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Well, by doing water changes your making the cycle last longer. You can add bacteria to the tank either with Cycle which is easily found in most all chain petshops as well as LFS's. Biospira is better, however it's slightly harder to find (normally LFS's only), has to be kept refrigerated, and is slightly more expensive.
In anycase water changes @this point should only be done if the fish are looking obviously stressed, keep them as small as possible and go for 10% rather than 30%. Adding an airstone will help by providing more surface agitation and thereby oxygenating the water. The goal in cycling is to get the nitrAfying bacteria. To get that you need a certian ammount of ammonia to support the growth of the nitrIfying bacteria and thereby support the nitrAfying bacteria that eats the nitrItes. By doing water changes your reducing the ammount of food that is available to the bacteria that you do want (shows up as nitrAtes on your test kit).

Keep us posted on your test results.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
The hope that starts, The broken hearts...
I’ve got another confession my friend, I’m no fool.
I’m getting tired of starting again, Somewhere new."

Hi guys!
Sorry I didn't reply sooner(yesterday was really busy...my mom got a new horse....)
I bought a master test kit and tested all the water. Here are the results:
PH:7
Ammonia:0ppm
Nitrite: 5.0ppm
Nitrate: 5.0ppm
So..the problem is the Nitrites! I changed about 30% of the water that night, and it helped alittle. But the water is still cloudy and the Nitites are still high. Should I do daily water changes, or weekly? Is there something I should put in the water? I'm sure that the Nitrites are high because of the number of fish, but It'll be al least another week untill I get rid of them.....:#(

Last edited by fairynr at 18-May-2005 15:16

Spotted and striped cories can be difficult to tell the exact species. I've still got a mystery spotted cory. There are about 5 species that are common and a few more that aren't. If your getting a bigger tank I'd just hold onto the cories and try to find more of the same or similar when you get the new tank. Even if you don't identify the exact species they'll be happy with a group of similar colored cories.

I'm going to get a 20g...the only problem is I'm going to get it in AUGUST!!!:#(
I've ID'd one of my corries: Agassiz's cory. The stripped one, I don't know! I looked all over, but couldn't find the right type!
They're not that big...maybe and inch and a half.

Thanks for all your help, guys! There's probably not much that I can do except get rid of some fish and wait for the 20g!:#(

Anything labelled shark probably doesn't go in a 10g. For bottom feeders there are several small plecos most common is usually the bristlenose. Plecos are a bit messy and you'll have to keep up on gravel vacs. There's also the smaller cories or otos which are great for 10g tanks except for the fact they are quite sensitive. Even in the hands of someone more experienced small tanks can be difficult to keep stable. Your better off with at least a 20g if not 30g when starting out in the hobby. 10g tanks also do best as small species tanks since there isn't much that fits without overstocking. There isn't really any room to make a community tank with several species of fish.

We'll only know if the cycle is over once your ammonia and nitrIte have both risen and fallen to zero, and you have nitrAtes present. Unfortunatly since you've been doing water changes we can't say "you're done" even if it has been set up and running for a month. Doing water changes is good, but when you're trying to cycle a tank it makes it take longer and can possibly stress the fish by exposing them to the ammonia and nitrIte for longer. Try and get that water test done, or better yet grab yourself a master test kit, it's a bit more expensive than buying just one or two of them but once you have it you wont be running to the store twice a day or trying to get a water test done @3am because one of the fish looks poorly .

Forgot to mention it before but have a look thru our [link=bottom feeders profiles]http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/category.asp?id=Catfish%20and%20Bottom%20Feeders" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] to see if you can ID your cory. Another great site for cory ID's is [link=Planet Catfish]http://www.planetcatfish.com" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link]. Once we know the adult size of the corys you may be able to get away with 3-4 if you keep up on a weekly maintence routine, keep the guppies to a minimum and continually dream about larger tanks .

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
The hope that starts, The broken hearts...
I’ve got another confession my friend, I’m no fool.
I’m getting tired of starting again, Somewhere new."

Thanks! Cycling makes alot of sense now.
So what would be a good bottom feeder then? I got a rainbow shrk, yet it killed my guppy!That was when I walked into my LFS, and asked about a peaceful bottom feeder. I'm very happy with the corries, and was even told that I should get two more!

By the way, My water seems to be cleaner now. After the water chang I did on saturday, the water has gotten cleaner. Maybe the cycle is almost over?

In about two weeks, I'm thinking that I will get rid of most of the fish. This will probably solve alot of problems./:'

Being clueless and asking is just fine
Being clueless and not bothering to find out....well that's another matter entirely!

[link=Here is a handy dandy link]http://www.fishprofiles.net/faq/begin-cycling.asp" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] all about cycling. Read it over a few times then feel free to post any further questions. I know I read it @least half a dozen times and it wasnt until I read other peoples posts and had done it myself that I got an understanding of it.

As for your stocking, as much as it breaks my heart to say this....I dont' think you should keep coyrs in that tank. Only the smallest (and often the more delicate of corys) will work in a 10 as corys are very much schooling fish. With guppies if you have a male and female they'll soon enough overstock the tank for you . If your LFS is willing to buy the extra guppies (and you're willing to sell them) than it'll be fine otherwise you may need to invest in larger tanks (which is a good thing ).

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
The hope that starts, The broken hearts...
I’ve got another confession my friend, I’m no fool.
I’m getting tired of starting again, Somewhere new."

It's okay! I'm going to get rid of the head-tail light tetras(three of them) and the danios and the swordtail when my brother gets his 30g. (they were origanally his fish, but will go in the new tank.) You're right, the tank it over-stoked! I want to keep my two guppies though and get two more corries(what I have now is a spotted variety and a striped one...srry, don't know the scientific name!) I also want to get a pair of dwarf gouramis. I was told that this would be a good group of fish.
By the way, what is "cycling" (srry, I'm somewhat clueless!) And I'm going to get some plants in two weeks. Is this a good idea, and what are some good hardy plants?

welcome to fp fairy...

What it sounds like to me is that you are still cycling...

Try taking a sample of your water from the tank to the lfs (local fish store) and have them test the water parameters...Do this and tell us what the results are...

Also you are going to find that the tank is way over stocked with what is in it right now...What kind of tetras are in there? (there are tons of types) Also what kind of corries do you have? I'm sure no matter what kind you have that they would prefer being in a group of 6 or more, and thus won't do to well in a 10 gallon

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news...let us know this information and we can help you go from there, ok?

heidi michelle


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Oh! Sorry!
I have an outside filter, and I feed shrimp pellets once a day. I usually clean the filter cartridge once every three weeks. (sometimes sooner). I shipon off the bottom every three weeks. (I've done it twice since I've gotten the tank.) Is that enough info? Sorry!

fairynr
It would be appreciated if we could have more info especailly the filtration and how often you clean it also your feeding type and how much also how often. It "could" be caused by food or even the Substrate not being clean. I have used the word "could" please supply more infomation and a far mor accurate answer can be given.

Keith

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