Angelika

This is a bit of a continuation of my 2 day trip away........ as some of you may remember last weekend when I got back from Vegas after being away for 2 days, one of my 2 glo fish had completely vanished...... I put it down to my angel fish.......... a day or so later a pregnant platy was dead with a hole in her side.......... so I came on here for advice......... this morning, my other pregnant platy was literally torn apart and eaten............ and my other last platy was literally hiding under or more like he had scrambled under the tightest rock at the back and was not coming out for dear life........

SO.... I got onto Craiglist and needed a quick tank.... I got a 22 gal just so I could save my other small fish from my Angel fiend............it was inexpensive came with all the gravel, plant etc... it will be good enough while I save for my 55 gal....

so the huge suprise was...........

I moved the remaining platy and glo fish to the 22 gal tank (as it has not cycled I chose to move them versus the angel and pleco) ..... I was cleaning out my 12 gal with the pleco and angel, and as I poured fresh water into the tank amidst the swirl and swish out came my long lost glo fish that vannished last week... he is healthy and happy and swimming about... I guess he was stuck in the filtration system some where... anyway, he is now in the 22 gal tank cycling with the others.... and they all seem so much happier right now, swimming about, versus hiding from the Angel..... so although its not a huge improvement on size, it will suffice for the time being....

Now.... onto the advice.....

I have put with the new tank which has not been cycled
- aqua fresh
- stress coat
- cycle
I placed a bag of the white cylinders from the old tank onto the gravel
2 gallons of the old water from the tank.. what else do I need to do?
and
Do I need to put the carbon bag into the filter in new tank or do I leave that out while its cycling?

what else can I do to help with speeding up the cycling process..
and what do I look for in my fish if they are not doing well...
... and last but not least - wish me luck!

sirdarksol

In my opinion, toss the Cycle. The bacteria in the product is actually a terrestrial bacteria, and dies after a week or so in the tank, dumping all of the ammonia it's consumed back into the system.

Are the "white cylinders" from the old tank's filter? If so, try to get some of them in the new filter. If your filter has the carbon bags you fill yourself, fill one with some of the cylinders instead of the carbon (the carbon is an iffy thing, as well. More and more folks on the forum are moving away from using it and using neutral filter media like ceramic bits, perhaps like the white cylinders you're describing).
or...
If you've got two pieces of filter media (usually a carbon bag and a sponge of some sort) in the old filter, take one of them and move it to the new filter. This will really speed things up.

An FYI, the water from the old tank does little. The nitrifying bacteria prefers to colonize objects rather than float free. That said, it won't really cause any harm, unless there was some illness in the old tank.

Angelika

the new filter doesnt use those white cylinders, but I could take some of my old tanks cylinders and put them in the bag supposed to be used for carbon and stuff that in the new filter, right now I have the whole bag of while cylinders sitting on the floor of the new tank....does it have to go into the filter system or can it remain on the floor? ... I could also take some of the old tanks carbon and put that in the new system too..... would I be better to use the white cylinders?

Lucy

It looks like sir has covered everything, I just wanted to say I'm glad you found your glo fish. Tricky little bugger. lol

COBettaCouple

Can you find 2 water conditioners called "Prime" and "Fish Protector"? If you can find either or both, I'd recommend using those to condition the water.

Angelika

I bought the aqua fresh as my water conditioner and to remove chlorimine, do I need Prime also..

Im starting to get worried that Im going to kill my fish in a cycling tank... but if I put them back with the ol' mean Angel they will get it there too....

Do I need to check my water daily starting tomorrow, and when the amonia starts to climb do I start 50% water changes.... oh Im all freaked out as I dont know what the heck Im doing... I feel like Im going to be a fish killer.... and all Im trying to do is save them from the Angel destroyer thats in my old little tank.

COBettaCouple

Daily water changes help keep the toxins lower. You don't NEED Prime, but if you can add it, the fish will be much better off. In addition to dealing with the heavy metals, it locks the nitrogen cycle toxins. The effect seems to be about 24 hours, so combined with the water changes, it's a great conditioner for cycling with fish and a great regular conditioner in case of spikes in water chemistry, etc.

Angelika

Thankyou, I will get some today.