Stress Zyme and Biological setup

[HOLLIEO]

Okay, so I set up a new tank and I did not realize that you were supposed to set up your tank for like 30 days , for the whole biological set up. OOPS!! I don't want to kill off my fish because of a stupid mistake. The guy at the pet store sold me a bottle of Stress Zyme to help artifically reproduce the good bacteria for your tank. Has anyone heard of this? It says to put like 2 teaspoons of the fluid per every 10 gallons of water. I have a 20 gallon, gosh.... is this okay??? Any other tips on helping my fish stay alive???

 

[venkiw]

What is your tank setup like? and how many fishes do you have?.

I am coming to the end of cycling on my new tank. The only mistake I made was adding tiny neon tetras before cycling was complete.

I used a product called cycle(which is similar to stress zyme) and in my third week and expect my tank to complete cycling in a week.

 

[HOLLIEO]

stress zyme...

Thank you for they reply VENKIW!!
I have pretty much just goldfish type. I have 2 Calico (with fan like tails), 4 feeder gold fish ($.29 at the pet store) and a catfish. I have a Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel 125 filter and two PenPlax corner filters. So, do you think the stress zyme at 2 teaspoons per 10 gallons is okay? Ya' think it will work or just kill my fish?

 

[mound]

I'd go with "Cycle" over Stress Zyme. If you're lucky, you have a fish store that stocks Marinelands "Bio Spira" in which case, get that and problem solved..

Also, go get yourself an Aquariam Pharmaceuticals Master Test Kit (or equivalent) - read the directions, and every day, test your Ammonia and Nitrite. You'll probably want to do repeated small water changes to keep these levels in check, or your fish will probably die. Also,unless you have another tank or have a friend with a disease free tank, maybe ask the people at the fish store if you can have some old filter material to jump start your tank - add that to your tank, do small water changes, and keep testing your ammonia and nitrite.. eventually your tests will show zero ammonia and nitrite, at which time your cycle is done.. From that point forward, weekly or every two weeks, change about 15% or so of your water..

 

[HOLLIEO]

STRESS ZYME.

Thanks MOUND!!
So, when you say do small water changes... What are we looking at? Like about how much and about how often??
Also, on the test kits.... If the levels are high, depending on the instructions with the kit, do you just do a water change (like 25%) or do you add som kind of chemical??

 

[mound]

well understand the cycle process.. in a nutshell - a new tank setup with tap water - you put some fish in there, and they start breathing and pooping.. this produces ammonia (NH3) in the water.. (this is what IS happening in your tank as I type this) Ammonia is highly toxic to fish - you've got 7 fish in a 20g tank - that's a pretty big "bio-load" (then again, those feeders are probably tiny) but either way - as they live and breath the ammonia concentration is steadilly increasing -which if left alone, will grow to such a concentration as to be lethal (this can happen quickly)

Now - you've heard of "good bacteria" -well, there are bacteria which get their energy by "eating" Ammonia. These bacteria produce Nitrite as waste just as the fish produce Ammonia as waste. Nitrite is toxic to fish as well. There are a second type of "good bacteria" that eat Nitrite and produce Nitrate as their waste. Nitrate isn't particularilly toxic, and is diluted with the regular water changes you do on an established tank.

In your case -neither of these "good bacteria" have established sufficient colonies within your system to fully convert the ammonia from the fish into the Nitrate end product.

With that said - you will be testing for Ammonia and Nitrite while you let your cycle happen ("cycle" being the "good bacteria" growing to the point where there are enough of the little critters in the system to get rid of the ammonia)

This is why I mentioned getting some filter material from the pet-store - that's a good source of the good bacteria and the more of it you can get in your tank up front, the faster they will grow and finish cycling the tank.

The test kit is going to tell you that anything above 0ppm of ammonia and nitrite is dangerous -but that doesn't mean you should change water out every hour.. I'd say, every day, change out maybe 5gallons of your water with freshwater and follow the instructions on the Stress Zyme. You won't really need to add any chemicals, just keep diluting the water so the fish don't die, and eventually the good bacteria will be present enough to keep you at 0ppm of Ammonia and Nitrite.

I suggest you search on google for "nitrogen cycle" etc. and read up on it. It's probably the most important aspect of keeping aquariums that nobody ever knows about when they first get started.

Finally with that said, if you think about it - putting fish in an uncycled tank is essentially making fish live in their own sewage treatment plant for several weeks.. Not very fair eh? The generally accepted method for cycling a tank is to start off with two or three "hardy" fish (like a Danio) - but it's still not fair to the fish.. Read up on "the fishless cycle" which IMO is much better in many ways.

 

[Guest]

Really good post, mound!

Hollieo, I suggest you read the following articles on the nitro cycle, and general water conditions, they are very good.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showfaq.php?fldAuto=2

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=7

Oh yeah, Welcome to the site, Hollieo!

 

[HOLLIEO]

CYCLE STUFF

WOW!!!! Thank you MOUND!!!! You gave me so much great information and I am sure that there are many others out there that will really benefit from your knowledge. Thank you again... This site it great!!! Well, all the members with all of their knowledge make it great!!
and Yes. the little planter gold fish are small. Maybe like an inch long.

 

[mound]

You gave me so much great information and I am sure that there are many others out there that will really benefit from your knowledge

Make no mistake, I've learned most everything I know from this and similar sites.