HELP!

[SilverDollarMan]

also, about your other question of another way to cycle a tank.

There is a way to cycle your tank without fish.
What I did was I went to wal-mart and went to the cleaning products isle and got a gallon of "PURE" ammonia. Its a clear liquid that will clearly say ammonia, and you also have to carefully read the ingredients to make sure that there is nothing else besides the ammonia.

You then add the ammonia using a eye dropper, you keep adding it until you get a reading of 4 or 5ppm.
This process will take 1 to 2 weeks.
The ammonia will be dropping levels so you have to keep adding ammonia to keep it at a constant level.
When the ammonia instantly drops to 0 then your nitrites will start to register, then you will have to keep an eye on the nitrite levels.

When the nitrite levels instantly drop to 0 and your nitrates have registered then you are officially cycled.

This is just a rough explanation of what I did, if you research fishless cycle on the web you will get a more detailed explanation.

Hope this helps.

 

[SilverDollarMan]

what do you recommend to reclean the tank with? just water?

yup, just use water and maybe a sponge to really scrub it down and remove anything that is sticking the walls of the tank.

 

[tszabo86]

ugh, ill wash everything real good again just with water tomorrow. Thanks for the help guys

 

[SilverDollarMan]

ugh, ill wash everything real good again just with water tomorrow. Thanks for the help guys

No Problem, we are all here to help.

and :welcome: to AC!

 

[tszabo86]

Thanks Ill let you know how it goes when i get another tiger barb as a guniea pig lol

 

[SilverDollarMan]

Thanks Ill let you know how it goes when i get another tiger barb as a guniea pig lol

You should try zebra danios as your first fish, they are so hardy and pretty much impossible to kill, literally.

Good luck.

 

[Cluunox]

Yeh soap is a bad thing.

Read this for cycleing info

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

Also if you were getting a ammonia reading of .5 to 1 ppm that is high enough to be very stressful to the fish who were stressed already from the move. Not sure if that is high enough to kill the fish that fast though.

But with readings that high that fast I would check tap water for ammonia after treating for tank and make sure if it has that much ammonia that your water conditioner neutralizes ammonia if you do decide to do a fish in cycle just to be safe.

 

[theredchaser]

Don't buy fish just because they "may" survive the cycling phase because in the end you might have a dead fish or a fish you don't really want. Its much more humane to just do it right the first time with fishless cycling.

 

[shawnhu]

No, the tank was not cycled. This was fresh tap water, i used the tiger barbs to start the cycling. Theres no way they died becaused of that because the amonia couldnt have gone that high in 3 hours. I will go and check the amonia levels right now but i bet they are down. I used Joy dishwasher soap to clean the tank up and hosed it down 4 times to make sure the soap was gone (seems like it was since ph is fine). From what i understand there is no way to cycle a tank without fish in it. Is there a way?

Don't buy fish just because they "may" survive the cycling phase because in the end you might have a dead fish or a fish you don't really want. Its much more humane to just do it right the first time with fishless cycling.

You can fishless cycle a tank by using ammonia purchased at the store, or using a piece of shrimp.

 

[tszabo86]

You can fishless cycle a tank by using ammonia purchased at the store, or using a piece of shrimp.

piece of shrimp? lol