WHATT? Does everyone kill guppies or use bacteria to cycle the tank and to deal with unexpected peaks in ammonia and nitrite?

[sheena22]

Taken straight from the website answers your question about bottle life Ian....

So. why buy a product that smells like rotten eggs?

BECAUSE IT'S SIMPLY THE BEST PRODUCT ON THE MARKET!

When you open a bottle of Microbe-Lift/PL there is a 'rotten egg' smell. The odor is totally harmless, it dissipates within seconds, and it is there for a very good reason. The product is designed to naturally produce hydrogen sulfide and to serve important functions. The hydrogen sulfide acts like an anesthesia to put the bacteria to sleep. That's why our live bacteria have the longest shelf life on the market. When you open the bottle and pour MICROBE-LIFT/PL into your pond, the hydrogen sulfide flashes off and dilutes in the water, allowing the bacteria to wake up and become active again.

 

[sheena22]

I know i have a lot of bacteria in a bottle haters but if anyone was interested and needed any more information on how it worked for me and many others please let me know

 

[xxianxx]

Thanks, i will check it out.

 

[iSuzie]

I am really shocked, i have read numerous posts on how people use guppies to cycle their tank! 1.) how very cruel. And 2.) WHY when you can get natural bacteria already grown in a bottle and you add the same amount everyday for a certain amount of weeks until the bacteria is established in the filter and the tank has matured!

If you have a sudden crippling rise of ammonia or nitrite that is harming your axolotl, simply just doing a massive water change isnt going to help because the problem is the waste is not being broken down properly so theres not enough beneficial bacterium growing in the tank and the filter, so you need to do little change and add bacteria to help cope with the sudden changes.

I do this with both my fish and axolotls, one day the water in my big fish tank was high in nitrite to the point it was toxic relative to PH levels, and the fish could of died if i had left it which i wouldnt have done, did a little water change about 10-20 if that, and added the bacteria and BAM over night it had gone down considerably had not done much no effort required at all really.

I hate to sound like I am a snob or stuck up here, but its the way ive learnt to care for my fish/axolotls never had any problems with it. no harmful chemicals, so why is there not a thread on here for cycling a tank and how to cope with dips in ammonia and nitrite?

And I hate the idea of making fish suffer just to create a nice tank for an axolotl, when i can use a bottle of bacteria.

Its like me using an axolotl to cycle a tank for my guppies i just would not do it!

Also I hate to sound all like my advice is the best blah blah because i know everyone has different methods, but my partner is a specialist at an aquatics centre and if anyone needs any advice or anything I can give you their number even if its not for axolotls if its for any fishy matter it will be fine to give them a call.

I expect to get a lot of threads back saying opposite stuff to what i am saying , I will listen say what you say and i will not get offended.

Hope this hasnt offended anyone but i saw a gap in the site and thought it may be helpful to see what we can do to keep helping each other so that our axies live as long as possible and our fishies

Sheena xx

If what you are trying to do here is tell people about another way of cycling a tank, then you could use the "Testimonials" section to tell people about the product you like. Before you go calling people cruel.
Or make a thread about to cycle a tank using the product you like, instead of offending people and the way they cycle a tank. This entire thread is useless and any point you are trying to get across will be lost before they are even read, simply because you started out so negatively towards a method used by thousands and began to put everyone that uses that method into a group that you call cruel.

This is generally not the way to go about telling people a method on cycling a tank.

 

[sheena22]

@ suzie, i have completely messed up my words in the first bit.

I have read about people on this forum buying guppies and they keep dying and they keep buying new ones in order to cycle their tank and they all keep dying that is what i see as CRUEL.

And it reached one person on the thread and how do you know any others have not read this and thought hey i might give that a go, or thought no not for me.

Have i offended anyone?Iwas simply saying id rather not risk a life and id rather use a bottle that was all. If anyone is extremely offended by my post do pm me or mention it on here there is method behind my madness, and I was saying i like my method, i understand others use that method and its fine,

So suzie it wasnt USELESS as you said it reached one person and its not particually about a certain product its about using a bacteria to cycle a tank rather than causing POTENTIAL harm to a fishy/axy friend of ours.

Sorry to anyone i have offended, more worried about keeping animals safe than offending people, and that is my honest opinion there.

 

[carsona246]

I'm all for fishless cycling, however I'm also in the camp that feels bacteria in a bottle is a waste of money. Why not advocate for fishless cycling in general, instead of promoting one specific product?(which makes me feel like I'm reading a commercial)
I understand where you're coming from, but your title alone is slightly offensive. There are plenty of humane methods of cycling a tank with a fish inside, however you assume everyone who attempts it is just throwing in guppies for the sole purpose of ammonia production(which I totally understand your point that it makes no sense when you can fishless cycle)
just my 2 cents on why you're getting negative responses. A more moderate approach would probably have been met with more support.

 

[iSuzie]

@ suzie, i have completely messed up my words in the first bit.

I have read about people on this forum buying guppies and they keep dying and they keep buying new ones in order to cycle their tank and they all keep dying that is what i see as CRUEL.

And it reached one person on the thread and how do you know any others have not read this and thought hey i might give that a go, or thought no not for me.

Have i offended anyone?Iwas simply saying id rather not risk a life and id rather use a bottle that was all. If anyone is extremely offended by my post do pm me or mention it on here there is method behind my madness, and I was saying i like my method, i understand others use that method and its fine,

So suzie it wasnt USELESS as you said it reached one person and its not particually about a certain product its about using a bacteria to cycle a tank rather than causing POTENTIAL harm to a fishy/axy friend of ours.

Sorry to anyone i have offended, more worried about keeping animals safe than offending people, and that is my honest opinion there.

You still went the completely wrong way about getting your point across, there is other ways to be heard that will make more people listen and understand what you are talking about. Accusing people of being cruel isn't very acceptable in society and wont get you very far on a forum where a high percentage of the people cycle their tank using live animals. At first you were saying about killing guppy's and that we risk axolotls by having them in a tank while cycling.. Then you change your mind and say that you only meant the people that buy guppy's over and over to use during cycling, well that's not what you were saying in the beginning and you changing your mind through all the comments suggest you don't know who you are accusing of being cruel. There is NO ONE here bragging about killing guppy's or being cruel to animals in any way so for you to react to the method of cycling with live animals in such a way when nothing has been said to provoke you.. is well.. un-called for.
If you have read somewhere about someone doing the wrong thing, comment there, not make an entire thread to abuse everyone that uses live animals in the cycling process.

The name of the thread alone shows what this thread is accusing and it isn't very necessary. Especially when their are other way {much better ways} to get your point across.

 

[sheena22]

Okay suzie , i have already said i got mixed up which seems to you like im changing my mind which wasnt i literally just didnt say it correctly.

If your offended by this get someone to delete it because i didnt set out to offend anyone or call anyone cruel i explained i got mixed up i am human!

There is a risk of harming axolotls and fish if it isnt done properly so thats why i suggested a bottle of bacteria which does THE EXACT same thing.

Never said it was wrong, just said id rather not put any of my pets at a potential risk because there is a risk ! And with bacteria in a bottle i can gurantee for myself there is no risk in potentially harming my animals.

I am suggesting a new idea, as i said before i care more about axolotls living than peoples feelings and if a newbee come along with problems and what i said helped them thats all i ever wanted.

I can handle people replying negatively i said i will get comments in my intial post and that i never meant to offend anyone, so if anyone bothered to read that then they would of known i didnt set out to actually upset anyone.

So I suzie and anyone else if you are really upset my my posts then please do get it deleted.

Thanks

 

[Mandy6]

I've always ended up cycling when I had animals in the tank, mainly because when I set up my tanks I didn't know about cycling. They've always ended up fine.

I've had bottled bacteria before and it didn't make any difference whatsoever. I appreciate the brand you are using may be different but I still find it so hard to understand how bacteria can survive in a bottle for all these months on the shelf like people claim, no matter what the brand.

In the future I would most likely do a fishless cycle, but I don't think there is anything wrong with cycling with animals in the tank as long as the levels are kept in check. I've never seen anyone saying that just buy animals over and over until the tank is cycled and not bothering keeping the levels in check, and anyone who has lost animals during cycling certainly haven't been proud of it.

I also don't think there is anything wrong with using the bacteria in a bottle if it's working for you. It just seems with most people it's ended up wasting money

 

[Loobylou]

I've never used guppies to cycle a tank. So no, I don't kill guppies.

I use goldfish.

I think they appreciate the change of scenery every now and again.

Edit: also before you start a post about cruelty to guppies, you might want to choose a site where people who post don't use them as food.

 

[iSuzie]

There is a risk of harming axolotls and fish if it isnt done properly so thats why i suggested a bottle of bacteria which does THE EXACT same thing.

Never said it was wrong, just said id rather not put any of my pets at a potential risk because there is a risk ! And with bacteria in a bottle i can gurantee for myself there is no risk in potentially harming my animals.

But that's just the thing, you are not just suggesting the bacteria in a bottle but you are in fact implying everyone that doesn't use it is cruel. This is what I had a problem with. Not the bacteria in the bottle at all..
The way you went about trying to get your point across what offensive and almost even abusive.
No one is being cruel so it is un-called for and as I said previously IF someone has posted ANYWHERE on the forum like you have previously claimed to of read, then COMMENT THERE.
There is really no need for this thread. If you want to tell people about the product, simple use the testimonial section. If you feel the need to call someone/anyone cruel find the person you are claiming is cruel and call them cruel not the rest of us that do watch our water parameters and don't let any of our animals get harmed.

And I am not upset about your thread, just the way you are going about something that could well be a good product, this product now hasn't got the right attention it probably deserves opposed to if you had of made a thread in the testimonial section it would of got the right attention and most likely more people would result in using it..

 

[iSuzie]

Simply what im am trying to say is if you had of make a thread called " bacteria in a bottle really does work" and then told your story you would of got a much much better reaction from the public viewers instead of what this thread has now turned into.

 

[xxianxx]

Shena has admitted her post was badly worded and apologized twice and think that should be sufficient to avoid any further negative posts.

 

[Loobylou]

Shena has admitted her post was badly worded and apologized twice and think that should be sufficient to avoid any further negative posts.

This is true, but the original post on the start of the thread did make me chuckle especially as I was half reading it as I was throwing some guppies into my axie tank. Plus this morning I set up a shrimp tank which my goldfish are cycling for me. Shouldn't take long though as I used a couple of sponge filters that have been running in other tanks for over a month, plus sand/ornaments etc from other tanks.

 

[Mark]

We’ve discussed the use of bacterial products many times. Just search for “cycling products”. No-one is saying they 100% don’t work but the vast amount of feedback they receive on this forum and other aquatic forums suggest they are very hit or miss. The quantities of live bacteria kept in a bottle are questionable, especially if it’s been sitting on a shelf in a pet store for months. In addition they may not be the right kind of bacteria for your tank, resulting in brief or no success.

If you have a sudden crippling rise of ammonia or nitrite that is harming your axolotl, simply just doing a massive water change isnt going to help because the problem is the waste is not being broken down properly so theres not enough beneficial bacterium growing in the tank and the filter, so you need to do little change and add bacteria to help cope with the sudden changes.

It’s great that you’ve found a product that works for you, however if you’re using it to combat spikes in ammonia or nitrite I’d suggest there is something wrong with your tank maintenance or feeding schedule. A spike such as you describe might be due to over feeding or failing to remove waste products. It’s better to improve your tank maintenance rather than rely on a bottle of bacteria to solve a problem.

 

[StewRat]

I'm cycling my tank with guppies, and for a reason I dont think have been touched on here.

I should say first of all that I haven't seen the threads here where guppies have been sacrificed to cycle a tank; it never occurred to me that would or should be a result, and I wouldn't have done if it was. I'm not even sure how a few guppies in a tank big enough for axolotls could get nitrogen levels up to dangerous levels unless completely neglected (and even then ...). And isn't it the case that guppies (and other fish) are more tolerant of nitrogen (and other levels) than axolotls as the latter are absorbing them through their whole surface area?

Anyway, the reason I'm doing it this way is that I'm not sure when I'll actually get my axolotls. So there's no point in me putting in instant bacteria to establish a colony if there is no ongoing supply of nitrogen to feed them. They'll just die off won't they?

So I have 6 guppies in a 4ft tank along with a load of live plants. I'll let that little community establish itself and monitor the water, and then I'll be able to add axolotls at any point once it is stable.

The point being (and why I'm posting this) that it shouldn't matter if I have to keep this tank going for weeks or even months before I'm ready to add axolotls as it should be fairly self-contained.


Edited to add that I added my 2c at the bottom of page 1 without realising this had gotten a bit more heated on page 2 - or I'b probably have just shut up.

 

[iSuzie]

Sorry I don't mean to continuously say the same thing, but my point I was trying to make didn't seem to be getting through.

 

[iChris]

I've cycled a tank with a axie in it, and without using just fish food flake. what works for some might not work for others. I personally have only briefly tried the "bottled bacteria" and did not have any success at all.

I think that using guppy to cycle a tank and "sacrificing a few" is no less cruel than having your own colony of said fish to use as feeders to your axies.

as you would cycle a tank with a axie in it, it's very doable with guppy or other fish if you monitor the water quality closely. the guppy can be then re-housed accordingly. I choose not to use fish to cycle as I'm not able to re-home them after.

 

[xxianxx]

You could have rehomed them in an axolotl lol

 

[iChris]

You could have rehomed them in an axolotl lol

haha I guess so, but I just can't and won't risk feeding live feeders that I have not bred for a few generations myself simply because of the risk of introducing disease and such into my axie tank.