Evelyn1919

this is the best explanation of the cycle and of what you need to do. just water changes and water changes. that's all that will help.

when i was also going through the cycle i used ammolock which is jus tlike the chips you got at the petstore but the thing with those chemicals is that you'll never be done with your cycle. i was also going crazy because like you said the people at the pet stores usually sound like they know how to do all this stuff. when i went to purchase my tank and everything i needed i talked to the "marine biologist" who works at the fish store and he also said that he had a 75gal tank and a 20gal tank. he told me that after 24 hours of me setting up my tank i should add fish and i followed his advice. after adding my fish (4 neons, 2 long fin rosy barbs and 2 rasboras) within 24hours there was only 1 rasbora and 1 long fin rosy barb left and all the others were dead. i then went crazy and purchased biospira online and cuz i was freakin out i got the salt water one and it was no good anyways so finally i found this website and everyone here said to just do water changes and so i did. my ammonia went up to 8ppm!!! and i was doing 2 50% water changes everyday for like a week. when finnaly my ammonia went down to like 2ppm or something like that i did only 50% everyday and then that went on for a few weeks, after i was doing 25% water changes and finally after like 4 months my tank is finally cycled and i managed to save many fish.

all i can say is don't even bother with the biospira because i went and used it and it works great but i just added ammolock cuz i freaked out with the ammonia and that killed all the bacteria in the biospira.
just keep doing your water changes. i know it is a lot of work and just immagine doing 2 50% water changes everyday in a 75gal tank. i bought a 20gal bucked and i was pulling it up and down my apartment all the time.
my b/f came home the other day with a big surprise for me the python hose thing that hooks to my kitchen sink and guess what?!! no more buckets for me. if you can afford it then get it it is great and way easier.

GOOD LUCK!

ps: sorry about this looooong posting but i think that if you know what other people have gone through then you'll feel a little better.
oh and i'm not saying your tank will take 4 months to cycle, that's just what happened to me for not being patient and keep adding fish.

lalynya

4months seems like an awfully looong time..It shouldn't take that long

Evelyn1919

i know it should not take that long. here is the story:
first i had cycled my tank with biospira in a week but then i bought ammolock and added it to my tank all thanks to a employee at the LFS and then i added 10 neons and more biospira so the whole thing went crazy. after adding the 10 neons i had ammonia readings of 8ppm so i started doing two water changes a day (50%) because that's what people here told me to do. after that i had lower ammonia readings and just last week i started getting ammonia readings of 0ppm so i'm guessing it is finaly over. thank god!!! plus i was cycling with all my fish in so i had to keep doing big water changes cuz i didn't want anymore to die. i lost all my lil otto catfish though

tko187

It gets worse guys, i just noticed white spots on a lot my fish and i think im goin mad!!!! My betta is definately got them and so has my neon tetras. Im so worried what should i do, i cant give the fish back and i aint got a quarantine tank, what is the best method.

I have also just done a water change again of 50% and did my tests before all the same results exept for nitrites are now showing. Is this good or bad.

Any help on the white spots would be good, i have turned up the temp, but i dont know if this might be bad for some of he fish, should i post this somewhere else?

Lucy

Showing nitrites means your on your way to cycling, what is your ammonia reading?

Do the white spots look like salt or is it fuzzy?

tko187

thanks lucy they look like salt, i upped the temp but i dont know if it will affect all my fish will they be okay with the higher temp??

Should i add salt and if so how much? Thanks, i think ive totally duffed this one up properly, Shall i just start over from the begining again.

Sorry the ammonia is the same as before>

Lucy

That's a good sign! Keep the water changes up.

Edit: I answered your other question in the other thread.

Alessa

have you read the nitrogen cycle posts by me and numerous other people?

nitrites go up and then ammonia will start to go down by itself ITS THE CYCLE.

about the white spots i think is unrelated to the cycle.... maybe ich? i haven't experience with fish diseases so i hope someone else can come up with with a comment on that.

just whatever you do dont stop the water changes.

Lucy

Ich can be brought on by the stress of the cycle and water conditions, so it's probably related.

lalynya

I was gunna say that sounds like ich...which I don't know if you can safely use meds while in the middle of your cycle..a lot of ich meds require you to take out filter cartiges..you mike just have to use the salt for now and hope that it helps..and all the water changes should help with it as well

Lucy

Salt can be pretty abrasive, just raising the temp to 83 for a full 2 weeks should take care of it, oh and daily water changes.

Fishies-for-me

I have used both salt and heat as well as meds for ick...I have a 36 gallon which had 10 cherry barbs and 10 glowlight tetras in it. I got ick starting on the cherrys and added quick cure which then killed 7 of the 10 cherrys. I pulled the meds out with water changes and carbon and then just added salt ( controversial ) and raised the heat to 84. The tank has been ick free since a few days after. The 10 glowlights took the meds ok...just going off their feed for a few days and being a little lethargic but the cherrys took it real hard. The 3 that lived , hid out for a month and hardly ate...they are doing good now but oh so skinny...they are coming along fine. I have used salt for a lot of fungal things and just as a tonic but I learned that many years ago ...now peeps say not to use it. The heat is what kills the ick tho...they can't take the high temps ..so while you are cycling I would just try to see if the heat will take care of it. not sure if all of the fish like such high temps but if they can stand it I would go for it as the ick will kill them anyhow...sorry for the long story but just wanted to show you that heat alone can cure...good luck.

tko187

Update..... Stilldoing water changes just done a test before i change water again, heres the results

Ammonia still at 0.50
nitrite 1.0
nitrate 5.0 Yipeee!!!!
ph 7.6

It looks like its starting to work guys thanks for all the help, tell me if im right!!

Lucy

Yup, coming along nicely, keep testing and doing daily water changes. You're doing good.

How are your fish doing?

Alessa

ok, its coming along, just keep an eye open during the nitrite spike... ammonia should be getting down to 0 soon so good job and keep it up!

tko187

Hi peeps, hope your all well, I lost another fish today, a guppy thats three in total since i setup.

Just wanted to update you really:

1. Ammonia 0.25 - has come down from 0.50
2. Nitrite 5.0 - has went up from 1.0
3. Nitrate 10 - has went up from 5.0
4. ph 7.2 - has came down from 7.6

I think its working, tell me if im wrong, added some live bacteria yesterday so i am not doing a water change today, unless you can advise differently.

Also regarding the white spot, i am not using any meds, just boosting the temp really. I think i should deal with the nitrogen cycle which is probably the reason for the ich outbreak. I think we are on the way, and it thanks to u all!!

Calab

Just looked at my Hagen test kit... anything over 0.3ppm is supposed to be bad. I'd probably do the water change ASAP, then add any bacteria. Keep up with the water changes daily.

BTW, what kind of bacteria did you add? What brand? From everything I've read, and tried myself, the ONLY bacteria additive that works is Bio-spira... and only if it was refrigerated and handled properly!

Fish Addict

Is it just me, but I thought that the reason you turned up the heat was so they would spawn...