Please do not be discouraged. There are a few tricks to the trade that beginners are not aware of. Trust me - we all had to learn whether it was the hard way (like you) or learning from others (I learned the hard way too). I would like to point out a few errors (so you can learn from your mistakes) and explain why it didn't work out, which will hopefully prevent other mistakes. Then, I will discuss options for you, and how to successfully cycle a tank.

The average fish tank takes 4-6 weeks to cycle. The time it takes varies (of course) as there are several factors affecting the cycling process. Danios are not a hardy fish, and do best in an already established tank. I also wonder how many you added at first. If your tank just sat for a week, and then you put say 5 fish in it, the cycle isn't set up so adding more ammonia to the tank (via the fish) completely crashed any cycling that was starting from the week it was set up without fish. Ammonia is the number one fish killer, and it kills so fast. Unfortunately, ammonia is the first water parameter to spike during the cycling process. That's why a hardy fish is recommended, however there is another option which I will recommend below.

Since the pet store is so far away, you may want to purchase your own water testing kit as you will need to know what's going on with your water chemistry during the cycling process. You can order it online or at your local petstore. There are several options now a days. Your ideal parameters are: 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, and
Fishless Cycling


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Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

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