juwanil

And i am showing 1 ppg of ammonia no nitrites and no nitrates..... I used Tetra Safe Start and added 8 zebra danios. I guess that Tetra Safe Start doesnt help. I have lost none of the fish and they all look very healthy and swim around ALOT. Any input?

Juwanil

Christian Patti

Well it could be that your readings are off. What are you using to get these tests? If its a test strip I would recommend buying Aquarium Pharmaceuticals liquid test kit. And make sure if you do have a AF kit that you shake nitrate bottle 2 extremely well before adding drops. Then shake the tube and wait a few minutes.

Also what size tank is this, It could be possible that the zebra danios are just really tough and making it through the cycle.

Keep this thread updated because I'm very interesting in the Tetra Safe start for one of my new tanks. I've heard nothing but good things about it so I hope everything goes well for you,

juwanil

I bought an aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit. i waited five minutes after testing and made sure to shake the #2 bottle alot. Its a 30 Gallon tank. also i just got a light today could that be what was holding off the bacteria from forming?

Lucy

The light shouldn't effect it. Have you changed any water? Cleaned the media? What water conditioner are you using?

I've never used Safe Start, but others here have, hopefully they'll see this and give you some insight.
Some have had good results with it, other's haven't.

Good luck

juwanil

I havent changed the water yet, just filled what has evaporated. Im using tetra aqua safe as a conditioner. Im running a marineland HOB penguin, I just checked the filter pad and it is starting to get green spots on it which is good.

jdhef

Did you add the Danio's right after adding the Safe Start? I'm not familiar with Tetra Aqua Safe. Does it claim to "lock up" ammonia? Was it recommended on the Safe Start packaging?

It is possible that the Safe Start didn't work for some reason. If that is the case, you should be doing daily 50% water changes until the tank cycles to protect your Danio's. To be honest with you, I didn't know about fishless cycling when I cycled my tank and just threw in 4 Danio's and never did any water changes. One Danio died after a couple of weeks, and one died a few weeks after the cycle was compete. The other two are going strong.

juwanil

I added them right after adding safestart. Im using aqua safe when i add new water because it is a dechlorinator. It actually claims to help the bacteriological bed so i cant imagine that that is the problem. How long did it take for your tank to cycle using just the danios?

jdhef

It took about 5 1/2 weeks to cycle.

It's puzzling that the Safe Start didn't seem to work. Some water conditioners, such as Prime "lock up" the ammonia for 24 hours so that it's not toxic to the fish (but doesn't feed the bacteria so the bacteria dies off), but it sounds like the Aqua Safe should have been fine to use with Safe Start.

clinton1621

I have used Aqua Safe, its basically just a chlorine/chloramine remover with a slime coat enhancer, it also claims to have an enzyme in it to help "boost" bacterial growth... in my opinion all it does other than remove the chlorine is cause everything in the tank to get covered in whiteish clear slime, especially the glass! I like to use a plain chlorine remover with no "slime coat enhancers" for that reason.... thats a little off topic though, I dont see why it would interfere with Safe Start in anyway because it doesnt do anything for ammonia so thats probably not your cause. I would guess even though you added Safe Start you didnt have enough biologicals breaking down to produce enough ammonia to support your bacteria until the fish were added, thats why your readings are spiking now... as everyone else has already mentioned 1ppm ammonia is very bad, so you definitely want to start those water changes... even without physical signs your fish probably already are getting ammonia poisoning as it usually doesnt show up until its too late

Christian Patti

I think I know why your fish are doing fine and your getting bizarre readings. When you use SafeStart your supposed to put it in, add the fish, then wait a week. Testing before a week is up will give you wacky results that you should just disregard.

-Christian

juwanil

Christian- it has been over a week.
Clinton- i added the fish right away after adding safe start.

Would it be a good idea to dose it again with safe start??
My tank looks like it has millions of tiny white particles floating all over the place..... along wth tiny air bubbles which i think are from the filter. The white stuff i am not so sure.
I also noticed today that my filter pad is finally coated in a green slime, my guess is beneficial bacteria. Whcih is a good sign.

Thank you all for the help so far

clinton1621

When you say white stuff floating... does the water look cloudy or is it floating on the surface?? If its cloudy then the "white" you see floating around is a bacteria bloom due to the ammonia.

Christian Patti

The white cloudyness is bacteria that should go away in a few days. And sorry for the time confusion.

clinton1621

Heres the bottom line....

Your tank is NOT cycled, your ammonia is 1ppm which is slowly killing your fish as we speak

Your nitrates are 0 which confirms your tank is NOT cycled, any tank that has been completely through the cycle will show some nitrates

Dont worry about the cloudy white stuff floating around, its normal with a tank thats still cycling

You need to do daily 50% water changes starting now to lower your ammonia or your fish are most likely going to get ammonia poisoning and this will kill them

jdhef

I would try redosing with Safe Start. If that doesn't work, then I would say go to water changes.

juwanil

Would redosing with SafeStart help? It seems like it would but at $15 bucks a bottle im a little sceptic. I have an awesome local fishstore that carries everything imaginable so would cycle be a better choice? What else can i do to help it along

jdhef

I would stay away from Cycle. From what I understand, Cycle never Cycles your tank and you need to add it at regular intervals for the life of the tank.

To me, it would be worth the $15 to have a chance to avoid daily 50% water changes for several weeks, but it really comes down to your own choice.

lilsoccakid

im pretty sure with tetra safe start your not supposed to change the water, or so any water testing for the first week, because although the tests will look rediculous, your fish are safe.

if you have changed the water because of the tests, that is probably the cause of any probablems