cycling a hospital tank

[rykitten]

I have a 2 gallon tank I'm setting up for emergencies.

I've only had it set up for 3 days, with one fish, and the ammonia level is already at 0.50 ppm.

I am doing daily water changes and feeding him every other day.

My question is this: Now that the fish has started creating waste (ammonia), and if I remove him, will the tank continue to cycle? Or does a fish need to be in the tank continuosly creating fresh waste?

 

[jaywings19]

You need to have a continual source of ammonia in your tank (in your case, fish) to keep the cycling process going. If you remove the fish now, then the existing ammonia will be consumed by nitrites (if you have any) and the cycle will never complete.

If you do not consider "fishless cycling," then you will need to keep at least one fish in your hospital tank to keep it cycled.

Hope that helps.

 

[ste2k3]

I would take the fish out as ammonia is harmful. the beat thing to do is to put your filter in to your main tank and let it mature in there. when yopu have an emergency, you could just syphon some water into your other tank and move the filter and top up your main tank with fresh water.

 

[rykitten]

That's a great idea! I never thought of maturing the filter in the big tank . . .

Thanks for the info. I will put him back now.