new to this and frustrated. Please help.

I'm sorry if this post ends up being long, I have a lot of explaining to do and need a lot of answers so please don't kill me

My husband and I went away for a few days and left our kids with my mother-in-law (mil), when we returned we found a 10 gallon tank set up in our living room with fish swimming in it. I will try to keep my feelings out of this and just stick to the facts but I will say that I was NOT happy that she made this decision without consulting us first. Apparently she got the tank from a friend and took the kids to petco to pick stuff out etc. I don't think the petco people knew what they were doing and my mil didn't have a clue either. At any rate, she left and I inherited very excited children and a fish tank that I know nothing about. Being an animal lover and wanting to ensure the fish stayed alive and healthy I went online and did A LOT of reading. I had never heard of the nitrogen cycle but now I think I have a pretty good understanding of it. My mil also didn't get a heater with the tank so I have since bought one for them and the water is between 78 and 80. They used Aquasafe and aquarium salt when they set up the tank, they also put in a large bag of gravel and some silk plants. The inhabitants of the tank are a male betta, 2 sunburst platies and a cory cat (not sure what type, he's gray with spots). She also purchased some petco water testing strips but they don't test for ammonia so I went out and bought the API master test kit on 2/14. I tested and this is what I found: PH 7.4, Ammonia 2.0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0. On 2/16 ammonia was between 2.0 and 3.0, on 2/17 ammonia was up to 4.0, based on what I have read I decided we'd do a 25% water change with the gravel vac because I wasn't sure if that was too high for the ammonia. On 2/18 ammonia was 2.0, Nitrites 0, on 2/19 ammonia was still at 2.0, yesterday I tested again and the ammonia was 4.0 again, still no nitrites so I did another 25% water change. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing. Am I messing up the cycling process with all the water changes? I also bought a TopFin 20 filter for the tank but I haven't set it up because I don't know if that will mess up the cycling process. Should I go ahead and install it to provide better filtration?

The fish seem fine to me but I know nothing about fish. They are active, swim around and come up and eat when fed. Based on more reading, I've also cut back and only feed them once a day now and very sparingly. The betta gets HikarI pellets, the fish tropical fish flakes and the cory cat some special bottom feeder pellets and whatever trickles down.

Also, on water changes I've read that you should use the dechlorinator and let it "age" for 24 hours but then I've also read that the new water going in to the tank should be the same temp as the water in the tank, so how does one achieve that? When I do the water changes the water has sat for 24 hours with the dechlorinator and it's at room temperature. Is that bad?

I really enjoy having the fish tank and I worry about the fish and want to make sure I do what I can to keep them alive and healthy. I wish things had been done differently and we could have done a fishless cycle but my mil had no clue so this is where we're at right now. I know all of you are experienced fish keepers so any thoughts, suggestions, ideas etc are very very welcome. Sorry once again about the novel but I need all the help I can get. Thank you all very much!

 

First of all welcome to fishlore!

The first thing that you should do to ensure your fish do not get ammonia poisoning and die is:

1. 50% water change daily at around the same time of day.
2. Add an ammonia nullifier such as Prime or Safe Coat plus.

This will treat the water that you are putting in the tank so that the ammonia will not be as harmful to the fish but will also make the ammonia available to continue cycling your tank. This is very important when doing a cycle with fish.

Also, I would keep a sharp eye on your fish because bettas will most likely attack and kill anything else in its tank. This depends on the fish, but if you start to see aggression, I would pull the betta out. Maybe the pet store would take him back, or you could get a 5 gallon tank for the betta to live on his own.

While doing these water changes, test your water daily to see the change in your ammonia readings. Once they reach ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 5 or more, you are cycled and you can stop the water changes. It will take twice as long to cycle your tank this way, but it is the only way to protect the fish.

Good luck, and now that you found fishlore, there are a lot of people that will want to help you!

 

Also, I saw something that could temp. contain your betta while you get a replacement tank for him if you come to that decision. They make plastic quarantine containers that hang on the inside of the tank at the top. this will keep the betta from the other fish, but I would not recommend to keep it this way permanently, just until you come up with a better solution!

Hope this helps!

 

Thank you Heather! Wow 50% water changes daily.. I was worried I was doing it too much at 25% every other day.. poor little guys! As far as the betta being aggressive, I did some reading on that as well and thought he was going to kill everything but he doesn't mess with them at all. He will occasionally flare up at the platies but they back away and he moves on. I watch them frequently and I have never seen him attacking anyone so I think we're good on that one. As far as the Prime or Safe Coat.. do I put that in to the water in addition to the AquaSafe or instead of?

 

Wow, for a new fish keeper it sounds like you are doing a great job! Not everyone takes the time to research like you are doing, that's great!

I would definitely add the filter now as it will help with the cycling process (you want the beneficial bacteria to grow in your filter, as well as in the gravel, on the plants etc).

If you are using a dechlorinator, you shouldn't need to age the water. I add mine directly from the tap. I use warm water from the tap so it approximates the temperature of the tank. You could always check the temperature of the water with a thermometer if you are worried.

Daily water changes as hkirchen mentioned are important until your tank cycles. It may take a while (mine took 8 weeks - hopefully yours won't take that long!).

Good luck and enjoy! Post some pictures if you can!

 

Get that filter in the water, its one of the big factors in the cycle. If you use one with carbon, you will have to replace the element about once a month. I would cut a hole in it if its sealed, or dump the carbon out of it. You don't need the carbon, it goes bad with age. Do the 50% changes daily with prime or Stress Coat +

Edit: When you do water changes, don't clean the filter every time. I would just shake it out in a bucket of the old aquarium water when you do change. this way your filter element will last a long time and keep the bio filter going

 

You don't need to let the water age for 24 hours, some people do that who don't use a dechlorinator because the chlorine will dissipate after 24 hours, BUT most cities now also use chloramines which does not dissipate. the easiest way to do it is to get a thermometer, turn on the shower or bathtub, let the water run until it's at about 78F (over or under by 2 degrees or less is okay), and then fill the bucket.

I suggest having two buckets, one of one color to use for dirty water, and one of another color to fill the tank back up. you can leave the fish in while doing water changes, and should look into buying a gravel vacuum if you haven't already.

What kind of filter is on the tank now?

I'm with hkirchen, the best thing to do is 50% daily water changes until you get consistent readings of 0ppm ammonia 0ppm nitrite 5-20ppm nitrate, and i'd definitely suggest looking into a different tank for your betta. they make 5 gallon kits that are relatively inexpensive and all you need to buy aside from the kit is a heater and gravel/decorations.

after you get through the cycling process, then you can switch to doing weekly or bi-weekly water changes of anywhere from 25-50%. i'd also suggest getting at least one more corycat, two would be better, because they really love to be in groups.

Also, I'd stop using the aquarium salt, your cories and the betta are both extremely sensitive to any amount of salt and using it could be putting them at greater risk for illness. Don't worry about trying to remove it specifically, it will just start to decrease with your daily water changes and should be gone within a few days.

You can add the Prime or Stress Coat + instead of the aquasafe.


Welcome to fishlore!

 

Great advice from everyone

Welcome to Fish Lore, Dora.

 

Water changes are the most undesirable part of the work so treat yourself and buy a Python hose for $60 or a clone called Lee's at Walmart for $29. Follow the directions it will allow you to suck the old water out and put the new water in using your facet and drain and adjusted new water temperature (important). Don't for get when treating the water a slime coat water treatment for their burning gills and Prime into a bucket and dilute placing it in after removing the water but before placing the new water in. Keeping your temperature at the lower normal range and PH not to high 7 or below (only if possible) will help nullify toxic ammonia effects. Since you obviously a smart reader who takes charge here is some info on ammonia NH3 you can ponder.

 

I don't think I would bother with a python for a 10 gln. A 50% change in a 10 GLN is pretty easy. By the time you get it going its time to stop. lol

 

Dora, nothing like a surprise is there?

One thing you could do to make your life much easier is find a product called Tetra Safe Start. SafeStart is the only product that contains the bacteria that will eventually naturally occur thru cycling. Basically, you just pour in the bottle of Safe Start and wait a week to 10 days before testing your water or doing any water changes. If it works correctly (which it usually does) you will find that your tank is fully cycled. Then all you will need to do is weekly 30% to 50% water changes.

Also, I know it's not your fault, but your stocking is not preferable. Keep an eye on the Betta. Although right now he is getting along with the other fish, that may change has he gets older. But sometime's a Betta will get along okay, so just be on the look out.

Additionally, cory cats like to be in groups of 5 or more (although I have a group of 3 that are doing well.) One last thing is that there is a general rule of thumb as far as stocking a tank. The rule is 1" of adult size fish per gallon of water. So if you have a 10 gallon tank, you should have no more than 10 inches of fish. So in your case you have 2 platy's at about 2", one betta at 2 1/2" and one cory (which is more than likely a peppered cory) at about 2 1/2" (I think those sizes are about right, but too lazy to check). So that would put you at about 9" of fish. So you have about as many fish as your tank can handle right now.

Good luck

 

Thank you so much for all of your feedback! I do have a gravel vac and do the water changes that way and don't find it to be too bad so I think I'll just stick with that for now. I have three gallon sized pitchers that I use to prepare the water but I will go out and get a bucket so that I can do the 50% water changes. I have been adding 1/2 a rounded teaspoon to every gallon based on the directions on the box of aquarium salt. This is where I'm a bit confused because onbetta talk they highly recommend putting a little salt in the water to help prevent desease etc. Is there something I can get that I can add to the water to lock the ammonia (I've read of a product called Amolock??) so that I don't waste all the AquaSafe I have? Or is this just temporary while the tank cycles? I have a very big bottle of AquaSafe that my mil bought, but if you guys think that Prime or Stress Coat would be better I'll go with that. What signs should I be looking for that the fish aren't handling the ammonia levels that well?

 

Water changes are the most undesirable part of the work so treat yourself and buy a Python hose for $60 or a clone called Lee's at Walmart for $29. Follow the directions it will allow you to suck the old water out and put the new water in using your facet and drain and adjusted new water temperature (important). Don't for get when treating the water a slime coat water treatment for their burning gills and Prime into a bucket and dilute placing it in after removing the water but before placing the new water in. Keeping your temperature at the lower normal range and PH not to high 7 or below (only if possible) will help nullify toxic ammonia effects. Since you obviously a smart reader who takes charge here is some info on ammonia NH3 you can ponder.

Thank you! This was very helpful and the charts are also very helpful but also alarming because I think my fish have been in danger for a while now based on my ph and my temp!

 

Red gills, listless behaviour, heavy breathing, lack of appetite are all indicitive of ammonia pisioning.

If you choose not to go the SafeStart route, you would be better off using Prime or Stress Coat + (make sure it is the plus version). You can always start using the AquaSafe once the tank is cycled. Many times using products that lock ammonia will make the ammonia unavailable to feed the bacteria and your tank will not cycle. You just want to make the ammonia non toxic, but still available to the bacteria. There was some recent discussion about ammolock and I think the outcome was that it did leave the ammonia avilable for the cycle.

Cory cats (and scaleless fish in general) cannot tolerate salt. It will burn their flesh. I don't believe in aquarium salt for freshwater fish, after all, they are freshwater fish.

Once a healthy aquarium is cycled, you really shouldn't need to add anything other than water conditioner when adding new water to the tank.

 

Thank you so much for all of your feedback! I do have a gravel vac and do the water changes that way and don't find it to be too bad so I think I'll just stick with that for now. I have three gallon sized pitchers that I use to prepare the water but I will go out and get a bucket so that I can do the 50% water changes. I have been adding 1/2 a rounded teaspoon to every gallon based on the directions on the box of aquarium salt. This is where I'm a bit confused because onbetta talk they highly recommend putting a little salt in the water to help prevent desease etc. Is there something I can get that I can add to the water to lock the ammonia (I've read of a product called Amolock??) so that I don't waste all the AquaSafe I have? Or is this just temporary while the tank cycles? I have a very big bottle of AquaSafe that my mil bought, but if you guys think that Prime or Stress Coat would be better I'll go with that. What signs should I be looking for that the fish aren't handling the ammonia levels that well?

Once your tank is cycled then you can just use the aquasafe. Give it a month to be safe before you start using the aquasafe. Salt may be okay for the betta but most freshwater fish do not like salt. I would recommend drastically reducing the amount of salt. Cory's do not like salt at all and it will eventually be fatal for them. Here is a good article that will help you understand how salt will affect your inhabitants.

 

Wow, for a new fish keeper it sounds like you are doing a great job! Not everyone takes the time to research like you are doing, that's great!

I would definitely add the filter now as it will help with the cycling process (you want the beneficial bacteria to grow in your filter, as well as in the gravel, on the plants etc).

If you are using a dechlorinator, you shouldn't need to age the water. I add mine directly from the tap. I use warm water from the tap so it approximates the temperature of the tank. You could always check the temperature of the water with a thermometer if you are worried.

Daily water changes as hkirchen mentioned are important until your tank cycles. It may take a while (mine took 8 weeks - hopefully yours won't take that long!).

Good luck and enjoy! Post some pictures if you can!

Thank you for your good advice. I have been reading A LOT and my husband thinks I've become slightly obsessed about the fish and the tank LOL One question, when putting in the new filter, should I take the cartridge out of the old one and put it in with the new filter to help "seed" the tank? The one I bought is a TopFin 20, I went with the 20 gallon one because in my reading I found that sometimes the 10 gallon ones don't really do a good job on a fully stocked 10 gallon tank.. was this the right decision?

 

Yes, I believe it is lol. The bigger the better lol and you can't have too much filtratrion. And welcome to Fishlore Dora-there are many lnowledgable people here and will help you all the way. good luck and keep up the good work bella

 

Thank you for your good advice. I have been reading A LOT and my husband thinks I've become slightly obsessed about the fish and the tank LOL One question, when putting in the new filter, should I take the cartridge out of the old one and put it in with the new filter to help "seed" the tank? The one I bought is a TopFin 20, I went with the 20 gallon one because in my reading I found that sometimes the 10 gallon ones don't really do a good job on a fully stocked 10 gallon tank.. was this the right decision?

yes absolutely, you want to preserve as much of the bacteria as possible so you should add all of the media that you have in the old filter into the new one. I always stuff my filters as full of media as I can just in case I ever need to quickly cycle a tank for whatever reason. the only thing i'd be concerned about with the 20 gallon filter is the strength of the output might blow your fish around quite a bit. the best way to get around that is to cut a biobag in half (filter cartridges that are made for whisper filters, I have lots of extras because my 5 gallon kits came with whispers) and use two rubber bands to attach it to the output. you can also take some nylon stocking and tie it around the input if that seems really strong as well to make sure no one gets caught on it, especially the bettas fins.

 

First of all, Welcome!

Second, you're doing a great job researching.

Since everyone is giving great advice, I will just put it all in my own words to make it easier on you:

1) Dont use salt. Salt is usually unnecessary and not effective. Also, like jdhef said, cory cats are scaless fish and salt burns their flesh.

2) Ammolock, Prime and Stress Coat+ are basically the same thing. I'd stick to Stress Coat+ since it has aloe vera, and that will help them a bit during the harsh cycle.

3) Get the filter in now. The filter is where most of the benefitial bacterial grows, and if you don't have it, the cycle will take longer.

4) An alternate solution to the "daily 50% water changes for like a month" is a product called Tetra Safe Start. You add it and it will introduce the benefitial bacteria and "Instantly" (like in a week), cycle your tank. AVOID other products that claim to instantly cycle a tank. So far, we have only proof that TSS is the one that works.

5) A reminder, make sure the cories are getting "bottom feeding pellets", since they eat food from the bottom and flakes won't do.

6) bettas and platies have very different feeding requirements. Bettas need betta pellets, which are basically carnivore food designed for them. Flakes will make them get constipated. Platies are mainly herbivores and will need a little veggie flakes every once in a while. (Will eat the same veggie pellets that the cories can get, two birds 1 shot).

7) Good Luck!