Cycling with fish = fish died why??

[tpirovol]

Hi Everyone,

I tried the fish to cycle my tank and the fish died.

5gal tank
Day 1 live sand and dried rock
Day 2 let it sit
Day 3 added turbo 900 and a firefish
Day 4 fish dead
-All levels 0

My only thoughts are that the heater has been erratic and found that it went from 78 to 82 even though I changed it to 75.

Thoughts??

Today I dosed ammonia and going to do a fish less cycle

 

[Rmckoy]

First …
Fish cycle is a cycle practice of the 80’s ……
There are many other more humane ways to cycle a tank now

fire fish are not a hardy fish and the exposure to little ammonia would not end well .

damsels , clownfish , even acclimated black mollies are far more hardy .
the cost of each fish alone now makes more
Sense to not use sacrificial fish to cycle a tank

 

[TheReefPA]

Forums/search are your friend.
Time to read up on the nitrogen cycle and start from there. Plenttttty on resources on here to get started.

 

[tpirovol]

I went through a fishless cycle already and knew what to look for.

This was meant to be a QT tank and figured I would try like I needed to QT my main tank quickly. Obviously that is not possible.

If my levels where all good what happened??

 

[Supa]

My guess is ammonia spike. Especially if your tank is small.

 

[Rmckoy]

I went through a fishless cycle already and knew what to look for.

This was meant to be a QT tank and figured I would try like I needed to QT my main tank quickly. Obviously that is not possible.

If my levels where all good what happened??

In the event of needing a emergency qt
Fill with dt tank water .
no rocks , no sand and some type
Of decor for the purpose of security , hiding placed .
Monitor ammonia daily …..
perform large water changes daily to lower ammonia levels .

if medicating . Medicate daily , but still do large water changes daily

 

[Eric Cohen]

Hi Everyone,

I tried the fish to cycle my tank and the fish died.

5gal tank
Day 1 live sand and dried rock
Day 2 let it sit
Day 3 added turbo 900 and a firefish
Day 4 fish dead
-All levels 0

My only thoughts are that the heater has been erratic and found that it went from 78 to 82 even though I changed it to 75.

Thoughts??

Today I dosed ammonia and going to do a fish less cycle

Quarantine your fish before....and you're still gonna have losses during the QT process.....buy conditioned fish and you will cut down on your losses huge!

 

[Obsessed with fish]

This is the reason:
Read the 1st 3 words of your title.

 

[Eric Cohen]

I went through a fishless cycle already and knew what to look for.

This was meant to be a QT tank and figured I would try like I needed to QT my main tank quickly. Obviously that is not possible.

If my levels where all good what happened??

Most likely the firefish was bad to begin with....I doubt it was because of your water quality if you were managing like you said.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Sounds like ur tank cycled... lol.
Sorry for your loss.
There's a difference between qt tank and a hospital tank. Rock from the display would have cycled your qt and you woulda been good to go. Rock imo is ok in qt tank.

 

[ariellemermaid]

I had a similar issue when I first started out. A couple of folks said fish cycling is an old practice. That’s not really true though when you have BRS videos out there supporting it. And that’s one of the most comprehensive sources of info for beginners.

After many many hours on YouTube I bought into the idea of the insta-tank with Turbostart and hearty fish (clowns). I also trusted the seachem ammonia alert badge. By day 5 or 6 the fish were dead and the badge never changed color while API showed ammonia galore. Subsequently I’ve cycled multiple tanks using ammonia and 2 things are clear to me. 1) there’s no such thing as an instant cycle, it takes time. 2) don’t trust ammonia alert badges, do regular chemical tests.

Since then I have cycled QT tanks with fish. The key is daily ammonia testing plus either big water changes or my favorite, Seachem Prime. I like Prime because it renders the ammonia non-toxic to fish, but it’s still available to bacteria so it shouldn’t slow down the cycling.

So I can’t really blame you for this mistake; using available resources lead me down the same path. Using bottled bacteria and ammonia should get you a good cycle in about 2-3 weeks and that’s not that long to ensure the safety of your fish. As others have said Firefish are not particularly hearty, and it’s also possible that the fish had a disease that killed it or some combo of the two. But definitely continue on and cycle first; you’re on the right path now.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I always say sw aquarium cycling takes 90 days give or take.
D

 

[Spare time]

Most likely the firefish was bad to begin with....I doubt it was because of your water quality if you were managing like you said.

I agree. The useless bashing of the OP here seems to be ignoring the fact that the fish could have easily had a parasite, disease, heart attack, etc.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hi Everyone,

I tried the fish to cycle my tank and the fish died.

5gal tank
Day 1 live sand and dried rock
Day 2 let it sit
Day 3 added turbo 900 and a firefish
Day 4 fish dead
-All levels 0

My only thoughts are that the heater has been erratic and found that it went from 78 to 82 even though I changed it to 75.

Thoughts??

Today I dosed ammonia and going to do a fish less cycle

Should have kept the fish in the tank... There's your ammonia source...

 

[Spare time]

Is everyone here ignoring that fritz turbo 900 can easily handle the bioload of a single firefish?

 

[frankny]

Hi Everyone,

I tried the fish to cycle my tank and the fish died.

5gal tank
Day 1 live sand and dried rock
Day 2 let it sit
Day 3 added turbo 900 and a firefish
Day 4 fish dead
-All levels 0

My only thoughts are that the heater has been erratic and found that it went from 78 to 82 even though I changed it to 75.

Thoughts??

Today I dosed ammonia and going to do a fish less cycle

too quick to put the life stock, you at least need the new tank running for a month then test b4 putting any fishs. when you are using old live rock and water, that you can keep live stocks right away

 

[homer1475]

too quick to put the life stock, you at least need the new tank running for a month then test b4 putting any fishs. when you are using old live rock and water, that you can keep live stocks right away

Yeah not even remotely accurate. I can cycle a tank ready for livestock in under a week.

Who in there right mind is going to setup a tank, and wait a month before putting anything in it? Yeah no one.

Plenty of ways to cycle a tank that take no where near a month.

 

[Freenow54]

Hi Everyone,

I tried the fish to cycle my tank and the fish died.

5gal tank
Day 1 live sand and dried rock
Day 2 let it sit
Day 3 added turbo 900 and a firefish
Day 4 fish dead
-All levels 0

My only thoughts are that the heater has been erratic and found that it went from 78 to 82 even though I changed it to 75.

Thoughts??

Today I dosed ammonia and going to do a fish less cycle

That is why people stopped doing it, and switched to a non fish cycle. Research would help

 

[3429810]

I always say sw aquarium cycling takes 90 days give or take.
D

There is tons of evidence of here that would suggest otherwise. 1-4 weeks seems to be the normal on here. My dt was cycled in under a week with two clowns using turbo start and my coral qt and fish qt both cycled in about two weeks not using turbo start. I don’t think @brandon429 will respond but his stuck cycle thread has more than enough info on length of time it takes.

If op used turbo start I would lean to something being wrong with the fish rather than ammonia building up that fast and being processed that fast. I would think if ammonia levels were high enough to kill a fish the tank couldn’t cycle that ammonia fast enough to get back to zero the next day.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Hi Everyone,

I tried the fish to cycle my tank and the fish died.

5gal tank
Day 1 live sand and dried rock
Day 2 let it sit
Day 3 added turbo 900 and a firefish
Day 4 fish dead
-All levels 0

My only thoughts are that the heater has been erratic and found that it went from 78 to 82 even though I changed it to 75.

Thoughts??

Today I dosed ammonia and going to do a fish less cycle

Not to be rude but I find this practice to be very annoying. Fish get hurt from ammonia, there is ammonia when cycling even with bottled bacteria. You should please do more research into the hobby, otherwise stuff like this is an inevitability