DarkFin

DarkFin

will someone help?

Jess

Start changing your water out everyday by 50%. This will help your fish survive the cycle. Also you could use AmmoLock to instantly detoxifies ammonia. Follow the directions on the bottle.
If you don't already have a test for checking your water you need to pick one up. You will need to test each day to see if your ammonia is gone. This is all very basic, I sure someone will see this post and elaborate more. Good luck, hope your guys make it.

dennis

It can take up to 8 weeks. First your ammonia will build to higher levels. Then you will start to get nitrite readings and your ammonia levels starts to fall. Whenever you start to get nitrate readings and your nitrite and ammonia readings drop that means you are closed to being cycled. Follow the instructions given by Jess and you should be fine.

DarkFin

but if I try to take the ammonia out, wont it never turn into nitrite? and I cant test it everyday. those strips are expensive, and I dont have much money

Alessa

you can either do the 50% daily water changes with an ammonia detoxifying agent (I recomend prime instead of ammolock, since it detoxifies nitrites as well) until the tank cycles, (which will take a while), or use a product called "tetra safe start" which will pretty much have you cycled almost instantly, or within a few days.

if you dont do either of those two the fish may die, as you seem to be only in the begining of your cycle.

good luck.

Ps. You dont have to test it everyday if you are doing either one of the processes I described. And yes, if you take out the ammonia it will take longer but if you dont your fish will begin to die.

DarkFin

what about the product, stress zyme?

Beeker

Your best bet is daily 50% water changes, and I would use Prime instead of AmmoLock. Prime will detoxify the ammonia so it isn't dangerous for the fish for 24 hrs and will still allow it to be available for the bacteria to feed on it. If Prime is not available, Stress Coat + is also good. Just make sure it is the + version.

DarkFin

I have stress zyme and stress coat, how many days should i use it, everyday or every other day.

Alessa

Stress zyme will "speed up" the proccess, but will not do it significantly. Your fish will still be exposed to high levels of nitrite or ammonia.

Tetra Safe Start is the only product that will do it in a week or less. That, or daily water changes for a good 4-8 weeks with or without stress zyme.

Lucy

Sometimes you have to be a little patient for the right members to come along who can answer your question.

Jess answered in 9 minutes of your original post
4 responses in 16 minutes is pretty good.

DarkFin

ok, I wont be able to go to the pet store in a long time, so I will change the water daily for awhile.

Jess

You still need to invest in a good test kit. Not the strips. They aren't very accurate.
Remember you've already invested in your tank and your fish. This is the last piece to help you get the information to make it all work. Otherwise your just guessing. . .

sirdarksol

Prime, StressCoat+, AmQuel+, and Ultimate are all equivalent products (there's another one, though I can't remember what it's called).

You asked if there was a way to speed things up. Yes, there is. There are actually two good ways. The first is the product called Tetra Safestart. This is one of very few products that actually speeds the cycle of the tank. I would not trust any other "cycle" product.
The other method is to take used filter media, frilly plants (real or fake), or gravel from another aquarium and put them in your own. Make sure they stay wet (in a baggy of aquarium water). If you get filter media, jury rig it so you can fit it in your own filter (I usually just tuck it in the space in the back of the filter. If you get frilly plants, put them in front of the filter output. If you get gravel, put it in a nylon stocking and hang it somewhere near the filter output. Any of these will transport a large amount of nitrifying bacteria to your aquarium. Leave them there for a month or so (even after your water is coming up with no ammonia or nitrites), and then you can pull them out.

Aside from that, in the long run, they aren't cost-effective. They seem cheaper when you're looking at the $8 bottle versus the $20 API test kit, but that's usually for 25 tests, while the API kit does a hundred or more tests.

Jess

Ahh, nice reply sirdarksol. Of course I forgot to add the seeded start.

sirdarksol

Thanks. You've been doing a good job, yourself.

TennThunder

Moderator Jess, here we come!

Jess

Blushing. . .ahh such flattery.