Hi, newbie here

[Kimlea]

Hi, everyone. Hubby bought 260 litre tank (76uk gal - i think!) Put fish in after couple of days (& lots of them- stupid), now they're all dead or dying. Convinced him i should take over, so want to do it properly, & try fishless cycling. Grateful for any advice, & what brand of ammonia can anyone recommend? Also, he used sand but it's so hard to keep clean, should i change to gravel?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Sorry about what's happend.

I am not sure about amonia, where are you going to put the fish in the meantime? Sand is very good in tanks IMO and can be beneficial for some fish including cories. To clean it you can use a gravel cleaner, holding it a bit about the sand. It should also be stirred up to get rid of pockets of bad algae.

What fish have you got?

to the forum by the way.

 

[Kimlea]

Thanks for the welcome. Have 2 platies, 1 angel fish & 5 oco's left, but they look like they will be gone soon, so looks like i won't have anything left in the morning. So, if that does happen, do i empty everything & start again? I presume i will have to clean everything with boiling water (except the tank of course!!). So do i "fishless cycle" or set it up, wait a few days & use some hardy fish- recommendations on which fish & how many for my 260litre tank very welcome.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

to this forum. We should definitely be able to help you out.

Try getting at least one more tank for the fish, returning them, or giving them to someone until you can get the ta nk ready. good news is, you can still cycle the tank with fish. The platies should be fine starter fish.

The ottocinclus?(is that what you have?) are probably going to have a hard time surviving because they aren't very hardy. The angel will need lots of room, so don't add to many fish too soon.

You don't have to do the boiling water thing. Just remove the fish and the water. Refill the tank. That's all.

If you decide not to do any of this, do partial water changes frequently. if you can't disturb the substrate, just change the water and don't remove the stuff under the sand.

Oh yeah. By the way, check out a book on setting up tanks for the first time. These are really helpful and give you a basic idea of fish anatomy, cycling, compatibility, etc.

 

[Kimlea]

Angel fish & 2 oto's gone this morning, this is breaking my heart, but making me more determined to get it right. Worried that my 2 clown loaches had white spot (the remaining oto's look spottyas well) so this was why i asked about boiling the rocks, filters etc before starting up again. If the remaining fish die & i decide to "fishless cycle" does anyone know where i can get some decent ammonia in U.K? I've read somewhere that you can't get it here. Or do you think a few platies would be better to cycle the tank? Sorry i'm so thick, just can't bear the thought of losing more fish. I did buy a book, but you lot seem much more knowledgeable (good word eh??!!!) so would rather follow your advice instead. I have a 260litre Jewul Vision tank. Thanks.

 

[modernhamlet]

You seem pretty resigned to letting the remaining fish die. Perhaps you could return them all to the LFS until your tank is cycled?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I agree with modernhamlet.

Try doing partial water changes daily to keep the levels down a bit. Why not do a fish cycle with the fish you have got? Have you read up on how to do this?

I'd be doing maybe 20% water changes daily to help the fish a bit.

 

[Kimlea]

Cheese Specialist & Modern Hamlet

Not resigned to letting my fish die at all, i'm upset that's what you thought. I have actually given my fish to a friend with a quarantine tank until I sort this out. He didn't have room for them before.
All my water readings have been negative over the past week, so can someone help me out - what's the next step now?

 

[thecichlidaddict]

so can someone help me out - what's the next step now?

Now that the fish are off your hands you can prepare the tank for the fish by doing a Fishless Cycle using ammonia in liquid form - the common household stuff, unscented and no soaps.

To do this you need the ammonia, an ammonia tester, and a nitrite tester.

Add enough ammonia to the tank to measure 4ppm. Keep track of how much you are adding because you are going to be adding this amount every day. Test for ammonia and nitrites ever couple of days. When the nitrites are measurable cut the ammonia dosage to half of what you were using and keep adding this amount daily. When ammonia and nitrite are both 0, your tank is ready for fish. Keep adding the ammonia until the day that you add the fish. Before introducing them do a big (75%) water change to get rid of the nitrate buildup from the cycle.

To speed up the cycle you can add bacteria from an established tank. The best way to do this is to use filter floss from another filter in your own, but gravel will work too. The more you add, the faster the cycle will go. Bacteria thrives in warm temperatures, so heating the tank up is a good idea as well (lower it before adding the fish).

Once the tank is cycled in this way you can add as many fish as you'd like without endangering any of them, it's the best way to go, even if you will have an empty tank for a couple of weeks.

Good luck!

 

[Kimlea]

The cichlidaddict
Thanks so much for the advice, the only problem is, it appears from other postings that we can't get pure ammonia in the uk (something to do with explosives i hear). So looks like i will have to cycle with fish, my tank is 76 uk gallons, so do you think 4 or 6 platies added after a week of running the tank would be sufficient?
Thanks again for your reply

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Doh!

In that size of a tank I would think that 6 platies would be fine. Keep up the water changes to make sure the fish stay healthy and test the water regularly.

Adding bacteria from an existing tank is still a good way to speed up the cycle. Keep in mind that 6 platies will build up a bio-filter able to handle exactly that, so never add too many fish at once, as the bacteria needs a chance to catch up to the new bioload. This does not take long once the bio-filter is established.

good luck!

 

[Kimlea]

Thanks for the advice cichlidaddict, going to start cycling this weekend & will ask lfs for some gravel from an established tank. I'm going to follow every instuction on this forum to the last letter & keep my fingers crossed i do things right this time.
Cheers!!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Thanks for the advice cichlidaddict, going to start cycling this weekend & will ask lfs for some gravel from an established tank. I'm going to follow every instuction on this forum to the last letter & keep my fingers crossed i do things right this time.
Cheers!!

Good luck and I wasn't meaning to be nasty earlier. Just wanted you to realise it wasn't hopless.

Keep us updated to how you are getting on.

 

[Kimlea]

Thanks cheese specialist, must admit i was feeling helpless & hopeless!!
I'll certainly let you know how i get on, had some great advice from this forum, & sure i'll need plenty more over the next few months.
Will post new message when i get my first fish in 10 days or so.
Bye for now.