Has My Tank Cycled

[tomjh]

hi i have rushed out and bought to many fish so i have to try and do a cycle in a 30l biorb

the fish i have in my tank are

1 neon tetra
4 cherry barbs
2 platys
1 red honey gorami
1 male betta
3 ottos
2 tiger barbs
1 sepae tetra

my water stats are
ammonia 1ppm
nitrate 7ppm
nitrite 0ppm
ph 7.6


the tank has been running for about 3 weeks and i have been doing 50% water changes most days for about a week and a half,

i have been putting denitrol aquarium starter in it when doing the water changes




WHAT IS GOING ON NEED HELP!!!!

 

[jonnyf84]

your tank hasn't cycled yet and all you can do is continue your process until it is complete.

Unless you can find a temperary home for these fish you will have to take them back. Whilst your there you should give the person who sold them to you a piece of your mind. This is a poor combination of fish for a aquarist to sell you - especially for a incomplete cycle, in a 30 litre! Mixing tiger barbs with betta's and gourami's and selling you a lone neon - jesus what a muppet. This is not your fault but just try to fully cycle your tank before you go out and buy fish, whilst your doing this you can research how many fish you can keep in your tank, what fish suit your water conditions and fish that get along and what kind of set up they like. Then you won't have to rely on a idiot 'fishkeeper' to steal your money.

 

[minxfishy]

No your tank is far from cycled. What tests are you using? Strips or liquid based?

Your tank is heavily overstocked, in fact seriously so. Biorb are not great things to be able to stock.

Tetras need to be in company, so the neon needs more neons and then frankly with about 6 of those you are stocked.

Male bettas should be housed on their own, certainly not with any fish with long flowing fins or any tetras who are fin nippers. And its always advised not to house bettas and gourami together.

Ottos are senstive fish and require fully mature tanks, they certainly will not tolerate any ammonia or nitrIte.

I know you wont appreciate any of those comments and you were probably advised badly by the LFS you purchased all these fish from, but unfortunately you will need to return most of those fish.

You could either keep the neon and up his number (once the tank is cycled)
OR keep the male betta alone.

You could also JUST have the platys and maybe another 2.

For now, you need to do an immediate 50% water change to get the ammonia in the tank to below 0.25ppm preferably 0 for the sake of the fish. If 50% doesnt get it down, do another 50% change a couple of hours later. This procedure will need to continue until the tank is cycled, which is after both ammonia and nitrIte have peaked and fallen and everything is steady at 0 and you are seeing rises in nitrAte.

 

[tomjh]

i spoke to them yesterday and they said they wouldnt take them back, and i really dont know what to do now i am using an api liquid based test
tom

 

[jonnyf84]

i spoke to them yesterday and they said they wouldnt take them back, and i really dont know what to do now
tom

my god, some people need a good kick up the ####, they should not be aloud to do this. Where are you situated? you will be able to find homes for them, try a local newsletter, this forum, ebay, aquarist classified, don't worry to much ok you'l be able to find homes for them. Where are they now?

 

[minxfishy]

Take them back on a busy day for them, explain to them that they advice they gave to you was at best, useless and that the lives of the fish are more important then their greed. Ensure you speak to the manager and if he refuses to take the fish back, I would just leave them on their front counter and walk out.

 

[jonnyf84]

^^^^^ spot on

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, you are way overstocked and uncycled. You are in the midst of a "fish-in" cycle, which takes usually a min of 4 weeks. You have a good start to doing the right thing with your 50% daily water changes but they may need to be larger and more frequent even.

You seem to be testing for the right things. Do you have a liquid-based kit giving you those numbers? That's a preliminary need.

The goal with fish-in situations (which are pretty rough and may cause fish deaths even if you do it right, but the better you do it the better chance they have) is to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to zero as possible. Luckily the 30L is small, making water changes easier, but also allowing the toxins to rebuild fast. You need to test morning and evening and figure out by trial and error what patter will always keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm when you test. You can perform another water change as soon as an hour after the previous one and sometimes multiples like this are the best thing in the beginning when you are trying to get it on track, and then it won't need to be quite as frequent. Water changes will do the job better than chemicals. Be sure to re-condition and roughly temp match (with your hand is good enough) the return water.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, also agree with the above comments on taking the fish back. There are a lot of approaches you can take and sometimes the above is best. My favorite approach is to be friendly, even happy seeming, but extremely persistant and persuasive. I try to engage the manager and have as long an interaction as possible and throw in positive things about his store with only brief references to the main problem at hand, but I never quit. The thing I like about this approach is that if I'm lucky I can come out with a better relationship with these people for the future and I always view any brick and morter store that's within driving distance as an asset for finding things quickly when I need them, regardless of how bad I really know they are from my knowledge at TFF. I work very hard to try and have a sense of humor about the situation -- they usually have nowhere near the interest on depth of knowledge about the hobbyist side of things and I try to view them as a means to an end.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[jonnyf84]

^^^ i would love to be able to take that approach but i'm completely the opposite - it makes me furious. Irresponsible, money grabbing sods.

 

[tomjh]

thanks for the advise im in portsmouth (UK)

ammonia is now about 0.5

 

[jonnyf84]

portsmouth has a decent selection of fish shops - i'm sure you'l be able to find a home for them, just phone around and ask.

 

[tomjh]

cool, only thing is i spent the money on them and i really dont wanna go giving them away

 

[minxfishy]

0.50ppm is almost to a safe level, do another 50% in an hour or so and it should have gone down to 0.25 or lower, You will need to test daily any rise in either the ammonia or nitrIte to over 0.25ppm and its time for another water change, if you can, try to match the temperature of the water you are using to re-fill with that of the water already in the tank so as not to shock the fish too much, also dont forget to use dechlorinator

I know you dont want to lose the money, I understand that, however, if left with no option, then its best for the fish to go back or re-homed. Try placing an add on the buy/sell forum at the bottom of the main forum here with your details, ie: which fish and your location and ask for collection of the fish to anyone willing to take them. Good luck, keep us updated and any help you need regarding the cycling, lots of people here are more than willing to help you.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, minx is right, you're doing a good job but need to get them below 0.25 or the deaths will come on fast.

And I agree, the taking them back thing stings right after you've spent the money. Its just, I guess we seem harsh, but we've seen it a lot and so we jump to the final conclusion right away which is that you either take some of them back, so they live and you remember them happy, or else they become expensive fertilizer for your houseplant.

~~waterdrop~~