Cycling

[ryanlb]

I am still pretty new to this (a tank as a kid doesnt count since im sure my parents just bought more tetras etc when i was at school). Originally i just wanted a goldfish tank so i started with just two small ones in a planted 20 gallon. Then i started reading about tank cycling and over feeding... at this point it took me two months to cycle... never realized things could be so unstable with just a few simple misconceptions!

Right now i am in another mini-cycle (maybe its full blown). I think i got so excited about getting through the first one i was home free. So of course i bought a bala shark, clown loach and a "dinosaur" bichir that was about 2.5" named Goomba. I am super excited to see him grow and i feel like i am in a quandary. Goomba is so slow to eat that the other guys eat it all before him, and if i put in enough to get it to him i think i am hurting the cycle (some gets into the filter or stuck in the gravel).

At this point nitrites are super high and i am using Prime bc i was told that would help in this emergency. I dont want to change too much water but i dont want to lose any of my random collection of fish... its been about a week and a half. I am so impatient!

BTW the tank is about 5 months old at this point.

 

[sandofarms]

Ryanlb it sound like you overstocked your tank.
A tank should be permanently stable after 1 month.

If you overstock your tank, it will never be stable. Everything will die.

Fish poop, breathe, make waste. There needs to be enough waste processing daily to keep the tank healthy. If there is more waste generated daily than wasted processed, the tank will not be stable, and death ensues.

Just use the basic rules of
#" Total length of all fish < # gallons of tank water
Length of longest fish < 1/6 length of tank
And appropriate size filter.

A 20 gallon tank should have an AquaClear 70 filter to keep things nice and safe.
Do a 25-50% water change weekly.
What do you mean you don't want to change water? You have to change the water. That is basic aquarium maintanence. No chemical in a bottle will substitute water change. If you don't do water changes, all your fish die.

 

[ryanlb]

I actually have a AC 50 hob and another hob of the same size but older. The goldfish are maybe 3" max with tail. Bichir is 2.5". Bala is 3". Clown is 2". I have a 2" gourami. 1" green barn.

Doing more research I think my problem was feeding too much on top of a low GH and KH problem. My water is super soft and I was getting random pH drops.

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