Too much too soon?

[Sandwich]

I have a 29 gallon tank, with 3 plants and 4 fish. 2 are glow-light tetras, and two are X-Ray tetras.

I had just bought them 3 days ago at a local pet store. The employees said "Oh its fine, you dont have anything (ammonia?) in your tank, besides plants, so theres no need to cycle before getting fish". So, he showed me some hardy fish, including these.

I was extremely cautious, as Ive lurked here before and have a "Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies" book ive been reading alot lately. Sadly, what the store owners say always seem to contradict what the "experts" say.

The temperature goes from 72-75F each day. PH as of now is 7.2. Ammonia levels have gotten to almost 0.02 in just this small amount of time. I'm worried at this rate I may see toxic levels soon.

The fish show no signs of illnesses so far. Did I put far too much on the bio-load too soon?

 

[unwritten law]

for a 29 gallon with plants I dont think your bio load is unmanageable, just read into cycling with fish, monitor your levels and do frequent water changes.

 

[jo3olous]

you're fine, just care for your fish because not all of them, if any will survive the cycle

 

[mistercoffee]

I have a 29 gallon tank, with 3 plants and 4 fish. 2 are glow-light tetras, and two are X-Ray tetras.

I had just bought them 3 days ago at a local pet store. The employees said "Oh its fine, you dont have anything (ammonia?) in your tank, besides plants, so theres no need to cycle before getting fish". So, he showed me some hardy fish, including these.

I was extremely cautious, as Ive lurked here before and have a "Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies" book ive been reading alot lately. Sadly, what the store owners say always seem to contradict what the "experts" say.

The temperature goes from 72-75F each day. PH as of now is 7.2. Ammonia levels have gotten to almost 0.02 in just this small amount of time. I'm worried at this rate I may see toxic levels soon.

The fish show no signs of illnesses so far. Did I put far too much on the bio-load too soon?

UGH! Evil LFS!

Good luck! Most of them will not survive.

 

[joy613]

Do any of your friends have a healthy tank you can get some filter medium from? When I start a new tank I take some filter medium out of one of my tanks and put it in the filter of the start up tank. Do a 50% water change the following day put more of the old filter medium in then add one fish. I usually end up doing a couple of partial water changes a the first week but nothing serious. Depending on the amount and type of plants you have it will help with the start up of the tank but the tank needs to be heavily planted.

 

[DesignsOnYou]

I don't know that I agree with saying that they won't survive. Yes, a fishless cycle is better, but if you want to keep going with the fish in there, there are certainly options. I wouldn't add any more right now though, and when you do, add slowly to give the bacteria a chance to catch up to the increased bio-load. So, for now you should be testing the water parameters to keep an eye on your cycle, but it sounds like you've read up on things to know that you need to do that. You should do water changes to keep the ammonia below 1.0, (I think that's what Lotus told me during my cycle, and I don't remember what she said for nitrites), but if you want to, you can just pull it straight from the water and not vacuum the gravel to keep from disturbing any bacteria that's trying to grow there. I don't know how much this helps, but it can't hurt. Be sure you don't overfeed, because that will cause an excess of ammonia. You can also try to find some either refrigerated Bio-Spira, or the new product, which is not refrigerated, called Tetra Safe Start. Mixed reviews on both, but if it's worth the money to you you can try to find some and add it. Or, you could return the fish and do a fishless cycle. I think the plants will help some, so that's in your favor. Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions as you go, read the stickys, and welcome to the forum.

 

[iapetus]

Sandwich, so clearly, you should have cycled the tank. But, all is not lost. You're just going to have to cycle your tank with the fish in. You can read up on how to do this. But, basically, it's going to take a lot of monitoring of your water conditions and lots of water changes until your tank can nitrify the ammonia in your tank (the fish will produce this in time) into nitrate, which you will remove with regular water changes.

When that happens, you'll probably want to up the numbers of your fish. Both types of tetra that you have are schooling fish and will be happier and less stressed with more buddies; as it is you can still add quite a few more fish. But, I would wait until your tank has cycled to get them.

In the meantime, I would do as joy613 suggested. Get some media from an already established tank and add that to your tank (even a decoration or something will do). That will help speed along your cycle.

And, FWIW, I also cycled with fish (to my current embarrassment) -- I, too, had pristella tetras (these were gold pristellas, basically the albino version of your X-ray tetras) and they all survived the cycle just fine.

(Oh, and how are you measuring your ammonia??? That you should be able to detect it to within 0.02 is pretty amazing to me.)

 

[DesignsOnYou]

Haha. I think Japetus and I were posting at the same time. Just for the record, I agree with what he/she (sorry Japetus, I don't know) said about the schooling fish as far as eventually adding more of both kinds slowly, and what they both said about the established media. Also, I too, cycled with fish (something went wrong with the Bio Spira, or something), and my 3 platys and 6 zebra danios all did just fine. So, like I said before, there is hope. Good to hear that Japetus did well with pristella tetras.

 

[TMony]

A bottle of Prime, daily water testing and frequent water changes and there should be no reason why your fish won't survive. Good Luck!

 

[Sandwich]

Sandwich, so clearly, you should have cycled the tank. But, all is not lost. You're just going to have to cycle your tank with the fish in. You can read up on how to do this. But, basically, it's going to take a lot of monitoring of your water conditions and lots of water changes until your tank can nitrify the ammonia in your tank (the fish will produce this in time) into nitrate, which you will remove with regular water changes.

When that happens, you'll probably want to up the numbers of your fish. Both types of tetra that you have are schooling fish and will be happier and less stressed with more buddies; as it is you can still add quite a few more fish. But, I would wait until your tank has cycled to get them.

In the meantime, I would do as joy613 suggested. Get some media from an already established tank and add that to your tank (even a decoration or something will do). That will help speed along your cycle.

And, FWIW, I also cycled with fish (to my current embarrassment) -- I, too, had pristella tetras (these were gold pristellas, basically the albino version of your X-ray tetras) and they all survived the cycle just fine.

(Oh, and how are you measuring your ammonia??? That you should be able to detect it to within 0.02 is pretty amazing to me.)

 

[Sandwich]

Thanks for the responses guys. I really think I can make these fish survive with water changes. But,whadd'ya all think about the monitor? (accuracy?)

 

[unwritten law]

is that on the inside of the tank?... I think it will warn you if it is extreme, like I wont trust the accuracy. Id stick with the drop test.

 

[iapetus]

Interesting device. It's a little hard to say how accurate it is without really knowing just how it's used.

Just make sure that you're measuring your water with something. A lot of people will suggest that you used the drop kits -- and I use them, too -- but use what works for you. I always worry about how precise they can be because they rely on a very subjective determination as to matching colors in a vial with colors on a chart.

If you're really concerned, you can get a couple of kits and compare the results you get.

 

[Sandwich]

Last friday I purchased Concentrated Bacteria from Petco and put in the optimal amount for the tank. I also tested the water that day to find it was just as high as my first meter said. However the ammonia levels have been dropping steadily, in fact, Its probably time I test again now.

 

[TMony]

I personally don't trust the monitors as much as the drop testing kits.
Once your ammonia drops your Nitrites will elevate. You need to be testing for both ammonia and nitrites. When they both reach 0, your tank is cycled. Until both reach 0, keep up on the daily water changes.

 

[MissFishy]

I think you should stick to the drop tests, they are far more accurate. Don't waste your money with any of the silly "bacteria" things the pet stores try to sell you, most are just marketing ploys and do nothing. Stick with lots of water changes and constant monitoring. Don't add any more fish until the cycle is completely over. You may want to raise the temp of your tank to around 78-80, it's a bit cold for the fish you have in there.

 

[GiantManLittleFish]

I got suckered into those bacteria bottles. The store told me to dump it into the tank no matter how big and the tank will be cycled in 24 hours. Three weeks later my tank was finally cycled. Years later and getting to know the store they admit to selling those bottles to new people to make a few quick bucks. They actually have extra filter pads in their filters that you can buy for like two bucks if you want to establish a new tank. I've now used that same filter floss to set up three tanks I just keep it in the front side of the filter to keep the bacteria growing and when I get a new tank, transplant.