Fish in cycling help

[mabowman89]

Apparently my tank wasn't nearly as cycled as I had originally thought before adding the fish (I know newbie mistake). I have 6 glofish danios in a 20L (its me again) that seem to be happy and active. I do get ammonia and nitrite readings everyday, although I didn't have any ammonia for a while. I probably was over testing, as I was using a couple different brands of strips at once, with slightly different results each time. I have now decided to stick with one brand and am doing daily water changes with any reading of ammonia and nitrite. I know I was over feeding (another newbie mistake) and started with flake food but switched to micro pellets.  I will take any and all advise you have for me. I'm thinking to back down to every other day feeding. How much of a water change should I do? I've done any where from 10-40% in the last 3 days.  Since I haven't been consistent with the types of tests, I'm not positive of any progress I've made thus far, but hope to in the next several days. So thankful for all the previous advice I have gotten from this wonderful community!

Edited February 5 by mabowman89
Typos 🤦‍♀️

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I've done accidental fish-in cycling many times. Frequent monitoring, water changes, use of water conditioners like Seachem Prime or similar and sparse feeding is all you need to do. Just make sure the fish are comfortable. Because of the more frequent water changes (I've done daily changes for my own sanity) it may take a little longer but the goal is to not stress/hurt or kill - just get the fish through safely- so I sacrifice time if that's all it would cost me. 

Edited February 5 by xXInkedPhoenixX
Typos suck.

[Whitecloud09]

30%percent water changes prob. @mabowman89. 

On 2/4/2024 at 8:47 PM, mabowman89 said:

Apparently my tank wasn't nearly as cycled as I had originally thought before adding the fish (I know newbie mistake). I have 6 glofish danios in a 20L (its me again) that seem to be happy and active. I do get ammonia and nitrite readings everyday, although I didn't have any ammonia for a while. I probably was over testing, as I was using a couple different brands of strips at once, with slightly different results each time. I have now de ides to stick with one brand and am doing daily water changes with any reading of ammonia and nitrite. I know I was over feeding (another newbie mistake) and started with flake food but switched to micro pellets.  I will take any and all advise you have for me. I'm thinking to back down to every other day feeding. How much of a water change should I do? I've done any where from 10-40% in the last 3 days.  Since I haven't been consistent with the types.of tests I'm not positive of any progress I've made thus far, but hope to in the next several days. So thankful for all the previous advice I have gotten from this wonderful community!

A newbie here too kinda…😉

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Agreed with @xXInkedPhoenixX. Test once per day. If ammonia or nitrite are present, do a water change or Prime will help you get through. 
 

Me personally, I would do a 50% water change if ammonia or nitrite hit .5ppm or higher. 50% of .5 is .25, and the Prime you use from doing the water change will help detoxify the remaining ammonia and nitrite for 24 hours until you test and water change again if you need to. 
 

Don’t panic. Keep it simple. 

[Tony s]

The only thing else I would add would be some fritz turbo start or fritzzyme7. Just to give your bacteria colony a potential boost 

[Galabar]

Don't worry, we've been doing fish-in cycles since people started keeping fish. 🙂

My advice is to feed very, very sparingly.  Just a tiny amount of food.  Also, if you can, get yourself to PetCo (or whatever) and buy lots of stem plants (if you don't already have them).  Plant up that tank.  It will help to absorb nitrates (plants love ammonia).

On a side note, if you have Prime, go ahead and use it, but don't assume that it will help with ammonia.  Water changes are the only guaranteed way to protect your fish (Prime may or may not do anything with ammonia).

 

Edited February 5 by Galabar

[Whitecloud09]

On 2/4/2024 at 9:24 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Agreed with @xXInkedPhoenixX. Test once per day. If ammonia or nitrite are present, do a water change or Prime will help you get through. 
 

Me personally, I would do a 50% water change if ammonia or nitrite hit .5ppm or higher. 50% of .5 is .25, and the Prime you use from doing the water change will help detoxify the remaining ammonia and nitrite for 24 hours until you test and water change again if you need to. 
 

Don’t panic. Keep it simple. 

Yes I agree. I have prime and I hear it helps to detoxify the ammonia and nitrite for a lil bit. 

On 2/4/2024 at 9:27 PM, Galabar said:

Don't worry, we've been doing fish-in cycles since people started keeping fish. 🙂

My advice is to feed very, very sparingly.  Just a tiny amount of food.  Also, if you can, get yourself to PetCo (or whatever) and buy lots of stem plants (if you don't already have them).  Plant up that tank.  It will help to absorb nitrates (plants love ammonia).

 

Yes I would get like micro sword or dwarf Sagitaria if u don’t have any of these.

[Dacotua]

Just change 50% of the water twice a day for the next week or so. Whenever I've done this on accident, I change the water in the tank (after testing) when I wake up in the morning and again before I go to bed.

 

[mabowman89]

On 2/4/2024 at 9:24 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Agreed with @xXInkedPhoenixX. Test once per day. If ammonia or nitrite are present, do a water change or Prime will help you get through. 
 

Me personally, I would do a 50% water change if ammonia or nitrite hit .5ppm or higher. 50% of .5 is .25, and the Prime you use from doing the water change will help detoxify the remaining ammonia and nitrite for 24 hours until you test and water change again if you need to. 
 

Don’t panic. Keep it simple. 

I've heard alot about prime and stability and have recently realized that I need to add that to my supplies. So just to make sure I understand - if ammonia or nitrites are .5 ppm or above do 50% water change, add in prime when adding water back in. Test next day and repeat of needed. Correct? Thank you for your response!

On 2/4/2024 at 9:25 PM, Tony s said:

The only thing else I would add would be some fritz turbo start or fritzzyme7. Just to give your bacteria colony a potential boost 

I have like 3 different brands of beneficial bacteria that I've started rotating because I didn't know if one was better than the other. Definitely going to get my hands on the fritzzyme7! Thank you for your response!

[mabowman89]

On 2/4/2024 at 9:27 PM, Galabar said:

Don't worry, we've been doing fish-in cycles since people started keeping fish. 🙂

My advice is to feed very, very sparingly.  Just a tiny amount of food.  Also, if you can, get yourself to PetCo (or whatever) and buy lots of stem plants (if you don't already have them).  Plant up that tank.  It will help to absorb nitrates (plants love ammonia).

On a side note, if you have Prime, go ahead and use it, but don't assume that it will help with ammonia.  Water changes are the only guaranteed way to protect your fish (Prime may or may not do anything with ammonia).

 

Yes, I think I'm going to do small amounts every other AM for the time being. I hadn't planned on doing any plants to begin with (although a planted Betta tank is my next project).  I only have gravel as my substrate so what would be the best drop and go plant that would be low maintenance and low tech? I was actually thinking of adding some moss balls if that would help with anything.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 2/4/2024 at 9:02 PM, mabowman89 said:

So just to make sure I understand - if ammonia or nitrites are .5 ppm or above do 50% water change, add in prime when adding water back in. Test next day and repeat of needed. Correct?

Correct! That’s what I would be doing. 

[Tony s]

On 2/4/2024 at 11:02 PM, mabowman89 said:

I've heard alot about prime and stability and have recently realized that I need to add that to my supplies. So just to make sure I understand - if ammonia or nitrites are .5 ppm or above do 50% water change, add in prime when adding water back in. Test next day and repeat of needed. Correct? Thank you for your response!

Correct, although any ammonia or nitrites can cause damage. So if you see any, time for a water change. Best be safe.

 

drop and go plants include Java moss and Java fern. Broader leaved plants like any anubias (keep the rhizome above the gravel or they rot). Basically anything at petco/petsmart will work and be hardy. Gravel is not the best but it works fine. It’s what I use.things like sword plants need fertilizer tablets called root tabs. 

[Tony s]

If you have access to a local fish store they would have acces to even more and better plants. I have what’s called hornwort in most of my tanks. Helps to keep the nitrates down. Nitrates would be the end product of your tank’s cycle. We go from ammonia, to nitrites, to nitrates. Nitrates are technically not poisonous. But they do make existence rather unpleasant for fish and can cause stress diseases. Plants are one method of reducing nitrates, the other is water change. You’ll need to be testing for all 3 on a regular basis. Nitrates for plants are best kept under 50. Fish may prefer lower still

I’ve heard nitrates described as being in a smoke filled room. Some is okay. But the higher the smoke gets, the harder it becomes to breathe. Same with nitrates 

[Tony s]

Also not sure what you’re testing with. API makes a thing called api master test kit. It has tests in it for all 3. All water droplets and test tubes. Kinda fun actually. It’s one of the best tests you can get. An alternative for test strips is the coops own strips. You’d want the ammonia on for sure, but then you’d have to get the other tests in a different strip.

[mabowman89]

On 2/4/2024 at 11:46 PM, Tony s said:

Also not sure what you’re testing with. API makes a thing called api master test kit. It has tests in it for all 3. All water droplets and test tubes. Kinda fun actually. It’s one of the best tests you can get. An alternative for test strips is the coops own strips. You’d want the ammonia on for sure, but then you’d have to get the other tests in a different strip.

I was using the coops multitest strip and ammonia strip and also the tetra 5 in 1 strips. Then occasionally doing the fluval tests (pH, nitrates, nitrite, ammonia in test tubes).  I was getting all different readings. Have switched to using only the tetra 6 in 1 and ammonia strips until I get the API master test kit.

[Tanked]

On 2/4/2024 at 8:47 PM, mabowman89 said:

Apparently my tank wasn't nearly as cycled as I had originally thought before adding the fish (I know newbie mistake). I have 6 glofish danios in a 20L (its me again) that seem to be happy and active. I do get ammonia and nitrite readings everyday, although I didn't have any ammonia for a while. I probably was over testing, as I was using a couple different brands of strips at once, with slightly different results each time. I have now decided to stick with one brand and am doing daily water changes with any reading of ammonia and nitrite. I know I was over feeding (another newbie mistake) and started with flake food but switched to micro pellets.  I will take any and all advise you have for me. I'm thinking to back down to every other day feeding. How much of a water change should I do? I've done any where from 10-40% in the last 3 days.  Since I haven't been consistent with the types of tests, I'm not positive of any progress I've made thus far, but hope to in the next several days. So thankful for all the previous advice I have gotten from this wonderful community!

You have already begun to figure out that consistency is important.  Multiple test strips, enzyme products, water change schedules and volumes, and feeding routines just muddy the water so to speak. Whichever testing method you use, follower the instructions exactly. Test strips are a good indicator, and Master test kits can be more precise, but are also more subject to user error. 

 I would not do more than 1 water change per day.  Water changes are stressful to new fish.  More stress will lead to more ammonia.  I would start with 50%.  If your levels drop and stay down, try 25%

Fish don't have to eat everyday, and 6 Danios require very little food, so you may still be over feeding.  I would suggest a fasting day and a feeding ring to give you more control.  The fish will know where the food will be, and there will be less waste.  

I'll second  @Tony s's suggestion of Hornwort or any other plant.  Hornwort is cheap, fast growing, and consumes ammonia, nitrates, and other things produced by fish waste and over feeding.