New Tank, New Fish, Need Help

Boy, I feel like I am making a mess of things and need help.

The story:

Newbie here. We got a new 10 gallon tank. Followed the instructions with tank set up to a T. After 24 hours of "cycling" the tank (per the verbage in the instructions) we went to get our new fish. They didn't make it. Learned a lot over the next few days, how to properly acclimate, our water levels and what they should read, etc. Felt pretty good about what I thought I did wrong so we went to replace our fish on day 6 since our tank setup. Our water levels were perfect (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, ph 7.6, KH 127.9, 0 chlorine...we own and used the API liquid tests BTW). They died except for one fish. As I was trying to determine why we lost so many, I found this awesome blog that spelled out everything for a beginner. I thought I understood the nitrogen cycle, which I did in regards to ammonia => nitrites => nitrates, but I realized I didn't understand the time frame which it takes to truly go through this and just because the information pamphlet says to "cycle" the tank over 24 hours, doesn't mean it's going through the nitrogen cycle but really just running the pump for 24 hours. Boy do I feel dumb! But now, I have a fish in there and I now can't go through the proper fishless cycle. After a couple more days, no changes with my water levels. I decided that I needed to add a couple fish to my tank with him (he is a glolight tetra) to aid in jumpstarting the nitrogen cycle because with how teeny tiny he is, I thought it would take forever for the process to start in that size tank. As bad luck would have it, he ended up being a bully and killing the two new fish (I am mentioning this for part of my question later). I tried to learn more about doing a cycle in a new tank with fish, so I ended up buying the API Quick Start and API Stress Zyme (as recommended by my local petstore) and added that into my tank to help my fish not be as stressed during the cycle and with the hope that the ammonia levels don't spike as high by introducing the bacteria into the water. Now I am on day 6 of owning my fish (day 12 since my tank was originally set up) and this morning my ammonia levels were .5ppm, nitrite 0, nitrate 5ppm, and ph 7.6. I am not sure if this is the beginning of the nitrogen cycle or if it is a result of some of the toxins given off by the fish that were bullied to death a few days earlier. I did a 50% water change and now my ammonia is .25ppm, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 7.6. I added in the stress zyme and the quick start again since it instructs me to add when doing water changes. Ultimately my question is......should I be doing anything different? What should I expect over the next few days? I just found and joined this forum, I wish I found it days ago. But in scrolling through, I see a lot of experts recommending Prime....I already have this other stuff and would hate for it to go to waste. Any advise is greatly appreciated!

 

IMO Prime will be you and your fishes savior as it will lock up small amounts of nitrites and ammonia. I don't think a new tank can be cycled in 1-2 weeks without having established media. With that being said I would hold off on adding fish and invest in an APItest kit. If you haven't already. Do daily parameter checks and if there are any traces of ammonia or nitrites do a 50% WC. A 10 gallon is a nice starter tank but it also leaves a little bit of room for mistakes. All I can say is keep testing your water and do your WC's when needed and eventually it'll cycle. But it will take some time. Hope that helps some and hope others can chime in to give further advice if I missed something. Good luck!!

 

Another option is to simply take the fish back and go ahead with a fishless cycle. It sounds like you have everything you need except for an ammonia source. Chances are you’ll be out $10-20 worth of fish, but it beats killing them. Many tetras (not sure about glolight though) are very sensitive to bad water conditions and are a poor choice for a fish in cycle anyway.

Not only is a fishless cycle best for a beginner (IMO), but many of the hardier fish that are ideal for a fish in cycle may not be what you want to have in your tank, so you also save the trouble of having to re-home them down the road.

 

So, if I get prime can I use it right away even though my water already has quick start and stress zyme in it? I worry about adding more and more chemicals. Thoughts on that? Maybe I wait until I need to do another water change and add it then?

 

So, if I get prime can I use it right away even though my water already has quick start and stress zyme in it? I worry about adding more and more chemicals. Thoughts on that? Maybe I wait until I need to do another water change and add it then?

Yes test your water tomorrow and see where the levels are at and if you need to do sanother WC then use the Prime instead.

 

Tetra are delicate fish, I agree. I also agree that the best fish to use are the ugly ones, lol. So you should go with fishless cycle , using snails , or shrimp, plants. Simple and the best way.

 

Yes test your water tomorrow and see where the levels are at and if you need to do sanother WC then use the Prime instead.

Just tested my water. 0 Nitrites, 0 Nitrates, but the Ammonia is hard to tell...some of us think it is still at .25, some think it's at .5. Worst case, it went up .25 from yesterday to a current .5 but I think it's somewhere between. Does that need a 50% water change? From some of the other threads I've browsed, I don't feel like that is considered a "spike" and thought perhaps a 25% water change with adding the prime is sufficient, but I'm a beginner so I'd love others' thoughts. Also, when I add prime with my water change, am I using a dose compatible with the amount of water I'm changing or for my entire tank size? Remember, I still have Quick Start and Stress Zyme in from yesterday evening (if that makes a difference).

 

Prime will lock up nitrites and ammonia below 1 ppm add a dose of prime for the volume of your tank and retest tomorrow... I don’t think you need to do another WC

 

Boy, I feel like I am making a mess of things and need help.

The story:

Newbie here. We got a new 10 gallon tank. Followed the instructions with tank set up to a T. After 24 hours of "cycling" the tank (per the verbage in the instructions) we went to get our new fish. They didn't make it. Learned a lot over the next few days, how to properly acclimate, our water levels and what they should read, etc. Felt pretty good about what I thought I did wrong so we went to replace our fish on day 6 since our tank setup. Our water levels were perfect (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, ph 7.6, KH 127.9, 0 chlorine...we own and used the API liquid tests BTW). They died except for one fish. As I was trying to determine why we lost so many, I found this awesome blog that spelled out everything for a beginner. I thought I understood the nitrogen cycle, which I did in regards to ammonia => nitrites => nitrates, but I realized I didn't understand the time frame which it takes to truly go through this and just because the information pamphlet says to "cycle" the tank over 24 hours, doesn't mean it's going through the nitrogen cycle but really just running the pump for 24 hours. Boy do I feel dumb! But now, I have a fish in there and I now can't go through the proper fishless cycle. After a couple more days, no changes with my water levels. I decided that I needed to add a couple fish to my tank with him (he is a glolight tetra) to aid in jumpstarting the nitrogen cycle because with how teeny tiny he is, I thought it would take forever for the process to start in that size tank. As bad luck would have it, he ended up being a bully and killing the two new fish (I am mentioning this for part of my question later). I tried to learn more about doing a cycle in a new tank with fish, so I ended up buying the API Quick Start and API Stress Zyme (as recommended by my local petstore) and added that into my tank to help my fish not be as stressed during the cycle and with the hope that the ammonia levels don't spike as high by introducing the bacteria into the water. Now I am on day 6 of owning my fish (day 12 since my tank was originally set up) and this morning my ammonia levels were .5ppm, nitrite 0, nitrate 5ppm, and ph 7.6. I am not sure if this is the beginning of the nitrogen cycle or if it is a result of some of the toxins given off by the fish that were bullied to death a few days earlier. I did a 50% water change and now my ammonia is .25ppm, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, ph 7.6. I added in the stress zyme and the quick start again since it instructs me to add when doing water changes. Ultimately my question is......should I be doing anything different? What should I expect over the next few days? I just found and joined this forum, I wish I found it days ago. But in scrolling through, I see a lot of experts recommending Prime....I already have this other stuff and would hate for it to go to waste. Any advise is greatly appreciated!

Use prime and stability!! I used all the tetra stuff and followed their instructions to the T and it didn’t work. I’m a beginner too and as soon as I changed to prime, everything got better. That stuff is amazing and so is stability. The biggest things I learned over the past 2 months are 1)don’t be impatient 2)use prime and stability 3)get an apI test kit 4) weekly partial water changes 5) test test and test the water when adding new 6) follow the apI test instructions to the letter. One drop of the test that isn’t perfectly vertical will make the test completely false. I literally just found this out lol! I had a ph swing of over a point by not following their instructions right.

 

Just some things I wanted to say=

tetras will be stressed if they are not in a school. the bare minimum size for a school is 6. Stressed fish are unpredictable, peaces fish like glowlight tetras can become nippy, aggressive fish may become lethargic or shy.

Cycling a tank take 6-8 weeks. and only starts when a source of ammonia is added to a filtered aquarium, and only continues if there is an ammonia sorce.

Running the filter in a new tank does nothing but let you know that the filter works. Most information on fish products, and fish food is bad information.

You don't need to keep testing the Ph unless you add something like wood, rocks/ shells , or chemicals to change it, because it will continue to stay the same as the sorce water.