Are we on the right path...finally?

Hello All,

Thank you for taking the time to read and perhaps reply. My 9 year old daughter recently decided she wanted to take on an aquarium with my help.

It's been many, many years since I've had an aquarium and the last fish I had were cichlids which were a very easy fish to take care of. After some horrendous poor advice from folks at PetSmart, 8 dead fish and a very distraught daughter, I think we are on the right path, but I am looking for more knowledgeable people to confirm or perhaps correct us.

Our setup

• 10 gallon tank
• (box? filter with Purigen media)
• Super Natural sand substrate
• No live plants
• Fish:
  • 1 Mystery Snail
  • 2 Ghost Shrimp
  • 1 small danio
  • 1 cherry barb
  • 1 blood fin tetra
  • 1 buenos aires tetra

We did not do a fishless cycle as we bought the aquarium and fish at the same time. I'm wondering if we are headed in the right direction in terms of the cycle completing.

For a week or two perhaps, the tank was fine. Didn't show any big numbers with ammonia, nitrates or nitrites.

Starting this week, I tested with the water with an API Master Kit and saw there are little to no nitrates, and holy purple batman, nitrites. Somewhere between 2.5 and 5.0 PPM. Our water is treated with chloramines so ammonia always shows up. I bought a toxic ammonia alert sensor that hangs in the tank and it shows "safe".

I've read some threads where it says this nitrite spike is normal near the end of the cycle. However, I'm wondering if that is true or if I need another type of filter medium with the Purigen such as a foam filter considering the Purigen will have to be recharged/replaced and some point and then I assume we'd have to start the cycle (nooooooooo) all over again?

Should we look in to adding an additional filter medium such as Seachem's Matrix in one of their bags, adding a foam filter?

Since the nitrite spike, we've been doing daily PWC of around 25% and treating the water beforehand with Prime and Stability.

My daughter loves these fish dearly and I hate to see her cry again over something else that I could do to prevent any other fish from dying. Overall, having a tropical aquarium has been a bigger challenge than my chichlids from a lifetime ago. Even with the nitrites being high, the fish seem happy and not stressed at all.

Thank you once again for your time and advice!

 

Are you aware that the danio, buenos aires tetras, bloodfin tetra, and cherry barb. They all need schools of at least 6. What kind of danio is it exactly. Anyways, you are going to have to rehome all of those tetras, barbs, and danios.

 

As to your cycle, do water changes with dechlorinated water until your ammonia plus nitrites equals less than 1.0 ppm

I'd also add some safestart to your tank to help out.

 

You seem like you've done everything right, EXCEPT the stocking. You can keep the mystery snail and ghost shrimp, but the Danio, cherry barb, and both tetras need to be in groups. A ten gallon does not provide enough space for a group of those fish. Plus the Danio is an extremely active fish (I have a group of 10 in my 75 gallon and they literally never stop moving, even when all the other fish are alseep). There's a ten gallon stocking list somewhere around here, if I don't link you to it I'm sure someone else will, haha

Regarding the cycling, keep dosing prime and stability, the nitrites will eventually turn into nitrates and at that point your cycle will be complete. Just be patient I wouldn't add any SafeStart or anything because I feel like that just complicates everything when you already seem fine. Regarding the filter media, in the hang on back filters, I always cut out a square of plain media and add it in with the cartridge and never change it. That square serves as the biological filter and is where all the beneficial bacteria will live. I'm sure someone will be able to advise you better on that as I did silent cycling with plants on my first two tanks and after that I just seeded with old media and dosed with prime. So I've never really done an actual cycle from scratch.

I hope this helps you out a little bit, I'm so sorry about all your other fishie losses. Whenever I see people buying fish from Petsmart/Petco it always makes me wonder what kind of advice the employees gave them. I bought a betta from Petco recently and the advice they gave me was horrible. I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

Good luck!!

-lovetuv

 

Hello JD...

When I became serious about the water keeping hobby, I was advised to get a larger tank. I got a 30 gallon and a hardy fish to cycle the tank. I used female Guppies. You can use Danios or Platys. You won't find a tougher species than these. They'll tolerate most mistakes in tank management.

Set up the tank with gravel, heater, filter and a floating plant like Hornwort or Water sprite. Add six to eight of these fish and let everything run a couple of days. Start feeding a little every day or two and with your water testing kit, test every day for traces of ammonia and nitrite. If you have a positive test for either, remove and replace roughly 8 to 10 gallons of the old water and replace that with treated tap water. Just feed a little and test daily. When several daily tests show not a trace of either ammonia or nitrite, the tank is cycled. Then just change out half or more of the water every week to keep the fish and plants healthy.

Realistically, if you don't have a similarly sized tank and not following something similar to this cycling procedure, your chances for success are limited.

Just one reporter's opinion.

Old

 

Sorry, missed the stability. Keep using the stability, don't switch to safe start

 

Are you aware that the danio, buenos aires tetras, bloodfin tetra, and cherry barb. They all need schools of at least 6. What kind of danio is it exactly. Anyways, you are going to have to rehome all of those tetras, barbs, and danios.

No I wasn't. The PetSmart employee said as long as they are community fish they will get along and they have been so far. It appears they play with each other unless they are being aggressive with one another.

Irregardless, I don't see how that effects the cycle at all?

You seem like you've done everything right, EXCEPT the stocking. You can keep the mystery snail and ghost shrimp, but the Danio, cherry barb, and both tetras need to be in groups. A ten gallon does not provide enough space for a group of those fish. Plus the Danio is an extremely active fish (I have a group of 10 in my 75 gallon and they literally never stop moving, even when all the other fish are alseep). There's a ten gallon stocking list somewhere around here, if I don't link you to it I'm sure someone else will, haha

Regarding the cycling, keep dosing prime and stability, the nitrites will eventually turn into nitrates and at that point your cycle will be complete. Just be patient I wouldn't add any SafeStart or anything because I feel like that just complicates everything when you already seem fine. Regarding the filter media, in the hang on back filters, I always cut out a square of plain media and add it in with the cartridge and never change it. That square serves as the biological filter and is where all the beneficial bacteria will live. I'm sure someone will be able to advise you better on that as I did silent cycling with plants on my first two tanks and after that I just seeded with old media and dosed with prime. So I've never really done an actual cycle from scratch.

I hope this helps you out a little bit, I'm so sorry about all your other fishie losses. Whenever I see people buying fish from Petsmart/Petco it always makes me wonder what kind of advice the employees gave them. I bought a betta from Petco recently and the advice they gave me was horrible. I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

Good luck!!

-lovetuv

Thank you!

I'll have to share the letter I wrote to the CEO of PetSmart...still waiting for my reply...

Sorry, missed the stability. Keep using the stability, don't switch to safe start

Will do, thank you!

 

The nitrite stage unfortunately is where a lot of fish will die because of the lack of oxygen. Prime will only detox 1 ppm of those nitrites so you'll want to do back to back water changes to get it down asap (give it 1 hr in between). At the higher nitrite you need to do a larger water change than 25%. You currently don't have any nitrates showing up?

 

The nitrite stage unfortunately is where a lot of fish will die because of the lack of oxygen. Prime will only detox 1 ppm of those nitrites so you'll want to do back to back water changes to get it down asap (give it 1 hr in between). At the higher nitrite you need to do a larger water change than 25%. You currently don't have any nitrates showing up?

That's correct, no nitrates at all.

I was worried about doing a larger change due to killing off any of the biological filter that had been established.

Maybe its' the Prime, but after a good size PWC, the nitrites are at 0.

 

That's correct, no nitrates at all.

I was worried about doing a larger change due to killing off any of the biological filter that had been established.

Maybe its' the Prime, but after a good size PWC, the nitrites are at 0.

Your biological filter lives in your actual filter media, so water changes don't really affect that. And maybe the water change combined with the stability/prime helped. Let's hope they stay down!

 

Water changes will not affect the bb as all of the good bacteria sits in your filter a small amount on your gravel and decor. I personally am ocd so I change my water every 3 days and my fish love it and no issues with disturbing the cycle.

Great! Glad to hear your nitrites are down to 0. The prime actually binds the nitrite putting it in a form not harmful to your fish. I would test tomorrow, 24 hrs after this last water change you've done to see what your readings look like. In a small tank the nitrates are generated pretty quickly so I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple days you start showing some. Also if your dosing stability as well it helps to speed up those nitrites into nitrates.

I know it's been mentioned but those tetras will need to be changed out for some other fish. Maybe guppies if your daughter likes them? You could stock 5 males comfortably with the snails and they're really amusing and active!

 

I know it's been mentioned but those tetras will need to be changed out for some other fish. Maybe guppies if your daughter likes them? You could stock 5 males comfortably with the snails and they're really amusing and active!

Agreed. The barb and danio also need to be removed. Without any friends of their own kind, fish will live a shorter and stressful life. It's like putting a human in with a turkey, sea lion, and cheetah. They may be able to coexist alone but it's not ideal.

 

Your biological filter lives in your actual filter media, so water changes don't really affect that. And maybe the water change combined with the stability/prime helped. Let's hope they stay down!

Thank you, and I hope so as well. I replaced the carbon filter the pump was outfitted with a Purigen one. The sounds like I should have a foam type or other filter in there as well?

One last question (hopefully) if I may.

The filter is a PetSmart TopFin little thing. I was looking at an AquaClear filter instead as it seemed better. Would this be a good move?

 

Thank you, and I hope so as well. I replaced the carbon filter the pump was outfitted with a Purigen one. The sounds like I should have a foam type or other filter in there as well?

Yes that's only a chemical filtration you need something to house the bb. I'm sorry not sure if you've mentioned it but what type of filter do you have?

One last question (hopefully) if I may.

The filter is a PetSmart TopFin little thing. I was looking at an AquaClear filter instead as it seemed better. Would this be a good move?

Aquaclear is a good hob filter. The top fin you have is most likely fine. The trick is just having the correct gph; for a 10 gal tank you'd want 100 gph filter (10x 10gal).

 

One last question (hopefully) if I may.

The filter is a PetSmart TopFin little thing. I was looking at an AquaClear filter instead as it seemed better. Would this be a good move?

Welcome to the forum

I believe the TopFin filter comes with just a filter cartridge. Are you saying you replaced that with a Purigen bag? If that's the case, you've lost whatever beneficial bacteria you've built up that lives in the floss material that surrounds the cartridge. As mentioned, Purigen only acts as your chemical filtration and would not be a good source of your bio filtration or mechanical, both of which are more important than chemical. I think this is why you don't show any nitrates or nitrites now. I'd take the Purigen out and put in some sponge or foam that will act as both your mechanical and bio filtration. If you're going to switch the filter out for an AquaClear, then that would be fine too. You'd basically be starting from scratch anyway, I'm afraid.

I also agree with the others that you have 4 different schooling fish, none of which really belong in a 10g. Leaving them there will likely cause them stress and more prone to sickness. I'd rehome them. 5-6 male guppies are a fantastic idea because of the different colors and patterns they come in if you were looking for variety.

Here are some other options:

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/stocking-list-for-10-gallons.207629/

 

Ah, that's what my guess was. The filter only came with a charcoal insert, nothing else. I replaced that early on with a Purigen medium.

Since there is no other foam filter for the Bacteria to establish itself on, I might as well get the AquaClear and pick up the pieces and get the cycle going again.

 

You can throw whatever filter media you currently have into the aquaclear, it has tons of space, just remove the purigen for now. It removes the things you're trying to work with right now. You can put it back in as the last stage to help keep nitrates down after you've cycled if you want.

 

You can throw whatever filter media you currently have into the aquaclear, it has tons of space, just remove the purigen for now. It removes the things you're trying to work with right now. You can put it back in as the last stage to help keep nitrates down after you've cycled if you want.

Perfect, thank you!

After about 8 hours or so, the nitrites are back up to about .5 PPM, from what was initially 0 PPM this morning.

I have removed the purigen medium, just put a piece of foam in its place and have an aquaclear filter arriving Tuesday.

Doing about a 30% PWC now. Looks like I'll be doing these PWCs daily until things get sorted.

Thank you to everyone for your time and guidance!