Please Help! Tank Re-cycling With Fish

Okay, so I had no idea that using medication would kill my beneficial bacteria!

I patiently waited through my fishless cycle. When I put my fish in I added medication to try to make sure that if any of them were sick I would nip it in the bud right away. Now I'm getting ammonia readings. I'm trying to do water changes but am relying on my RO machine and it only produces so much water a day. Have purchased water twice but I can't afford to keep doing that.

Any advice is welcome!

 

Any medication that is said to be effective against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria can harm your biological filter. Always read the small text on package If it says it will not harm biological filter it is okay to use. If it says it is effective ... (wording above). I suppose you know that now. What did you use? Did you do an immediate water change? If you have an air stone you can put the fish in a clean bucket or tote which have never been cleaned with soap (which all people who have fish should have on hand) and use clean dechlorinated water the appropriate temperature. With water changes, fish can live in this contraption for several days to weeks. This is the exact way they are shipped and moved across the country. You can get your filter going again if any bacteria are left. Do some big water changes to clear that out, and start testing/changing water until you got them going again. Good luck!

 

I’ve never had medication harm my bio filter. The more likely culprit was you either weren’t fully cycled, or you added too many fish at once that overwhelmed the bacteria you have.

 

If you get Seachem Prime and Stability, that will detoxify the ammonia/nitrite and provide your system with a jump start in the bacteria department. Going through this myself after treating a betta with stubborn finrot.

I’ve never had medication harm my bio filter. The more likely culprit was you either weren’t fully cycled, or you added too many fish at once that overwhelmed the bacteria you have.

As Kalyke said, any antibiotic that treats gram positive and negative bacteria will impact, if not destroy, the cycle in an aquarium. That's one reason why most antibiotic treatments say to do large water changes every other day during the dosing cycle.

 

I used API general cure, ich-x, API E.M. erthromycin.

I dosed 2ppm ammonia for about 6 weeks until it read zero in 24 hours. I stocked to about 80% with 10 emerald green cories and 25 Cardinal tetras. Unfortunately, they sent all the Cardinals in one bag and within 2 days only two were left. They just sent me 13 more today and will be sending out 10 rummy nose when they are in stock.

I'm dosing prime and doing water changes as quickly as my RO can make enough water. I mix 75% RO to my well water which is very hard.

My ammonia readings tend to be between .5 and 1. The fish seem very happy though and eat well when I feed them which isn't often because I'm worried about the amonia.

Any suggestions beyond what I'm doing?

Will my fish be okay?

 

I used API general cure, ich-x, API E.M. erthromycin.

I dosed 2ppm ammonia for about 6 weeks until it read zero in 24 hours. I stocked to about 80% with 10 emerald green cories and 25 Cardinal tetras. Unfortunately, they sent all the Cardinals in one bag and within 2 days only two were left. They just sent me 13 more today and will be sending out 10 rummy nose when they are in stock.

I'm dosing prime and doing water changes as quickly as my RO can make enough water. I mix 75% RO to my well water which is very hard.

My ammonia readings tend to be between .5 and 1. The fish seem very happy though and eat well when I feed them which isn't often because I'm worried about the amonia.

Any suggestions beyond what I'm doing?

Will my fish be okay?

Oooh kay. That's a lot of fish to add at once, and so your cycle might not have crashed so much as been overwhelmed and so it's doing another cycle to ramp up. As long as you're dosing with prime, you should be OK to keep doing what you're doing.

Just as an aside, why use an RO system if you're on a well? And Prime is mostly for chlorine, so once you do have a stronger cycle going you really shouldn't need it anymore, unless you chlorinate your well water for some reason.

 

My well water is about 20 GH/KH. I use RO water to bring that down to about 6. I got the prime just in case. Glad I did!

Thanks everyone! I thought the fish less cycle would allow me to stock this way. Since I had to order online it would have cost far more for shipping than the fish to only add a few at a time. I will know better for my next aquarium...

 

That's a lot of meds at once, I’d do one at a time. You definitely just overloaded your bacteria.

 

I feel really stupid about the medication. I thought I was doing right based on this package.

I won't use any more medicine unless it looks like the fish might be sick.

Thanks again everyone!

 

I meant overloaded your bacteria by adding so many fish at once.

 

You could also use tetra safestart to get your new fish in cycle to finish faster and with fewer water changes.

 

I feel really stupid about the medication. I thought I was doing right based on this package.

Cory does a lot of international imports, and wild-caught fish, and so his quarantine/treatment regime is a little...extreme. Fish like tetras and cories are usually bred domestically and so are usually good with just some observation to make sure everyone is OK.

And I TOTALLY get wanting to save of shipping. In the future you can set up a row of quarantine tanks,with 5-10 fish in each, depending on the size, and introduce them into your aquarium one quarantine tank every few days: Quick and dirty quarantine setup

 

You could also use tetra safestart to get your new fish in cycle to finish faster and with fewer water changes.

I did! Only I was again ignorant and I also used RO water and stalled my cycle for the longest time. It was the good people on this forum that helped me figure it out.

Cory does a lot of international imports, and wild-caught fish, and so his quarantine/treatment regime is a little...extreme. Fish like tetras and cories are usually bred domestically and so are usually good with just some observation to make sure everyone is OK.

And I TOTALLY get wanting to save of shipping. In the future you can set up a row of quarantine tanks,with 5-10 fish in each, depending on the size, and introduce them into your aquarium one quarantine tank every few days: Quick and dirty quarantine setup

Unfortunately my Cardinal tetras are wild caught... Now I'm torn. Should I dose the medicine for the new tetras that came today? I just finished a long acclimation and got them in the tank. Was going to turn my tank light on soon and then try to feed them tonight. I'm not sure when the rummy's are coming but I think they were tank raised.

 

I did! Only I was again ignorant and I also used RO water and stalled my cycle for the longest time. It was the good people on this forum that helped me figure it out.

Eep! You are really having a tough time but I'm glad you've been getting the help you need.

Hang in there, it's always a learning process.

And don't feel bad about mistakes, everyone on here has made them..its how we learn since it's hard to know the right questions to ask until something goes wrong.

 

I feel like wild caught fish are actually less likely to have disease due to better immune systems and immunities. I’ve heard Cory tell someone on a live stream not to do too many medications at once, so I’m not sure why he’s advertising that.

 

I feel like wild caught fish are actually less likely to have disease due to better immune systems and immunities. I’ve heard Cory tell someone on a live stream not to do too many medications at once, so I’m not sure why he’s advertising that.

I had enjoyed learning from some of his videos. I hadn't even thought to buy medicine to give them when I first got them until I saw this looking through his store.

Thanks for the information about the tetras! I won't give anymore medicine unless they get sick.

Eep! You are really having a tough time but I'm glad you've been getting the help you need.

Hang in there, it's always a learning process.

And don't feel bad about mistakes, everyone on here has made them..its how we learn since it's hard to know the right questions to ask until something goes wrong.

Thanks for the encouragement! I really spent a lot of time researching and asking questions but it seems I have a knack for making mistakes regardless.

I'm just lucky to have found this forum and despite my set backs I'm loving the hobby!

Small thanks for everyone who took their time with me.... Tank pic

 

I feel like wild caught fish are actually less likely to have disease due to better immune systems and immunities. I’ve heard Cory tell someone on a live stream not to do too many medications at once, so I’m not sure why he’s advertising that.

I think it has to do with his store's quarantining policies, and this is specifically the mix that they use in their quarantine room for many (but not all) shipments. It's different when you're bringing in 2000 fish from a questionable international importer, into a store which has your entire livelyhood in it I know it's their policy to dose pretty much everything which comes in, ESPECIALLY the wild-caught puffer because those can be very fragile when it comes to parasites. As he said in one video, no one knows how long mbu puffer actually live, because every single one in captivity has been lost to disease or parasites before they can die of old age.

And if you've ever fished, then you know...well, wild fish might be healthy, but nearly ALL of them have some sort of parasite >_>

I had enjoyed learning from some of his videos. I hadn't even thought to buy medicine to give them when I first got them until I saw this looking through his store.

Thanks for the information about the tetras! I won't give anymore medicine unless they get sick.

Thanks for the encouragement! I really spent a lot of time researching and asking questions but it seems I have a knack for making mistakes regardless.

I'm just lucky to have found this forum and despite my set backs I'm loving the hobby!

Small thanks for everyone who took their time with me.... Tank pic

If you're bringing fish into a house, I would quarantine them if you have other stock that you're fond of, but not medicate unless you're seeing some issues. There is a really good article on one angel breeder's kind of extreme quarantine procedures in the Fresh Water Quarantine sticky: . Since your tetras are your first fish, no quarantine is necessary. But I would say that you should keep any other new fish isolated for a week at minimum, to observe them.