Newbie mistake

[amf17]

I'm new at keeping an aquarium and things haven't gone so well with my first 20 gallon.

First mistake was not looking on the internet for how to properly prepare for setting up a tank. I thought I had everything looked after (filters, aeration, etc.) but didn't know very much about cycling.

I thought i should just get 2 or 3 fish and let them cycle the tank and had no idea what fishless cycling was.

So I set up my tank and bought three black mollies... after the first week went by ammonia went up and I did regular water changes to keep levels down.

Now I'm three weeks into having my tank, two of the three mollies died (the other one seems to be doing quite well (suprisingly)) and i'm right in the second stage of cycling (nitrites)

Any suggestions on what i should do? Should I leave the remaining molly to cycle the tank (and do regular water changes of course) or should I do something else?

Will a tank cycle completely and in a timely fashion with only one fish???

 

[didy]

Mollies aren't the best to cycle a tank with. Some people don't have good luck with them in cycled tanks.

One fish will cycle a tank, eventually, or you could add bio-spira. Otherwise, add more fish very slowly, and test and replace water.

 

[TropicalNorth]

One fish will cycle the tank, if a little slower. As long as there is a constant supply of ammonia (ie fish waste) the tank will continue to cycle. I wouldn't add anymore fish until ammonia/nitrites are both zero.

 

[Rbishop]

Keep the water changes up so ammonia and nitrites stay less than .25

It will take longer. When fully cycled add new fish in small numbers and spaced out so your bacteria can grow to accomodate the new fish.

 

[Marinemom]

The tank will cycle with just one fish but keep in mind that the filter will have cycled the tank to keep up the bio-load of that one fish. Every time you add a new fish the tank's filter will have to play catch up and you may experience a mini cycle. This is nothing to panic over. The mini cycle will usually just take a few days as opposed to weeks like the original cycle.

Oh, and do not beat yourself up over the way you did this. We were all new at one time and did many of the same mistakes. The good thing is now you are here and everyone on this board is more then willing to help each other so we can all have the thriving beautiful underwater world that we want from our aquariums.

Marinemom