understanding a cycle

[Jessica]

Since we set up our tank over a year ago and I have never heard of a cycle, how do I know now where we are with the cycle.
I am not quite understanding the purpose of the whole cycle thing. Help is much needed. lol

Here is my situation since I started a year ago... I had posted it on the newbie board

We started our tank- a 10 gallon about a year ago as a family hobby. I bought all of our fish Two mollies and several neons,and our equiptment from a fish shop. I realize now that the owner of the shop didn't tell me half of what I needed to know.
First of all I only had our tank running for two days before we added fish to it. All went well for quite a while.

One of our mollies had babies. I captured many of them and held them in a net until they grew larger than the other fishes mouths and then let them go and let nature take its course. A few survived but over time they have died for reasons I am finding out about now that I have been reading here.
Then we started to get some algae and decided that we would get a snail. We went back to the fish shop and purchased a black mystery snail. He was a lovely sight and we enjoyed him for about a week or two and then he died.
We left the shell in the tank. I am not sure why I did that now because shortly after the snail died we purchased a swordtail who somehow found his way inside the snail shell and got stuck. Unfortunately he could not get himself free and I found him dead the next morning. I had also lost all of my neons but one.
Also one of the mollies had become deformed, his tail bent downward and having trouble swimming. Had no idea what was happening. Now at least I have an idea. I am scared at how this could be effecting my tank now. He dies the other day after I added new fish to the tank- had no idea what I should have done.

So last week I went to a pet shop and purchased two more mollies and six neons and one tetra and a plecosimus (sp?)
All together we have 3 mollies, 7 neons, 1 tetra, and a plecosimus (about 2 1/2 inches long).
My water has been cloudy. Last night I tested the water. The nitrite was high and so was the ammonia. I did a partial water change and added ACE to the water. About 1 tsp. The water looks much better now and I plan to let the tank do its own thing for a bit.
I notice white spots on a few of the fish also, I am going to pick up some meds today to treat them for ick. I can see some very tiny white things on the stones in the tank also, I am assuming that they are the eggs from the ick....?
Well, my tank is a bit of a mess and I'm getting stresed over it.

Not such a great intro of myself (real bad circumstances) but I really want to make our aquarium thrive and I am so, so thankful I have found this site!
Thank you, thank you

Jessica

I know 've got a mess on my hands, but I have serious intentions of getting this right and tryiong my hardest to have a healthy aquarium. Gosh, I wish I had found this site much, much sooner.

 

[heresmike]

First of all

The cycle is necessary to create a colony of good bacteria in your bio-filter. They will constantly be at work to remove the ammonia. There's more detail about this in the pinned thread titled "Avoiding and treating new tank syndrome".

The cloudy water is most likely a bacteria bloom (part of the cycle) caused by the fish that you added. The bacteria in your filter wasn't sufficient to take care of the extra ammonia being produced by the fish you added. As more bacteria builds up, the ammonia and nitrites should return to zero, and the nitrates will be high. You should then do partial water changes on a regular basis to control the level of nitrates. Acceptable level of nitrates depends on the fish... but I'd say anything over 40 would be too high for most fish.

Hope this helps!

 

[jams.alaskan]

Hi Jessica, From reading your post it seems that you are reading posts about the cycle and people with the same problems. I'm fairly new here so will let those with more experience help you along. I just wanted to welcome you and tell you best of luck.

ALASKA

 

[Jessica]

I just read htat thread and yes, I have a much better understanding of what a cycle is now.

I think the problem is a number of things- changing the filter too often, like it says on the box
and adding too many new fish at one time.

So I am contiplating on whether or not I should treat the ick with medication or let the aquarium cycle naturally and hope that the ick goes away.
Which would you suggest?

Also I am wondering if maybe I should add some salt. Will my fish tolerate it? Will it really help rid of the ick?

As it says on the thread- do partial water changes daily and dechlorinate the water.
So how much ACE should I add when I do the 10-15% water change? Should I continue to add 1 tsp?

Unfortunately I don't think I have access to a mature filter or gravel, so I am kinda stuck wth what I have,

Also I do not have gravel, I have glass pebbles Could this be a part of the problem as well? It seems to make cleaning easier as it is easier to get to the bottom, unlike gravel.

Thanks for all of your help,

Jessica

 

[sunbot]

hi jess i know ur looking at this page bottom left hand corner

Thank's i didnt know that cycleing thingeaither so you not on your own.

 

[Jessica]

I'm bumping cause I'm leaving in an hour and a half to the store with a fish enthusiast friend who is going to help, but I really need advice on what to do about the ick and if I shuld get marine salt or not.

Help Please!!!

 

[modernhamlet]

I'll leave the ick treatment to the experts, but skip the salt, as it will likely not agree with the plec. From what I hear, you should probably increase the water temperature some.

Since it's the stress of the cycling tank that's causing the ick, what will probably help your fish more than anything else are frequent water changes. Until the ammonia and nitrites are under control, I would test everday and do a water change if either gets much above 1ppm. Daily if you have to. Yes, this will probably make it take longer to cycle, but you owe it to the fish to stress them as little as possible.

Good luck! And a hearty welcome!

 

[Jessica]

I did another partial water change tonight and added Quick Cure to it. I removed the carbon from the filter and you will not believe this but as I was cleaning out water I found a baby! I am wondering if it will survive the treatment...

Water is actually looking much better than it did yesterday.

Should my readings come out clear with the Quick Cure? I haven't tested yet- been only an hour since I did the water change.