Please help... panicking

[Hendre]

this. thank you for stepping in lol...my head hurt reading through this one haha. That's not a stab at you OP, its hell when you are new to this and think the pet stores are a good source of info...they aren't.

Depends, I listen to some shops and others I Ignore. There is a difference between the one shop knowing basically the same info as the internet and a guy telling me a jardini fits in my 4ft tanks.

Seachem Stability may help, I use it 3 days prior to introducing (sensitive) fish and it works fine. May help speed the cycle. Prime binds ammonia afaik and this may only harm the cycle by withholding ammonia for the filter

 

[predatorkeeper87]

Depends, I listen to some shops and others I Ignore. There is a difference between the one shop knowing basically the same info as the internet and a guy telling me a jardini fits in my 4ft tanks.




Seachem Stability may help, I use it 3 days prior to introducing (sensitive) fish and it works fine. May help speed the cycle. Prime binds ammonia afaik and this may only harm the cycle by withholding ammonia for the filter

Stability is best used the same time you add the fish, the bacteria needs a food source and the fish waste is it. 3 days may be ok but bacteria may start to die off in that time frame.




Prime binds ammonia/nitrite to make it harmless to fish BUT the filter can still consume it, it doesn't withhold the food source from the bacteria, it was specifically designed for this. That's why its a great emergency product if your tank crashes overnight due to a filter malfunction or whatever.




I have one lfs near me that I may accept advice from but its still iffy for me lol, I'd rather just pop a thread up here and wait for the heavyweights to chime in. I take way more comfort in advice on here.

 

[Hendre]

The 3 days lets it just establish a little without dying.

That's new, I'll keep that in mind in future.

I don't go only on LFS info alone, but I trust their advice a bit

 

[predatorkeeper87]

The 3 days lets it just establish a little without dying.




That's new, I'll keep that in mind in future.




I don't go only on LFS info alone, but I trust their advice a bit

cant establish without food haha not trying to pick a fight brah just don't want ya to waste that hard earned cash on expensive ass stability and have it maybe not work haha

 

[duanes]

From reading the OPs 1st post again, there are 10 fish and a frog in a 60 gal tank (And I assume that was the beginning population).
Not a big deal, if the keeper is experienced, and totally aware of the nitrogen cycle, but this in a new uncycled tank, and a newbee is a major overstock.
In a new uncycled tank, this is the makings of lots of dead fish, I'msurprised they lasted this long.
If you started with only the live bearers, and or the anabantids you may have squeaked by.
But all those fish constantly urinating ammonia all at once without a fully cycled, bacterial population to consume the waste, well.... any store that tells you this is OK, is not to be trusted.

 

[magpie]

I'm going to go back to stressing that if you can get established filter media this is the singularly best thing to get your tank on track.

But I also strongly recommend adding some live plants now as well, even if you don't put them in the substrate, especially floating plants. Even if you don't want them in there long term they can help you now.

Hopefully everyone here has explained things a little more for you re: the water changes. I have always done 50% water changes weekly on my tanks. When you start a tank though, it frequently needs to be more, and definitely so if you have a bunch of fish in the tank.

 

[skjl47]

water changes every day would not be too much.

Hello; fish ad waste (ammonia) constantly. If you overfeed this adds ammonia from decay byproducts and so on. In your case weekly WC is not enough. Right now more frequent WC. Later when the tank is cycled less frequent can work.

stressing that if you can get established filter media this is the singularly best thing to get your tank on track.

adding some live plants now as well

Hello; magpie has it down with these suggestions.

Hello; unfortunately you have experienced a problem with this hobby in that there are so often conflicting points of view and sometimes very poor advice. Not sure how to suggest which advice you should take to heart. That will be your call. I was fortunate when I joined this forum around six years ago as I had been keeping freshwater tropical since 1959. I had made plenty of mistakes on my own and found ways that worked. Even so I have butted heads with other members about proceedures in threads.

Good luck again

 

[Jriley]

Man guys thanks so much for all your advice. I do want to clarify a few quick things because I plan on sticking around here. Just want to say that although I am new to the hobby I'm not one of those impatient ones who just dived in blindly. I studied for hours a day, for months before starting my first tank and still study almost every night. Just saying this because I hope you guys don't think I'm clueless. I regularly have to school fish store employees on bad info. I know how decipher things usually but I have never run into an issue with so many conflicting thoughts. So, just to be clear...

I did a live cycle on the tank with only a few platys and a Molly's. I started the tank using quick start which contains nitrifying bacteria and helps eliminate ammonia and nitrites. I use it every time I change the water as well. After about 4-5 weeks I saw that my water was measuring on point every time, unfortunately using the strips. My strips had been consistent from day one, so although I was aware of the normal consensus there I thought they were working properly. So after 4-5 weeks then I added in the rest of the fish other than the rope. It is only now after over 8-9 weeks of perfect readings I added in the rope. This is where obviously the problems started. I have never noticed any signs of heavy breathing or any other problems before. I observe them closely every day. When I tested the water with the API Master kit and saw my nitrites were very high I tested immediately after with a strip and it said my nitrites were 0. First problem discovered right there. Lesson learned. My tank obviously isn't cycled, but what's not clear to me is why not? Why only now are the fish exhibiting symptoms. Why is my tank not cycled after over two months with fish living in it and doing %50 water changes weekly, adding nitrifying bacteria weekly, with two bio wheels, live fish and plenty of surface area for BB to populate? Not sure what I have done wrong in the process here because according to all of the info I have gathered it should be cycled. Obviously the strips misled me but I am fortunate this happened before it got worse. Now I will go get some established media and add that and take your guys's advice and do a 25% change daily until the nitrites are down. However, a couple last questions to make sure I get this right.

When I do the changes should I be cleaning the waste from the gravel as well or leaving it? May sound stupid but I'm under the impression waste becomes ammonia/nitrite/nitrate so I want to be sure.

I don't believe I'm over feeding. I hand feed blood worms twice a day and feed the pleco an algae wafer, just enough it's gone in a couple of hours. I use tropical flakes but just enough for the fish to eat every single flake within 30 seconds and not have one drop to the bottom. So should I cut back on feeding?

Lastly, can anyone explain why ammonia is 0 but nitrite is so high? Does that show I am towards the end of a cycle or is the quick start working eliminating the ammonia but not the nitrite?


You guys seriously kick butt. So glad I made this post here, and glad to finally join this community. Apologies for all the confusion. I intend to do this right and not make dumb mistakes. Guess that's part of the game though.

 

[Jriley]

Man guys thanks so much for all your advice. I do want to clarify a few quick things because I plan on sticking around here. Just want to say that although I am new to the hobby I'm not one of those impatient ones who just dived in blindly. I studied for hours a day, for months before starting my first tank and still study almost every night. Just saying this because I hope you guys don't think I'm clueless. I regularly have to school fish store employees on bad info. I know how decipher things usually but I have never run into an issue with so many conflicting thoughts. So, just to be clear...

I did a live cycle on the tank with only a few platys and a Molly's. I started the tank using quick start which contains nitrifying bacteria and helps eliminate ammonia and nitrites. I use it every time I change the water as well. After about 4-5 weeks I saw that my water was measuring on point every time, unfortunately using the strips. My strips had been consistent from day one, so although I was aware of the normal consensus there I thought they were working properly. So after 4-5 weeks then I added in the rest of the fish other than the rope. It is only now after over 8-9 weeks of perfect readings I added in the rope. This is where obviously the problems started. I have never noticed any signs of heavy breathing or any other problems before. I observe them closely every day. When I tested the water with the API Master kit and saw my nitrites were very high I tested immediately after with a strip and it said my nitrites were 0. First problem discovered right there. Lesson learned. My tank obviously isn't cycled, but what's not clear to me is why not? Why only now are the fish exhibiting symptoms. Why is my tank not cycled after over two months with fish living in it and doing %50 water changes weekly, adding nitrifying bacteria weekly, with two bio wheels, live fish and plenty of surface area for BB to populate? Not sure what I have done wrong in the process here because according to all of the info I have gathered it should be cycled. Obviously the strips misled me but I am fortunate this happened before it got worse. Now I will go get some established media and add that and take your guys's advice and do a 25% change daily until the nitrites are down. However, a couple last questions to make sure I get this right.

When I do the changes should I be cleaning the waste from the gravel as well or leaving it? May sound stupid but I'm under the impression waste becomes ammonia/nitrite/nitrate so I want to be sure.

I don't believe I'm over feeding. I hand feed blood worms twice a day and feed the pleco an algae wafer, just enough it's gone in a couple of hours. I use tropical flakes but just enough for the fish to eat every single flake within 30 seconds and not have one drop to the bottom. So should I cut back on feeding?

Lastly, can anyone explain why ammonia is 0 but nitrite is so high? Does that show I am towards the end of a cycle or is the quick start working eliminating the ammonia but not the nitrite?


You guys seriously kick butt. So glad I made this post here, and glad to finally join this community. Apologies for all the confusion. I intend to do this right and not make dumb mistakes. Guess that's part of the game though.

P.s. I will get some live plants but how do they help me with high nitrite? Thanks again.

 

[Bigfishnut]

Ok, I'll tackle one of those questions, ammonia is 0 because the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite is thriving, but the bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate is not. I may be way off base, but my theory as to why may be that your using to many additives. I use nothing but prime to add to my tank when I'm doing waterchanges...never anything else. I keep freshwater rays and I breed discus, so I'm obviously not a beginner. I recommend doing large frequent waterchanges and don't add anything but prime. Also, don't mess with your filter. This may be another reason you are having nitrite problems. If you clean your filter it will disrupt your bacteria. Hope this is helpful