Help, My Tank Is A Mess!

[cwa]

I haven't had a fishtank in many years and never knew how hard it could be to get one started. I went very wrong and need help to fix it. I'm getting different information from all local sources (a petstore chain, a local pet co-op and a fish specialty store) and I need to know who to trust.

About 2 months ago, I bought a 16g bowfront tank. A pet store employee convinced me that I can use Nutrafin Cycle and be able to add fish within a day because it would instantly cycle the tank (what a mistake). A few days later, I added 3 fish and the next week added 4 more and 3 more the week after that (another mistake). Water readings during those weeks showed 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates and 0 nitrites. Then the tank got Ich and all but 1 fish died within days. Treated the tank for a solid week with an herbal Ich treatment by Kordon, warmed up the tank water, and added salt. I have since bought one more fish and both have been very healthy but lonely in my tank. I have tested the water every few days since the start and the ammonia spiked to 4.0 and stayed there for a long time and not a single trace of nitrites or nitrates. I have tried water changes and ammonia remover (Tetra AmmoniaSafe) and it still remained high and brown algae exploded all over my tank. Went to a fish specialty store and they told me to use Prime to remove ammonia, wait a couple hours, do a 50% water change, treat with Prime again, wait a few hours then add Smart Start. Ammonia has now decreased to 1.0 but it is still not where it should be and nitrite and nitrate levels still read 0. I don't have too many fish (only 2), and I hardly feed them anything so I'm just perplexed as to what is going on. I want to add more fish because I'm tired of looking at an almost empty tank. I know I made a bunch of mistakes in the beginning but short of starting from scratch, what should I do? Would adding live plants help or something to eat the algae? And I am planning to upgrade to a larger tank in the near future. Would that be difficult to do or should I be thinking about upgrading now and just start over?

 

[superguppygirl]

Honestly give your tank a week or two more at very least, do a weekly water change of around 25%, vaccuum the gravel with the gravel siphon, and keep using the Prime (best one out there my opinion), do you use a water conditioner? Stability is a good one (same maker as Prime), what kind of filter are you using? Is it big enough for the tank? Get a aquarium magnet/scrubber for now, use on glass and when tank is cycled then can decide what to stock, live plants might die due to the ammonia levels, hope this helps, good luck

 

[cwa]

I was using a cheap (Wardley) water conditioner but will use Prime instead unless I should be using both. I have been doing weekly water changes with the vacuum, and I now have a scrubber. My filter is an Aqua-Tech 10-20g with charcoal and foam filter. I know not to mess with the foam and I have changed the charcoal filter after the Ich problem. I just worry because it was seeming like the ammonia wouldn't drop and the nitrites wouldn't spike. I will be patient and wait another couple weeks.

 

[superguppygirl]

Prime is a dechlorinater, not a conditioner, I would suggest getting Stability, it also helps stimulate the fishes slime coat which helps against ammonia, and I know I hated waiting for my tanks to cycle but cheer up soon you will be able to have a colorful slip and slide of fishes all happy and healthy

 

[cwa]

Prime is a dechlorinater, not a conditioner, I would suggest getting Stability, it also helps stimulate the fishes slime coat which helps against ammonia, and I know I hated waiting for my tanks to cycle but cheer up soon you will be able to have a colorful slip and slide of fishes all happy and healthy

Isn't that what Prime is? It says it provides slime coat and removes cholring, chloramine and ammonia. I will add Stability to my list of items to get.

 

[pern]

Hi cwa -

Have a read of the beginners resource centre. It may not be necessary to buy or add anything more to your tank - have a look at the fish-in cycle information. I have tried to put the link to the resource centre in my signature so it may be in this post.

 

[cwa]

Thanks! I did read through that and do understand how the process is supposed to work, I just thought that things got messed up along the way and wasn't going the way it should. I was under the impression that the ammonia spike should only last a few days and mine lasted over a week. And still no nitrite elevation. But I am using test strips for all but ammonia so maybe that is the problem. I will have my water tested this weekend. I can't switch testing methods at the moment, but will do so soon. I also plan on using a system to avoid tap water for water changes. I will put tap water in plastic jugs and treat it with the conditioner days before using it. I think this will eliminate any ammonia or chlorine that may transfer from the tap. Trying my best to get this correct so that I may enjoy my beautiful tank.

 

[pern]

Thanks! I did read through that and do understand how the process is supposed to work, I just thought that things got messed up along the way and wasn't going the way it should. I was under the impression that the ammonia spike should only last a few days and mine lasted over a week. And still no nitrite elevation. But I am using test strips for all but ammonia so maybe that is the problem. I will have my water tested this weekend. I can't switch testing methods at the moment, but will do so soon. I also plan on using a system to avoid tap water for water changes. I will put tap water in plastic jugs and treat it with the conditioner days before using it. I think this will eliminate any ammonia or chlorine that may transfer from the tap. Trying my best to get this correct so that I may enjoy my beautiful tank.

Must be frustrating - you've obviously been doing heaps to try and get things right. As you've found, ammonia can certainly last for longer than a week. Unless your tap water has an ammonia reading, just keep up with lots of water changes as per the resource centre readings. Do as many time per day as needed to keep ammonia at 0 and, when you get nitrites to keep them at 0. Prime is a very concentrated (and so inexpensive) dechlorinator. As you said, it does 'lock up' ammonia, chlorine (and, at a higher dose) nitrite for up to 24 hours but, as you'll know, water changes are best. I'd tend to leave the Stability. It may well just add another complication and not help the cycle. The algae is probably just a common part of the cycle (have had that a couple of times myself) and will decrease and disappear in time. Good luck! You'll get there

When you are able to change your testing equipment, one possibility is API liquid test kit - have found it's great.

 

[OldMan47]

Any typical water conditioner will work about the same CWA. I use Prime simply because it costs me far less on a per dose basis than most others. The Tetra product should work just as well but you will end up costing yourself far more money to accomplish the same result. Your experience with ammonia is not at all uncommon. You need to do giant water changes to get the ammonia readings under control. Live plants will not improve your cycling time but may well give you a bit of relief on the need to cycle. I have found, as should be expected, that plants absorbing some nitrogen definitely helps give me better ammonia and nitrite conditions by absorbing the nitrogen involved. That does not make my tanks cycle more quickly but it means that I have a bit more time to respond to the chemistry that is harmful to my fish.

 

[superguppygirl]

Was just wondering if your tank is in a high light area ? My 35G Scarlet Kribensis/Kribensis tank is in my kitchen and it gets ALOT of direct sunlight but as I'm running short of suitable floor space has to be there, and due to the aggressive nature of the Kribs took me awhile to find something that wouldn't get to big and could handle the territorial nature of the Kribs finally got some albino bristlenose plecos to help with the glass maybe keep the lights off for a few days would slow its growth till your tank is ready for some more fish