noob question

cullens089

like 3 weeks. nope his eyes look good and color is normal. maybe im just paranoid lol. he hasnt been eating either that or hes been eating the little fish while im sleeping lol but havent noticed any gone. but he hasnt really been that active just laying down in the corner then swimming to the other side and laying down and so on and so on. but i think i could just be paranoid lol

fish_4_all

3 weeks, you aren't paranoid, your tank isn't cycled yet. What type of test are yu using? I would do a minimul 25% water change immediately to take care of the ammonia regardless of what the test says. Make sure to treat the water with dechlor while you fill the bucket, not after you put it in the tank. This will help to keep from stressing the bichir even more. IF you can increase the bubble rate and lower the temp to 78 if it is higher than that, this may help some.

BTW, do you have any live plants in the tank?

cullens089

no live plants(should i get some?). hes starting to eat now and im using api testing kit. 25% just use dechlor also or anything els chemical wise ? i can lower the temp also its only at 80F

fish_4_all

Well when you cycle with fish you need to do water changes every 2 weeks if not every week. I realize the amount is small enough you are not reading it on the test. How many fish are in the tank? If it is fairly well stocked you could be just at the beginning of the cycle and could be in for a long haul depending on how delicate the fish are.

cullens089

22 zebras and just the 1 bichir who im about to move to a smaller tank til cycling is over but i dont want to keep moving him around and him get all stressed out and die so i dunno what to do

fish_4_all

Well for now and as long as your ammonia and nitrites are zero I wouldn't worry about him. 22 danios and a bichir in a 90.

Did you seed the filters with anything from a set up tank? Did you add anything from a cycled tank?

My best advice right now is to leave it alone and test your water every 3 days. If you see a spike in ammonia or nitrites then you would have to consider moving him.

I am really glad you are providing what you can, I hope we can make sure that at least the bichir makes it through all of this if not all or at least most of the danios. Hang in there, we will help you get through this and remember for the future, a tank normaly takes 6-10 weeks to cycle with or without fish. Danios are most often recommended for cycling with fish but I don't know anything baut the Bichir as far as how hardy they are and I know that they are not the easiest fish to come by.

cullens089

i do have gravel in some pantyhose hanging in the tank from and established tank