I lost two Zebra Danios

[Faith_at_Large]

After successfully surviving the cycling process in my first ten gallon tank, two of my Zebra Danios appear to have succumbed to the stresses of the process. One of my larger ones that did not initially appear to have any problems started developing large red blotches all over her body. I tried everything I knew of but she died the next day. My weakest Danio actually lasted longer and appeared to be gaining weight in spite of being blind in both eyes. But he too passed on. I was considering euthenizing him but he showed such a will to survive. Nature took its course and he is gone too.

My remaining two Danios appear to have recovered from Velvet and seem ok except for the fact that the largest one still appears to be very overweight.

I have successfully cycled my newest ten gallon tank using Ammonia and I am hoping to have better luck with my newest fish once I pick them up.

Now all I have left to do is decide whether or not to replace my deceased fish with something new or leave my original tank as it is now.

[cocoa_pleco]

that red is hemorrhagic septicemia. nasty disease

In my really old 10g, i used 8 danios to cycle, and lost them all due to it even though i did water changes

[Lady Hobbs]

No fish can survive a cycle without consequences to their health. Danio's may be more tolerable to the conditions of cycling but it doesn't mean they can live thru the extremes either. Water changes using any fish are necessary in my opinion for any fish to survive.

[jeffs99dime]

fishless cycle all the way!!

[cocoa_pleco]

fishless cycle all the way!!


Its WAY less stressful that regular cycling. you dont have to always do water changes and you can crank the temp up

[Faith_at_Large]

On the plus side, two of my Zebras seem to have made it through the cycle and no longer appear to be in trouble, though not unscathed. All of my other fish (not used in the cycle) have survived the other annoyances in the tank - Velvet is all gone. Even Archimedes the Betta is looking beautiful again and full of colour.

My second tank was successfully cycled without fish, using ammonia. Those fish all seem to be doing well. And my Flame Dwarf Gouramis have finally realized that they are bigger than the Danios and do not have to wait their turn for the food. All are eating well and enjoying their new surroundings. Now that I know that a tank can be cycled without fish, I will never use fish to cycle a tank again.