New Tank Syndrome

[luckynat]

Hi there i was a question about new tank syndrome. I have had a 150 litre tank set up for one and a half weeks i had 2 tiger barbs and one red tail shark which died yesterday. I was wondering if i should emply the tank and start again or can i do a fishless cycle now. What should i do???

 

[Nismo]

I had a bad case of new tank syndrome aswell, the idea that i found to work best was to place in the tank fast growing plants which seemed to get the tank cycled fairly quickly and levelled the nitrate levels well. Has anyone else used this method and it worked aswell for them?

 

[shmax101]

I've always used a little catfish native here, just a plain channel cat, he's a huge filth producer, and hardy as a tank. After about 2 weeks in a tank up to 55 gallons, you're all set I don't see the point of a long drawn out fishless cycle, when there are much faster and efficient methods. If nothing else, take a chunk of filter fiber, stick it in an existing mature filter system, wait 1 week, pull it out, and bam! new bio filter for your new tank.

 

[heresmike]

Was it just the shark that died, or the barbs also? I don't believe in putting fish into a tank that isn't cycled, so if it were me, I'd relocate the barbs (if they're still alive) and do a fishelss cycle.

 

[luckynat]

it was all my fish that died. so i should live the water in then.

anyone having trouble posting messages today?

 

[luckynat]

how about if i put 1 goldfish in the tank

 

[a1wonder]

I've found a product called Stress Free which adds bateria to the tank which in a few hours reduces the high levels of ammonia. It's a really cheap product which can be purchased at PetLand (if there are any in your area). This product in my experence has worked wonders and I highly recomind it in emergances like this, but personal I'd do a fishless cycle usually.

 

[luckynat]

so do i do a water change now???

 

[a1wonder]

When I had my horrible experience I did a daily water change of 10 -20% to make the water conditions bearable and only lost one molly and a pair of angels the other 20 survived and live on today

 

[luckynat]

thanks everyone for your help i end up getting an amonia test kit today and did the test seems the water is fine.

 

[appleblossom]

So no ammonia showed up on your test kit?

have you done a water change already?

 

[luckynat]

So no ammonia showed up on your test kit?

have you done a water change already?

no i did the test and it came back fine

 

[appleblossom]

if no ammonia showed up, either the test kit is innacurate, the tank is already cycled, or the cycling process hasnt even started yet, if either of the last two are the case, it seems a little odd that all your fish died. Could there be another cause?