Help Me Save My Fish

[TarkMalbot]

I have to swallow my pride and admit I think I have messed up big time! After purchasing my Aqua One 850 from my LFS they told my Girlfriend and I that it would be ok to add fish after letting the tank settle for 5 days after setting it up and measure the nitites as they go up and down over the cycle period. It has the correct amount of API stress coat and stress zyme in the tank according to the instructions but I think my fish will be in great danger over the cycle!

I had read over and over on the internet about using fish to cycle the tank and use 4 hardy fish and not really seen much about fishless cycling until now... Too late though! More than one LFS assured my Girlfriend that it would be ok to use about 20 fish to cycle with in the size of tank I have (165Ltrs)! After reading some more things I think he is drastically wrong! I tried to convince that it was too many but to cut a long story short and after a few arguments at home my tank now has about 20 fish in it! They have only been in since wednesday but i dont want to loose all of them before I say "told you so" as I dont want the fish to die or waste £63!!

I also read that you should do a 10-15% water change every few days when cycling with fish. My LFS gave me a funny look when I mentioned this and said that would take longer and get rid of the bacteria we are trying to build. My girlfriend said that makes sense and is planning on leaving the water without changing it through the whole cycle. I am now offshore at work and can not do anything other thantry and feed information to her back at home..

What should I do now? I cant do a fishless cycle and I dont have another tank to split things up! All I want to do is try and do the best I can in the situation. I am thinking the nitrites and ammonia will get dangerously high and the fish will be unhealthy if they survive or not survive at all! Two Guppys are already dead but I think this is more to do with Fin nipping. (see other tread) [topic="0"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...p;#entry1829716[/topic]

Thanks for any help. Please dont tell me off too much!!

 

[TarkMalbot]

Oh and I have 0.2% Aqualibrium salt in the tank too...
I have a PH test kit and Tetra Nitrite Test Kit.. Nitrite reading is 0.3 mg/l after 3 days.

Was told by LFS that there was no point having Ammonia test kit as "whats the point of measuring something you know is going to happen"??? WHF that means I dont know!

 

[prange]

The one thing you can do to help save your fish if have your gf do the water changes every couple of days to keep the ammonia and nitrites down. Changing water doesn't hurt the bacteria much just don't scrub the ornaments or any other surface in the tank well, all surfaces in your tank can hold good bacteria. I myself have a 55 and a 20 gal tank that are cycled. I didn't use any bacteria additives just a water conditioner to get rid of chlorine. It took about 8 weeks but worked out fine, I only put about an inch of fish per 10 gallons. I'm not that good at the conversions but I think that is 4 or 5 small fish. If you can get her to change the water every couple of days have her remove the water from the bottom of the tank since ammonia and nitrite are than water. If you need info look on the internet or find a small business LFS, they usually know more than chain stores. Sorry but you may lose your fish to diesese or poison anyway, if this happens just start over with a few fish and go slow until the toxins get to an okay level then add more fish slowly until you reach 1 inch per 3.8 liters of water. Also make sure you do at least a weekly water change of 10%. Once you get set up your tank won't be hard to maintain, your tank is the equal of a 40 gal tank. Good Luck

 

[mibson]

I would do a 20% water change every 12 hours if possible. I would also use Prime for water treatment. I would also use a airstone or powerhead in the new water BEFORE you add it for at least 1 hour.

 

[Corleone]

Oh and I have 0.2% Aqualibrium salt in the tank too...
I have a PH test kit and Tetra Nitrite Test Kit.. Nitrite reading is 0.3 mg/l after 3 days.

Was told by LFS that there was no point having Ammonia test kit as "whats the point of measuring something you know is going to happen"??? WHF that means I dont know!

First tip: When you go to the LFS, walk in, buy things, leave. Don't talk to them, talk to us They aren't all created equal, but this one's definitely at the lower end of them.

Anyway, get an ammonia test kit. You know it's going to happen, but you don't want it to happen and you want to know if and when it does happen, which right now it will be. (By the store's logic, you know nitrite and nitrate are going to happen, so why test for them? And you know it'll have some kind of pH so bugger that test too).

Do a big water change immediately (don't worry about leaving the water sit with an airstone, just add your dechlorinator and swish it a bit, they act quite quickly - most people with large tanks add the conditioner to their tank and then run hoses straight in from the tap with nary a hiccup), then get an ammonia test kit. Test every 12 hours and do as many water changes as necessary to keep ammonia below 0.25 mg/l. This will probably mean at least one partial water change a day, possibly two. Continue testing for nitrites, as well, as you want to keep that under .25 as well.

You can also leave out the salt. It does reduce the toxicity of nitrite and nitrate, but does nothing about the major killer, ammonia, and it also adds stress to most freshwater fish, and even with it you want to keep ammonia and nitrite under control, meaning you'll go broke with all the water changes.

Because of the number of fish you have, it'd be a very good idea to try to return as many of them as possible to the LFS - if you can return all of them and proceed with a fishless cycle, all the better. We have some excellent resources stickied in this thread for the process, and many knowledgeable people who can help guide you.

 

[minxfishy]

Yep as Corleone says, you are going to need to get the test kit, but your first course of action is water changes, up to 50% at a time, try to temp match the water going back into the tank to that of the tank water to avoid stress to the fish, you may find you have to do 3 x 50% water changes as the cycle progresses to get the ammonia and nitrite under 0.25ppm but this is the only way to go now Im afraid, unless you can possibly re-home the fish temporarily and go the fishless cycle route?

Whereabouts are you, maybe there are some members near who can take the fish for a few weeks or suggest an LFS who would do it for you/