Fish in not cycled tank help!

[Maisielily]

This is a long story so bare with me.
I originally owned a small square tank with two equally small fish a minnow and a small orange no longer than 2 inches. I’d had them for about a year and the other day I noticed one had disappeared, this is when I saw that the minnow was dead under the filter. The problem was I didnt know how long he’d been there and the tank had gone paticularly dirty and I was scared it was harm my lil’ orange fish.

So I visit my local pets at home(i know i’m new at this please dont shout at me!) and decide to upgrade his tank, since he is a temperate fish I took the plunge and bought a heater and filter. This is where the problem is, I really didn’t fully understand the cycling process and added him to this new big tank without thinking twice. As soon as I saw that fish cycling could really stress him out I started to panic. I have now added some of the filter cloth from his old filter to his new one which i’m hoping is covered in good bacteria since it was in his tank for a good year. I also have a tank that has been up and running for around 5 years so I took some of these bricks out and added them in a nylon sock.

SO the situation now is I have one very tiny fish in this 22l tank, I do have stress coat which i’m hoping will help. In himself he seems happy swimming around only sitting at the bottom occasionally and seems ok. I’m hoping adding the filter and bricks will help. Any suggestions as to get the tank sorted ASAP.

Side note I would put him in the 60l tank however it is at max capacity and is full of very large fantails that i’m scared with eat him or he’ll nip at them.

I also did a PH test and according to it everything is perfect. Neutral PH small amount of nitrates no nitrites. Temp is also at around 26 degrees at the moment which seems to be stable

 

[Byron]

You may be OK. One fish in a 22 liter (5 gallon) tank, with some filter media/decor from an existing tank, shouldnot have issues with cycling (ammonia and nitrite). However, you should have a test for these, and do it daily i the morning; if either rise above zero, do an immediate water change (50% or a bit more). Use a conditioner. Stress Coat is a conditioner (dechlorinator), but it is not the best to use as it contains aloe vera which has been shown to cause gill problems long-term. For the present, SC is OK, but consider getting another good conditioner. I use API's Tap water Conditioner; it detoxifies chlorine and chloramine which is all you really need in most cases.

You should find out what species this "orange fish" is so you know how to provide proper care.

 

[Maisielily]

You may be OK. One fish in a 22 liter (5 gallon) tank, with some filter media/decor from an existing tank, shouldnot have issues with cycling (ammonia and nitrite). However, you should have a test for these, and do it daily i the morning; if either rise above zero, do an immediate water change (50% or a bit more). Use a conditioner. Stress Coat is a conditioner (dechlorinator), but it is not the best to use as it contains aloe vera which has been shown to cause gill problems long-term. For the present, SC is OK, but consider getting another good conditioner. I use API's Tap water Conditioner; it detoxifies chlorine and chloramine which is all you really need in most cases.

You should find out what species this "orange fish" is so you know how to provide proper care.

He’s an orange platy, one year old

 

[Colin_T]

Byron pretty much covered it. Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and if you get a reading, do a water change to dilute the ammonia or nitrite.

Keep the feeding down for a couple of weeks and if you have nothing left in his originally tank, you can transfer all the filter media from the old tank and put it in the filter on the new tank. But moving some of the old media usually does the job.

In future if you want to set up a new tank, you can take half the media from an established filter an put it in the new filter in the new tank. It gives you an instant cycled filter. Because you have several tanks you could take filter media from both of them and put it in the new tank (like what you did for the new platy tank) and that works well.

If you have a platy, they like a few plants to hide in so if you don't have any plants, perhaps get some. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta), Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, and narrow Vallis are good plants to try. The Water Sprite is a floating plant but also does well when planted in the gravel. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

 

[Maisielily]

Byron pretty much covered it. Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and if you get a reading, do a water change to dilute the ammonia or nitrite.

Keep the feeding down for a couple of weeks and if you have nothing left in his originally tank, you can transfer all the filter media from the old tank and put it in the filter on the new tank. But moving some of the old media usually does the job.

In future if you want to set up a new tank, you can take half the media from an established filter an put it in the new filter in the new tank. It gives you an instant cycled filter. Because you have several tanks you could take filter media from both of them and put it in the new tank (like what you did for the new platy tank) and that works well.

If you have a platy, they like a few plants to hide in so if you don't have nay plants, perhaps get some. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta), Ambulia, Hygrophila polysperma, and narrow Vallis are good plants to try. The Water Sprite is a floating plant but also does well when planted in the gravel. The other plants should be planted in the gravel.

Thank you i’m going to do regular water changes and the real plant suggestions helped massively as I had no idea what I was looking for with those