I'm really bored and felt like typing...
I agree. If you can remove the fish and do a fishless cycle. I feel like talking right now so i am basically going to write an essay for you
Firstly though i would make sure your test kits are working well. Might have also been the effects of ich,fin rot, or the other sicknesses you had still in the tank
Personally i like to fishless than fish cycle because of some of the perks, but that is just my opinion.
Pros and Cons
Fishless cyling
1) You can add all your fish at once instead of having to slowly add them.
2) It is usually faster than fish cycling.
3) You dont harm any fish unlike if you were fish cycling.
4) It is easier than cycling with fish because you dont have to do water changes if the Ammonia levels get to high... you would have to do water changes to keep your fish in the tank alive if you would go fish cycling.
What you would need for a fishless cycle you would need just a bottle of clear ammonia that has no additives. You can usually find this at your local grocery or something like walmart.
Fish-in Cycling
The only perk of fish cycling would be:
1) That you would have fish automatically....
That is the only thing i can think of.
Well, anyway if you are want to have a fish cycle a good fish to start out with would be white cloud mountain minnows... They are hardy, peaceful, and cheap. But i still strongly recommend fishless cycling...
The lowdown on cycling (compressed)
What happens is that ammonia is changed to nitrite then nitrite to nitrate by Nitrosomonas bacteria. This colony then grows until it can support the bio-load in the aquarium. However if the conlony is cut off from a food source they begin to die. However this does not happen until after two weeks without food because the Nitrosomonas bacteria will actually go into a "sleeper" stage. Once your ammonia and nitrIte are zero your tank is cycled.
Ways to speed up the cycle:
*Raise the temperature
This speeds up the bacterias division rate, which will make the colony grow larger and faster. The temperature should be up around 85 degrees F. Do not go above 85 F, because that will actually slow down bacteria growth.
*Seeding your tank
If you have other tanks running, or have a source of an already cycled tank, take a handfull of gravel or any other surface, and place it into your tank. This will introduce already colonized bacteria, and there for speeding up the cycle. Also a cycled sponge filter or cartridge will also work.
*"Bacteria in a bottle"
Some products claim that it has living anerobic bacteria in a bottle or container. Some of these products work, most however do not. I have found that the Marineland Bio-spira does work and cycled one of my tanks in 5 days. However it can be very pricey. So sometimes it is better to just wait it out and not use it. Believe me your wallet will thank me.
How to Fishless cycle
Firstly like said above you will need test kits and clear ammonia. The clear ammonia label should say "pure" or somthing like that. Add ammonia until it reaches 5ppm, and test daily for ammonia and nitrIte. Once the ammonia begins to go down, you should begin to see NitrItes. Now this is the longest part. However you must be adding ammonia daily to keep a constant food source for the bacteria. Eventually though you will see your Nitrites rise, peak, and drop. Once your Nitrites have dropped. You can now safely add fish, but to get rid of the excess nitrites, do a large water change. Finally you are cycled!
In the end though, your ammonia and Nitrite should be zero, the nitrate should be below 20 ppm to safely add fish.\
Yes i talk too much ...
Good luck,
Daniel
