Question about Aquarium Mishap

San,

I am a newbie and my tank has only been cycled for about 2 weeks, so I am
sure that other more experienced folks will have better suggestions, anyhow
here's my thoughts.

During the cycling my LFS introduced me to two things, the first he called
"Polyester Blocks" these are as the name suggests blocks of Polyester
although they are impregnated with something which makes them quite stiff.
Anyhow he gave me two of these (rather sold them to me for £3 each!)
Apparently they help to soak up the "nasties." He said to put the first in
then two days later to put the other in. You leave them in until they are a
deep mahogany colour. (They simply float around in the meantime.) The fish
seemed to respond positively after the first day, looking brighter and
happier.

The other thing he sold me was a bottle of Stress Zyme, now this is a trade
name, so I am sure it will be called something different over there, but it
is basically a concentrated solution of the desirable nitrifying bacteria.
He advised to dose the tank immediately, and to add it to any of the water
you add during any water changes, (according to the recommended dosage) and
then to dose the tank again when the ammonia drops to zero. Thereby
introducing "fresh" bacteria for the rapid formation of the second lot of
bacteria to consume the nitrites. From reading the many posts here and at a
few other forums, NG's etc. I have heard of a US product called something
like Bio-Spira which sounds like it is a similar thing. It was mentioned in
reference to "fishless cycling" so I am not sure if it is safe to use in a
tank which already contains fish or not, but I am sure a google search will
give you all the info you need. They talk about being able to add fish
within 24 hours, so you could potentially cycle your new tank in a day or
two and then move the fish to it, until you get the original sorted out
again.

Anyway, as I said, I'm no specialist and these are simply my thoughts, I'm
sorry to hear of your recent experiences and having just cycled, symphathise
with you and your fish!

Gordon

"san" wrote in message
.com...
On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 22:24:29 GMT, "san"
wrote:

Hi to all, new to group but not to aquariums.

I have had at least one aquarium most my life. My first when I was
young (1970's), had a back filter that you used flex tubing to suck
the air out of the uplift tube. During the 80's I owned 9 tanks - 10g
to 55g.
I took a few years off after my husband accidentally killed my
beloved
fancy goldfish by putting them from the styrofoam box that I used to
bring them with on a 1000 mile relocation move into a 50 gallon tub
(bought at a farm store that was suppose to be used for watering live
stock) that had not sat long enough for the chlorine to dissipate. We
had lived out in the sticks and had the best well water for 15 years
and never had to worry about chemicals. My husband didn't understand
why I told him to wait and just dumped my babies (had for 6 years)
into the tub, they all went belly up instantly. I was crushed.

Anyway to the now: I just started up a 29g, been running for 3
months.
It went through the cycle and was doing fantastic. While I was at
work
my hubby once again thought he would help me out :-0
My back filter was clogged and he ran it under tap water and stuck it
back in like he saw me do dozens of times when we had well water. He
wiped out all the bacteria and my water is a mess the ammonia was off
the scale last Monday and nitrite was good. I have never been in this
spot before. I spent hours googling and became confused with all the
stuff I found in the archives, I did a 5 gal. water change for 4 days
and skipped yesterday. My ammonia is now at 3.0 and the nitrite is up
to .3 mg/l. My tank is stocked with:
5 rummy nose
5 various danios
4 cherry barbs
1 cat (can't remember name)

My husband went out and bought me another 29 gal aquarium today so in
a few days I will be able to move a few of the fish out. None of
local
fish stores would take any of them. So I am running on a prayer right
now.
Questions a Should I continue the water changes on a daily basis
or
how often? Is a 5 gal. partial daily to much? not enough? I have
taken
some gravel from a well established 10 gal. and have it sitting in a
nylon in the tank. Is there any other ideas anyone can give me that
might help speed up the cycle on this tank?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :-)

San



Thanks much to those that responded to my call for help.

But it spawned some new questions.

I have been using Stress Coat to remove chlorine,etc. Being old
school - it's hard for me to swallow that these chemicals can be
removed instantly. I have been letting the bucket set for 2 hours with
an air stone prior to water change. Back in da day (70's) I would let
the buckets set overnight with the conditioner added before the water
changes. Do you all instantly change the water from tap or have
waiting period? How long wait? Is Stress Coat a good product / which
is the best?

The BioSpira sounds like a good bet. The store that is suppose to
carry it is a good hour away. They are closed on Sunday's and I won't
get a chance to go over there till Tuesday (day off), I will use this
on the new 29 gal tank. Regretfully it will not do me any good as I
have already used Ammo lock 2 in the older tank so it won't work
there. I will use my old filter in my ten gal. for additional seed.
What about the product Stress Zymes? My PH is at 7.0 is the Ammo lock
working? How many partials till the Ammo lock is gone?

I have been feeding only what can be consumed in a minute or two every
other day since the incident. I will go and purchase some plants for
the tank - Hornwort and Java Fern on my list. Back in da day I thought
a tank had to be well established to keep plants alive? What about
potted plants? I usually draw up the gravel to remove debris when
doing partials does it hurt to uproot rooters so as to clean the
gravel? How do you control snail population from the live plants?

I will start doing the 10 gal twice a day partials for a few days and
see how that goes before I try a drastic 70%.

Thanks again,
San