bacteria boosters

[nolefan]

Ok so i bought my fish before i new about cycling lost a couple so far my nitrite is 0ppm my nitrate is 0ppm my ph is 7.6 and my ammonia is 2.0 will bacteria boosters such as aqua safe get my tank right or is there something else i need to do

[Northernguy]

Aqua safe is just a dechlorinator!
You want Tetra Safe Start or Seachem Stability.Both of these should give you a good start on your cycle.
You will still have to monitor your water.

[Alfcea]

If you use bacte4ria boosters, it is a good idea to add fish very slowly to allow for the growth of the bacterial colonies... and do keep monitoring you water parameters!....

[Northernguy]

Here is some info on Seachem.Its good stuff.It has been used by members here with no ill effects.
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Stability.html

[nolefan]

Ok i will give it a try and thanks for the info. Was wondering where i could get seachem ?

[korith]

Ok i will give it a try and thanks for the info. Was wondering where i could get seachem ?

Most fish stores, will carry one of the bacteria boosting products. Just a matter of going to each, and seeing which brands they carry.

[Lady Hobbs]

Cycle is said to be just about useless. For some reason, every fish store seems to carry this one, too.

[Crispy]

Cycle is said to be just about useless. For some reason, every fish store seems to carry this one, too.

doh! I have a bottle of Cycle sitting in my cupboard. Used it over a year ago to get my 130 gallon cycled and it seemed alright. ??? is it really useless ???

[nolefan]

Was also wondering when i do my water changes what do i need to do to the water just declorinate it with somthing like aquasafe since i have city water?

[korith]

Was also wondering when i do my water changes what do i need to do to the water just declorinate it with somthing like aquasafe since i have city water?

Yes that should work, need to treat the water. Else you end up killing the fish. There are many many different companies and brands of dechlorinators. Also when you do the water changes, try to keep the temp of the new water being put in, close to the temp of the tank water.

[lovleeko]

you should do a 50 percent water change soon with ammonia at 2 ppm. Then I would fast the fish (not feed them) for a day and then do one more water change tomorrow before you add the booster so that you can give it time to do it's thing before you have to change the water again. Tetra safe start is absolutely amazing and I recommend it. Unlike the other bacteria boosters it only last for one year which to me indicates that their is more live bacteria in there. Good Luck.

[nolefan]

Ok thanks for the info i really appreciate it. Will post back later.

[eteller]

FWIW I used PetsMart's TopFin booster and it added lots of white debris to the tank when added. Not sure what it was, still some particles of it floating around three weeks later.

[nolefan]

Ok sorry no new post been busy but i did some 50% water changes and also did the fish fasting have cut back on amount of food also i think its going pretty good now ammonia is 1.0 my nitrite is 5.0 my nitrates are 10 and my ph is 7.4 any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

[Northernguy]

Which bacteria booster did you use?
You can go a few days without feeding and it will not hurt your fish.Continue doing one large water change daily until your ammonia and nitrites are at 0 and your nitrates are under 20.

[nolefan]

I used aquasafe i bought from walmart.