Shawnie

im sorry for another loss did you do a water change yet today with your prime? we cant tell you who to listen to by any means, but your tank isnt cycled and it needs to be...the LFS are out to make money not save your fish..we make nothing off helping you ..good luck!

marisaaa

It's fine, it's not your fault.

iloveengl told me to rinse everything, refill, and put in some Prime. I rinsed and I'm refilling the tank now. I need to acclimate all the fish, too.

Shawnie

you emptied the entire tank?
why did she have you empty everything and wash it down?

marisaaa

Please Help The Last One Is Dying! It's Upside Down!!!!!

Shawnie

marisaaa..im trying to help ....you said you rinsed everything and cleaned it and now are refilling it...where are your fish?

iloveengl

The day before yesterday? Maybe yesterday? The cycle in her tank was already killed (according to her other thread) and then she used dish soap to wash her tank. Shortly after, a fish died, then she came here. I suggested she rinse out that soap. And use Prime for daily water changes until the tank was cycled.

But I thought from her convos. she had already rinsed off the soap and conditioned the water for her remaining fish....

There have been two threads by Marisaaa on the same topic, so the details are getting wonky.

I'm not sure what's the most recent activity or what's been done over the past day or two? Has another fish died? Was the original water changed before now?

marisaaa

Thank you so much for your help. All of my Balloon Mollies are dead now though.

iloveengl

OH Marisaa - I'm so sorry you lost your fishies.

...Do you now have an Oto and another fish in there? They still need the AquaSafe and ammo-lock or just the Prime in that water. If you still don't have those products, can you take your fish to a petstore or a friend who has a tank?

CHoffman

I agree with iloveengl. If there was soap residue in the tank that is fatal for fish, combined with an uncycled tank there was allot wrong. Do you have any other fish in the tank at the moment, if you do like ilovengl suggested you should return them to the LFS or let a friend with a cyled tank care for them until your tank is ready for fish. Once you have no fish left in the tank we can all walk you through a fishless cycle. It's the easiest way to cycle a tank and no fish are required. I'm so sorry you've had such bad luck with your fish, It's super hard to see them die and not be able to help them. It sounds like your on the right track though so I'm hopeful you can turn this around and start enjoying this wonderful hobby.

marisaaa

Sorry for all of the confusion! I was just sooo worried about the poor Mollies! I was actually starting to cry after the last one died.
I feel so guilty.

I do have Prime and Aqua Safe.

I don't have any friends with fish actually. I'm afraid to trust Petsmart because when I was getting the 3 mollies, I noticed there was only 2 in the bag. I went back to ask and then I saw a poor little one in the bowl he was using to transfer, with no water in it at all!

I think I'm going to have to cycle with fish... I listened to what iloveengl said about rinsing then adding Prime. I did that to the tank and added the fish. Hopefully it's not another mistake, I can't take killing another fish.

Thanks to everyone...and really iloveengl, thanks for answering everything since my first question. I'm glad you haven't given up on me yet.

iloveengl

Thanks for clarifying what's going on with the tank. It helps us understand how to help.

We will do our best to help you through this without losing anymore fish. (Though, I'm sorry we weren't here soon enough to save the mollies. I know how hard it is to lose your fish.)

It really wasn't the best to get new fish for the tank - will the store take them back? ...Fishless cycling is much less stressful for you and the fish....

At least you have the soap rinsed out and Prime, so you're much better prepared to handle fish-in cycling. They are in the temporary 5g, right? So, once a day change about 1.5 - 2.5 gallons. Add about 3-4 drops of Prime per Gallon of water you add. It can take about a month to cycle safely with fish.

(Especially in such a small tank, double check that the water you're adding is really close to the same as the temp as the tank, otherwise the fishies may go into shock.)

Oh, and you won't need to use your Aquasafe for now (save that to use for after cycling .

bmxer193

I highly recommend using a product called cycle. It helped me cycle my 29 gal in 2 weeks when I was in a situation where I really need that tank ready (10 gal was full of fish I got as gifts). Here it is so you know what it looks like, this one is VERY pricey (maybe its just a huge bottle) it should cost more like $5
http://www.animalworldnetwork.com/cyc16ozfwtre.html

aquarist48

Good morning. I personally do not recommend using the product "Cycle" as it doesn't contain the necessary bacteria to sustain your cycle without having to add it for the life of the tank. If you stop using the Cycle product your biological cycle could crash resulting in fish loss.
Bmxer keep an eye on your cycle readings and best of luck to you both.
Ken

bmxer193

I haven used in almost 2 years, I only used it to start/speed up cycling

aquarist48

Hello Bmxer. So glad to hear it worked for you. I still advise caution because the bacteria in Cycle dies off quickly and uses up the ammonia the beneficial bacteria need to develop. That is why it should be added with each water change.
Ken

bolivianbaby

I agree with Aquarist48. It doesn't contain the correct type of bacteria to correctly cycle a tank. If a tank isn't cycled correctly, the fish are at risk.

marisaaa

Thank you so much! and yes, 5 gallons.

It says 2 drops per gallon on the bottle, should I still do the 3-4?

iloveengl

If the bottle says two, shoot for two. When I first cycled mine, I was a worry wort so I overdosed mine. Overdosing with Prime can't hurt anything if it's only a couple extra drops. Just don't dump half a bottle in.

marisaaa

Ahahaha I won't. Umm and when I'm done cycling what should I do about the water changes? Still I still use the Prime when I'm done or will the Aqua Safe control the ammonia, chlorine, etc.?

CHoffman

I would suggest still using Prime. I use it for every w/c and I'm pretty sure most members here do. Once your tank is cycled you can do 20% weekly water changes, it gets much easier after it's cycled.

iloveengl

I agree with Choffman. I still use Prime when I add more fish (for the first week or so) because sometimes adding additional fish can increase ammonia and send your tank into a mini-cycle.

Since you already have a bottle of AquaSafe, it won't hurt to use it later on once you are 100% absolutely positively certain you're cycled .

Once you get your new tank for your turtle, you could fishless cycle that 15g. It's WAY easier and less work and no Prime needed to do fishless cycle.

marisaaa

I could use Prime for the fish. I'm not wasting the Aqua Safe, because I use it for my turtle. I just want what's best for my new fish.