Question?!

[Shakim269]

To everyone,

My question has to do with a mistake my boyfriend made. I was doing a fishless cycle. But when I came home from work the other day, he had put my son's final guppy in the tank with 3 others. My tank is not cycled. Now my question would be can I do a water change. I am finally seeing some nitrites. But I dont want my fish to die.

Ammonia 0.50ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm
Nitrate 0.00ppm
pH 7.4
Temp. Steady 80°F/28°C

Any help would be appreciated.
Using an API Master Kit for testing. THANKS.

 

[scrage]

Well, cycling with fish is a bit stressful on the fish, but I did it that way because I didn't know about a fishless cycle at the time. Just monitor the water and be prepared to change some of the water well.. just about daily.

Do you have a tank you can but the fish back in? What was the guppy in originally?

 

[Shakim269]

The original tank was a 1 gallon tank(my ignorance beforehand) That is far to small for any fish! So I will just go ahead and do daily water changes.....trust me he had a few earfuls. I wasnt to happy about it.

 

[Gruntle]

If there's any way to put the guppy back where it came from, do it. Or keep a very close eye on your ammonia and nitrite levels and be prepared to do many water changes and often.
 
How far through the cycle were you?

 

[Shakim269]

Still at the beginning. Just now got nitrite readings.....I will be doing daily readings and water changes. He threw away the 1g tank..

 

[scrage]

Yea, just monitor the water closely. I did water changes, and tested daily and my betta went okay through the whole thing.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You do not need to water changes for nitrite, salt can handle that.
 
You also should be doing as few water changes as possible in order to get the cycle completed as soon as possible. This will involve measuring the pH and the ammonia and the temp and then using an ammonia calculator to determine how much of the ammonia is in the toxic NH3 form.  It is this that is the issue not the absolute total ammonia reading on your test kit.
 
But you negelected to give us the tank size. The smaller the tank the fewer fish one should have in it for a fish in cycle. Guppy are not a good choice of cycling fish. Zebra danios or small barbs would have been a better choice.

 

[Shakim269]

Okay,
My intention is that I did not want to do a FISH IN CYCLING! My boyfriend bought more guppies for my sons last guppy to have buddies then put them in my 10 gallon even though it wasnt done cycling. None of this is my intention. I was asking if I need to do a water change so I dont lose any. Not about what fish are good for cycling. I am not angry. Just trying to make myself clear on what I want to know.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

"I was asking if I need to do a water change so I don't lose any."
 

 
You do not need to water changes for nitrite, salt can handle that.
 
You also should be doing as few water changes as possible in order to get the cycle completed as soon as possible. This will involve measuring the pH and the ammonia and the temp and then using an ammonia calculator to determine how much of the ammonia is in the toxic NH3 form.  It is this that is the issue not the absolute total ammonia reading on your test kit.

 
Fish in cycling is much more complex than fishless. You need to know about NH3 vs NH4 as this determines when a water change is in order. And then you need to monitor the fish. At .50 ppm of ammonia at your temp and pH you have .0084 ppm of NH3. .02 ppm or below is very safe and the danger line is at .05 ppm. However, I normally suggest that no matter what the NH3 level is, total ammonia over 2 ppm should not be allowed for more than a day or two. Of course, should he fish show signs of distress, one water changes no matter what the params are.
 
Nitrite can be blocked from harming fish using chloride. Chloride is 2/3 of plain old table salt, so using a small amount of salt is all it takes to help with nitrite. The desired concentration of chloride is 10 times the concentration of nitrite.

 

[Shakim269]

So many complications.....will have to chew him out again....he just dont understand....ugh!

Thanks. Will keep an eye on them. They are pretty. Just wish my bf understood what I meant when I said no fish yet.....yeesh...

 

[Ciddire]

I hope everything works out and your fish make it out okay :3

 

[Shakim269]

Update! Everything is working smoothly. And my tank is cycled now. So I am relaxed more so. I started a 8g as well and used tetra safestart. That cycled in 2 days. So it worked for me. Figured it wouldnt hurt to try. Anyways, I have some cories now in the 10g (pygmy of course) and I am thinking of doing a puffer in the 8g....still making sure since I added a few plants. Thank you all for your help!

 

[scrage]

Yay! Glad everythiing went fine.