Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of fishkeeping! I would like to take a moment and talk to you about how to correct your tank cycle, if you ever have to do so. Say you cycled your tank when you first got it, you had fish in it for however long they lived, then you decided to just keep the tank running without fish in it for a while, with some water changes here and there. Now, after a while of not having fish, you decide to get back into fishkeeping, and have some fish in your tank. The first step you have to do is test your tank water, so you know the tank water parameters. I will actually use mine as a guide for you.
I have a 5.5 gallon tank that I have just kept running with some water changes here and there, nothing too spectacular. It has been this way for a year since Blue Moon passed away. This month I decide to get back into fishkeeping and I talk with several people who are knowledgeable in fishkeeping. I did a water change before testing the tank water. I tested my tank water on December 16, 2016 and the water parameters were: ammonia .25ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate 20ppm. Left it alone and got me a new betta, I have posted a thread about it, the next day. I got the betta so that I can get my cycle better, I like doing fish in cycles because then I don't run into any spikes with the ammonia or the other chemicals. After I got the betta, left the tank alone for a couple days until December 19, 2016. I tested my tank water again and the results were: before the water change: Ammonia .50ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate 40ppm. Did a complete water change. As I did the complete water change, I put the betta in the cup he came in. Got the water change done, waited an hour before putting the betta back in the tank. I noticed that I had forgotten to turn the filter back on, so I turned the filter back on and at this point it had been an hour already, so I check the temp in the cup where I had the betta with my finger and his water in the cup was cold, had to put him back in the tank. Waited a few hours before I tested again. Test results were: ammonia .25ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate 5ppm. So now I wait another three days before testing again. Today I tested my tank water and the results are: .25ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate 5ppm. Not sure if that is good or not, but I am happy that nothing has spiked. Found out that the results being the same for three days means that my load is really low and that I need to keep testing but wait a little longer in between tests, which is actually good. When you have water parameters like I got after just letting your tank run for a year without fish or food source, your cycle fell back, it didn't die. Bacteria don't die, they survive. When a cycle falls back, the nitrate keeps going up and all that is needed to get that down are water changes. When you lose your cycle, ammonia and nitrite will spike and the nitrates will either also spike or be unchanged.
When I got my betta, he didn't eat for a couple days, this is normal as he was settling into his new home. After a couple days in his new home, he started eating. The betta I got is a king betta and I need a name for him. Been calling him Baby since I got him, but I need a name that suits him.
Once your cycle is back in order, keep up with the water changes to keep your levels low, do not let them get even a little bit high.
I have a 5.5 gallon tank that I have just kept running with some water changes here and there, nothing too spectacular. It has been this way for a year since Blue Moon passed away. This month I decide to get back into fishkeeping and I talk with several people who are knowledgeable in fishkeeping. I did a water change before testing the tank water. I tested my tank water on December 16, 2016 and the water parameters were: ammonia .25ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate 20ppm. Left it alone and got me a new betta, I have posted a thread about it, the next day. I got the betta so that I can get my cycle better, I like doing fish in cycles because then I don't run into any spikes with the ammonia or the other chemicals. After I got the betta, left the tank alone for a couple days until December 19, 2016. I tested my tank water again and the results were: before the water change: Ammonia .50ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate 40ppm. Did a complete water change. As I did the complete water change, I put the betta in the cup he came in. Got the water change done, waited an hour before putting the betta back in the tank. I noticed that I had forgotten to turn the filter back on, so I turned the filter back on and at this point it had been an hour already, so I check the temp in the cup where I had the betta with my finger and his water in the cup was cold, had to put him back in the tank. Waited a few hours before I tested again. Test results were: ammonia .25ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate 5ppm. So now I wait another three days before testing again. Today I tested my tank water and the results are: .25ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate 5ppm. Not sure if that is good or not, but I am happy that nothing has spiked. Found out that the results being the same for three days means that my load is really low and that I need to keep testing but wait a little longer in between tests, which is actually good. When you have water parameters like I got after just letting your tank run for a year without fish or food source, your cycle fell back, it didn't die. Bacteria don't die, they survive. When a cycle falls back, the nitrate keeps going up and all that is needed to get that down are water changes. When you lose your cycle, ammonia and nitrite will spike and the nitrates will either also spike or be unchanged.
When I got my betta, he didn't eat for a couple days, this is normal as he was settling into his new home. After a couple days in his new home, he started eating. The betta I got is a king betta and I need a name for him. Been calling him Baby since I got him, but I need a name that suits him.
Once your cycle is back in order, keep up with the water changes to keep your levels low, do not let them get even a little bit high.