HELP! new F8 coming tomorrow and water is BAD

[martini57]

Hello everyone, so I am in a bit of an emergency situation here. I ordered 2 f8 puffers and they are coming in tomorrow, they have already shipped so I cant tell the store to hold them. Yesterday night, my water quality looked pretty good: pH-8.0, Amm- 0 ppm, nitrite- 0.25 ppm, nitrate- 5 ppm. There are 3 platys that have been living in this tank, I stole them from my community to cycle this one through. Tonight when I tested the water, its bad. pH-8.1, Amm.- 0.5 ppm, Nitrite- 0.25 ppm, Nitrate-80( possibly more, in between colors on my test kit). and Now I have to do something immediately before they come in tomorrow, and they have to go in this tank, the other tank I have is 7 US gal. I decided not to try to convert it to brackish right away because the store I ordered them from have kept them in completely fresh water and I didn't want to kill the bio filter so I thought I would convert it gradually after they settled in. please help!!!

[Pufferpunk]

What size is this tank?

Before adding these fish to the tank, do a 90% WC, dechlor with Prime & add Tetra's Safestart to the filter. The puffers should be fine.

library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

[martini57]

It's a 30 gallon. Went to Lfs and got prime and seachem stability, tetra safe start wasn't in stock. In the process now of taking as much of the water out as I can, so pretty much all of the water will be changed. As I was changing the water, I started seeing what I'm almost positive is worms. This is the first time I've seen them, the platys look completely fine but there really isn't anything else it could be. Is there anything that I should put in the water to kill the worms, if there are any left?

[Pufferpunk]

I know Safestart works. Can't vouch for Stability.
I'd take everything apart & rinse well in HOT water & a 1/2 cup of Oxyclean. It's non-toxic (peroxide).

[sgtmyers88]

To echo PP viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32416

[RTR]

Stability will not provide the required nitrogen cycle bacteria.

Do not, repeat do not attempt to kill off any worms residing in the tank! The last thing in the world you want to do is have a colony of dead worms to further pollute the tank.

Keep testing at least once daily, better twice daily, and do any water changes needed to get and keep ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate at safe levels. Move the platys out - back to their own tank. That will help keep the bioload low.

Are you sure your test kit is working right?

[Pufferpunk]

How long have then platys been in there? The bioload of 3 platys will not support 2 F8s. Go to any large pet store, they all carry Safestart. Maybe even Walmart. I wasn't suggesting just killing the worms, I was suggesting wiping them out & cleaning out the entire tank--starting over with Safestart. Best scenario.

[martini57]

Ok so I took all the water out last night, did not add any oxyclean or anything( mainly because I had already started to refill the tank when I saw that post). Last night after I posted I went to Petco, Petsmart, Pet supermarket, and walmart( yeah, I was very determined to try to find safestart because it is so highly recommended). Each of these stores were completely out of it. So I bought stability based on recommendation from store, as well as a few customers in the store who had used it. Also, I have some of the API quick start on hand. The stability was put in last night and I am about to test the water this morning and see what its at. Also, I have API freshwater liquid test kit and had the store confirm my results and we both got the same thing. The puffers are currently in the truck about to be delivered when the fedex truck gets here. PLatys are back in there own tank. I decided to start changing it over to brackish now, since I'm pretty much starting over. Should I put the API quick start in as well?

[martini57]

Update: The puffers just got here. I open the box, and the store sent me 3!! In the comments section when I ordered I asked for them to be the biggest ones they had as well as the same size. On the note on the receipt it said" All the fish we had were really small so we sent you 3 instead to make up for the size difference". So now I have 3 :/. But they are really really small. Each one is at max 1/2 in. Starting to drip acclimate them now

present: puffers are in the tank, they just ate a couple bloodworms each. I think it was too much though because they look fat, so I will feed less next time. One of them has something white and stringy hanging from its side right above the fin. All of their fins are bitten up though, I have melafix on hand, should I take the carbon out and put some in or no? I hesitate because I need to cycle the tank. They all seem in pretty good spirits though, ESPECIALLY after I fed them lol. water this am: amm- 0.25, nitrite- 0 , nitrate- 20. will check again in a few hrs. Went back to petsmart this am to beg someone to look for tetra safe start and they found it hidden in the back! so I put the whole bottle into the filter. Thank you for all the help, I really appreciate it!

[Pufferpunk]

"Instant cycling" products are made to sdd to the system directly before adding the fish, or the bacteria dies off.
You don't need carbon at all in this tank.

[martini57]

It came with the filter I got( aquaclear 50), so I just put it in because it told me to

[Pufferpunk]

Read the directions again.

[martini57]

I reread the entire insert, I guess aquaclear combined with fluval so the old aquaclears are now packaged in fluval packaging with a small picture of the old aquaclear on it. nowhere in the insert does it say anything about not adding the carbon. there are 3 pieces, the sponge, carbon, and the bio-pellet things that go on the top. it says to put all 3 together and stick it in the filter. So now I am really confused about which parts should be in the filter

[Pufferpunk]

I'm sorry, I meant the Safestart bottle. It should be added right before the fish or the bacteria dies in there.

Believe me--been in the hobby >40 years--you don't need carbon in a FW/BW tank. SW either... just for corals. Better than using carbon, add a 1" layer of filter floss in between the sponge & bioballs.

[martini57]

oh yeah, I added the safestart 5-10 minutes before I put the fish in to give it time to mix around, and I put it directly into the filter. That's interesting about the carbon though, it won't do any harm will it, if I put it back in? Ive never heard of it causing any issues. I don't have any filter floss, but I do have some batting fabric, I read somewhere that it is very similar.