I have had my 10 gallon tank for about 3 1/2 -4 months now and have had 3 batches of fish....granted I didn't know a thing about the cycling stuff with my first batch (which ended up a issue bc I had a bully [probably because the water was so unhealthy :headshake2:]) and my second was fine until one of my mollies had babies, killing her and stressing the other one to the point of ich.
Just recently got all my water parameters to excellence and decided to take the plunge again. Just a week ago I got 3 male guppies like my first attempt. All seemed well until one of the little guys died about 3 days ago...then another last night...and the last today. Nothing seemed to be wrong and it was very sudden. I kept up with the parameters and everything was stable. I did some research and posts on other forums and I've come to the conclusion it was a parasite.
I am in college and I have Christmas break coming and I won't be with my tank for about 3 to 4 weeks. I was told I should turn off everything and clean everything with bleach and probably just trash the gravel and filter median and recycle my tank. My main question is if everyone agrees this is the right thing to do? Or if there is something else? And what exactly should I do either way?
Also I've been told to cycle my tank while I'm away but how can I possibly do that when everything I read about cycling talks about adding something daily or testing weekly...I won't be back for close to 4 week.......help!
Just recently got all my water parameters to excellence and decided to take the plunge again. Just a week ago I got 3 male guppies like my first attempt. All seemed well until one of the little guys died about 3 days ago...then another last night...and the last today. Nothing seemed to be wrong and it was very sudden. I kept up with the parameters and everything was stable. I did some research and posts on other forums and I've come to the conclusion it was a parasite.
I am in college and I have Christmas break coming and I won't be with my tank for about 3 to 4 weeks. I was told I should turn off everything and clean everything with bleach and probably just trash the gravel and filter median and recycle my tank. My main question is if everyone agrees this is the right thing to do? Or if there is something else? And what exactly should I do either way?
Also I've been told to cycle my tank while I'm away but how can I possibly do that when everything I read about cycling talks about adding something daily or testing weekly...I won't be back for close to 4 week.......help!