no chain" fishstore and ask them if they will take the fishes back.

 

[exactionfigure]

 

[ringfinger]

Your girlfriend bought you fish! Lucky! My wife gives me dirty looks anytime she catches me shopping at bigalsonline.com

How big is the tank? If it is smaller, then you should be able to easily manage frequent water changes. Run a whole lotta tests and you should be alright.

I'm not sure how other people on the site feel about products like Stress-Zyme, but they seem to work well for me. I have had tanks cycle in 3 weeks using it according to the directions. No joke, I tested daily and monitored them closely.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Do you have a test kit? IMO you ahould test the water every day for ammonia and do water changes to keep it at a safe level.

Or you could take them back to a fish store and try to get store credit.

 

[kaz]

I don't know anything about what you guys call cycle can someone explain this so when I do get my new tank I know all about this thanks.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Sure, there is already an article on this site about the nitrogen cycle, so I'll give you the link.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21


And here is an article on cycling wothout fish. It applies for freshwater, too.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[pjos11]

Go to the articles section top of page look for:

Nitrogen Cycle
Written by: Tonya Beckerdite

Hey I am a learner and i`m giving advice

 

[pjos11]

I posted at the same time

 

[exactionfigure]

yea, I’m happy she bought me fish, and they are really nice looking green swordtails with a red strip down the side but I wanted to cycle my tank the right way so the tank would cycle quicker and fish wouldn’t have to go though the stress, my tank is a 20 gallon and heavily planted see pic in other post
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=68124&highlight=
so far the fish seem very happy and are swimming around like crazy but I know the cycle is going to be hard for them I already talked to 3 stores and all of them will not take fish from home tanks, which is funny because my tank is alot nicer then the tanks in these stores,

So I added a bunch of cycle and I tested the water and will continue testing to see what's going on

BTW wont frequent water changes be taking out the bacteria and all the stuff that’s essential to cycle (ammonia nitrites ECT)?

also way down the road when my tank is ok, if these guys breed, will it mess up my tank - will they just eat the fry? is there a fish that will hunt all the fry? I normally wouldn't mind if they breed but I am afraid of the bioload spike!

Thanks guys

-Matt

 

[TXFish]

Another option might be Bio-Spira if you can find it at your lfs. It's a little pricey but will significantly decrease the cycling time & be alot less stressful to your fish. It's intended to be added with a full load of fish (bearing in mind that "full load" differs with every tank based on size & fish kept). HTH!

 

[exactionfigure]

oh also

how much is to much ammonia during the cycling process? and how much is too much nitrites?

 

[exactionfigure]

i really wanted to get that stuff after reasearching it last night but I can't find it anywhere and if I order it online I have to over night it which costs like $40 just to ship!

I do have Cycle by hagen and I am using a bunch of that right now but from what I've read Bio-Spira works much better I just wish I could get ahold of some!

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Try keeping the ammonia under 1 ppm.

 

[TomK2]

Or you can cycle with fish. Two swordtails in a 20 gallon might not have significant toxin spikes, if you add no more fish and feed sparingly. For an article on cycling with fish:

http://home.comcast.net/~tomstank/tomstank_files/page0017.htm

 

[TomK2]

Oh, and now that you have fish in the tank, DO NOT ADD AMMONIA ! your fish will be excreting ammonia on their own. I assume you have a liquid reagent test kit, test daily for ammonia, and run a baseline nitrate level. If you are lucky, you will never detect ammoniat. Then in about a week, test every other day for ammonia and nitrite. If you are lucky, you will never detect it. Then after about 4 weeks, if you have not detected any ammonia or nitrite, test every other day for an increase in nitrate. If you are lucky, in about 6 or 7 weeks you will see the nitrates rise without ever having detected ammonia or nitrite. If after 6 weeks you have never seen ammonia, nitrite or increase in nitrates, assume your plants are using the nitrate and add more fish, if you want to. If you ever detect ammonia or nitrite, test for them daily and PWC if levels get to 1 ppm.

 

[exactionfigure]

whew, glad to hear I am not totally screwed

My plants are actually all fake so they wont be doing much of anything

I don't plan on adding anymore fish until there is no ammonia or nitrites and I see nitrate lvls rise hopefully the water will be crystal clear too

thanks for the help

-Matt

 

[bosk1]

BTW wont frequent water changes be taking out the bacteria and all the stuff that’s essential to cycle (ammonia nitrites ECT)?

Matt, in case you did not glean the answer from the articles: PWC's will not remove a substantial amount of beneficial bacteria. They reside in your filter media, your substrate, tank ornaments, and other surfaces found in your tank. Only trace amounts, if any, reside in the water.

As far as removing ammonia and other toxins, yes, the pwc's will remove them. Since you will be cycling with fish, you will be walking a very delicate line: You want to keep most of the toxins out because they will harm/kill your fish, but you want to keep very small amounts so that your bacteria colonies grow. Tom's article should help you out with this. Best of luck!