VERY EMERGENCY PLEASE REPLY FAST

hello i just bought a 5 gallon aquarium with everything including filter and 5 black skirt tetra yesterday. i didnt know about water cycle at first. know i know and i dont want my fish to die is there any way to prevent it can i put the fish in a bucket while the aquarium is cycling

Welcome to My Aquarium Club!

You can change part (20 percent) of the water every day until the ammonia spikes stop, and you can add a floating plant like water sprite or hornwort. I once cycled two large aquariums, each with a big bunch of hornwort. Ammonia stayed at zero during the entire process. In case you haven't read it elsewhere, the cycle is all about establishing a colony of beneficial bacteria that helps keep the water clean. A small aquarium with lots of fish will probably cycle in a week or two. After that, you need to be very careful about maintenance while you avoid over crowding and over feeding. When a small volume of water starts to go bad, it happens very fast. Please let me know if some of that helps.

hello thank you john arthur for the help today i noticed that my aquarium have bubble on top and smells bad but the fish is active and eats is that normal for aquarium cycle? and also in australia when its summer it can reach up to 40 celcius and today i check my aquarium is 31 celcius do you know how to make it cooler? is there a machine to cool water?

Your aquarium should not have bubbles on top, and it should not smell bad. Probably you have been over feeding. Healthy fish are nearly always hungry, so many of us tend to feed them more than they need. The immediate fix for the problem is a large, partial water change.

Here in Phoenix, it also gets very hot during the summer. We're in the middle of the Sonoran desert, and aquariums getting too warm is something of an issue. Keeping them clean and choosing fish that like warm water are two solutions. Although I've never lost fish because of the heat, I have considered buying a chiller system for aquariums. However, they cost quite a bit, and I would need several. If I remember the conversion math for temperature, your aquarium is very warm. Since it holds only five gallons, a few ice cubes may help. The aquarium light also adds heat, so you could run it in the evening instead of the day. When you do the partial water change, be careful to NOT change the temperature very much. Sudden changes in any water parameter will hurt the fish. If you can, it may be helpful to move the aquarium to a cool, shady place in the house.

The TV here has been talking about wild fires in southern Australia. I hope you're safe.

wow thanks so much for help yeah 108 ppl die here but no big deal : ) also im planning to buy a bigger aquarium maybe about 20 gallon and i like this fish oscar is that enough

Thanks for your reply. One other thing that may help is an air stone. If it has a fairly strong air flow, it will cause some evaporation which will, in turn, lower the temperature. You can remove it when the heat emergency is over. Yesterday, I worked out the formula for converting degrees C to F, and the answer came out to 104F. That's really hot for aquarium water. I think the math is 9C/5 +32=F.

The 20 gallon aquarium, or even a bigger one, is a good idea. Over here, you can buy one for almost nothing at yard sales. If you get a 55 gallon aquarium, it will still be small for an Oscar. They get very large and very messy. The internet search engines are a good place to research the habits, requirements and adult size of most aquarium fish.

hello, thank you today i checked my ammonia nitrite and nitrate to know that if i finish aquarium cycle and it says:

ammonia:0.50
nitrite:0
nitrate:10

then after that i change 10 percent of the water to make ammonia and nitrate to go low. is the reading dangerous? can the ammonia or nitrate kill the fish. what should i do? can i do 50 percent water change everyday to make it low?.thanks

Both ammonia and nitrite should be zero. Ammonia will burn a fish's gills, so it is dangerous. You could try a larger water change; it will probably help. Just try to make sure it doesn't cause a rapid change in temperature or other water parameters. If you do a 50 percent water change today, you can check the water parameters tomorrow. If nitrite and ammonia go to zero and stay there, the cycle is complete and a once a week partial water change will maintain the aquarium. Be sure to syphon off any uneaten food when you do the water change. Maintenance will be especially important, because you have a small aquarium with a near maximum biological load. Please keep us posted.

PS: I hope you find a nice big aquarium.

thank you for all ur help and this sunday im getting a 50 gallon aquarium for $174 aus for my birthday.thnkas again for the help

Congratulations. That sounds like a very good aquarium. Please let it completely cycle before you add fish. If you need help with the cycling process, just let us know.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

thanks