my last guppy died 😢

[finfayce]

i am so bummed. i don't understand what's going on. i used to have guppies- no problem. now 4 of them in a short amount of time - dead.

 

[On_a_dishy]

Oh no - sorry for your guppy and you.

 

[finfayce]

Oh no - sorry for your guppy and you.

thanks

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I'm sorry, that's rough

 

[finfayce]

is it better to use bottles of cycling products or just ammonia.
personally i feel scared to mess with ammonia- it's a very toxic product.

 

[finfayce]

I'm sorry, that's rough

thanks

 

[On_a_dishy]

is it better to use bottles of cycling products or just ammonia.
personally i feel scared to mess with ammonia- it's a very toxic product.

People will recommend that you use ammonia as it can be very precisely calculated. My own experience is to use small bits of fish food and https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=tetra+...=tetra+safe,aps,75&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_10
The fish food breaking down will produce ammonia, and the SafeStart will start converting the ammonia to the nitrite producing bacteria. Your nitrite levels will then spike.
I then perform small daily water changes (or larger depending on the nitrite reading) and add https://www.amazon.co.uk/API-Freshw...c=1&sprefix=api+stresszyme,aps,57&sr=8-1&th=1
My understanding is that this contains bacteria which converts the nitrite into nitrate. I also have used https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seachem-St...44793&sprefix=seachem+stability,aps,71&sr=8-4 but the Tropical Fish Forum folk have advised that it doesn't contain the right sort of bacteria, so I wouldn't use that now.
Once your nitrite levels are at 0 and your nitrate levels are slightly up, your tank is cycled. I did add some shrimp towards the end of my cycling (you need to keep producing ammonia otherwise the first lot of bacteria which 'eat' it will die off) which seemed to speed things up a bit. This is when I unexpectedly fell in love with shrimp, which are completely brilliant.
I'm sure someone will come along and offer more precise instructions, but this is how I've done it every time and I've always had a cycled tank without any crashes at the end of it! It's costly because of the test strips - I was testing two or three times a day, particularly when the shrimp were in. Good luck!

 

[finfayce]

thank you again for your detailed help.
i have amano shrimp. they are so cute and fascinating.
so my guppy deaths were from a tank not cycled enough?
thanks again.

 

[finfayce]

I'm sorry, that's rough

thanks

 

[On_a_dishy]

thank you again for your detailed help.
i have amano shrimp. they are so cute and fascinating.
so my guppy deaths were from a tank not cycled enough?
thanks again.

I think I remember from your previous post that you had the new tank for the guppy ready to go? But if it wasn’t cycled then that would have been a problem, yes.
I love the moment when the testing strip shows no nitrites after weeks of them being there!

 

[finfayce]

I think I remember from your previous post that you had the new tank for the guppy ready to go? But if it wasn’t cycled then that would have been a problem, yes.
I love the moment when the testing strip shows no nitrites after weeks of them being there!

yeah i did think the 20 gallon was already recycled because a goldfish and snails had been in there. but apparently i cleaned out of any remaining bacteria.after the goldfish died i looked up your link for the Tank safe product on Amazon. there's one mentioned in ml and one in ounces. is the only difference the metric system VS whatever americans use?forgot the official US name

 

[On_a_dishy]

You might have been looking at the Tetra “Aquasafe plus” which I see on Amazon bizarrely has ounces - but it’s definitely the Tetra “SafeStart” you want. “Dr Tim’s One and Only” is the only other starting-bacteria available to buy - this is advice I got from this forum.
Be sure to buy enough of the “SafeStart” - you need quite a lot. They also claim that you can add fish immediately - I wouldn’t. Too much can go wrong and I believe a cycle takes weeks, even with chemicals. And don’t forget that you still need to add ammonia to feed that first-stage bacteria - I used small pinches of fish food which I let break down because like you I was wary of using “pure” ammonia!

 

[emeraldking]

i am so bummed. i don't understand what's going on. i used to have guppies- no problem. now 4 of them in a short amount of time - dead.

Well, you guys are discussing ammonia but is that the case of their deaths? For it could also be a different reason why they've died.

 

[finfayce]

Well, you guys are discussing ammonia but is that the case of their deaths? For it could also be a different reason why they've died.

idk. i feel bad that something caused the deaths of 4 guppies in a very short time.
now that the tank is empty, i'm going to take the tank down. i just don't trust it to be safe.
i do have 2 other healthy aquariums- which i'm happy with.
thanks for your reply.

 

[finfayce]

I'm sorry, that's rough

thank you