I set up a 5 gallon aquarium for a betta fish last Tuesday. I added it the next night. It died this past Tuesday. I was told they were hardy fish & you don't need to "cycle" your aquarium. I got nitrite & nitrate stick tester & never got a reading on them, even after the fish was added, they were always zero. But it died. Was swimming really weird the past couple days. I'm trying to properly cycle now. I'm guessing it dued due to amonia poisioning. I got amonia liquid tester, & nitrite & nitrate stick tester.
I re-filled tank Wednesday, put bacteria start-up in it. I tested amonia last night & this morning & it's still very low. Nothing on nitrite & nitrate yet. From what I'm reading, amonia should go up, then down. When it goes down, nitrite should go up. When it goes down & I start getting tests on nitrate, that's when it's fish ready.
Any guesses on when that'll be for a 5 gallon tank? (It is 79 degrees, w/ heater & filter) I'm unclear if I should be daily adding fish food pellet for amonia to rise? Should I be doing partial water changes (seems to depend on the article I read, but seems like no until I get nitrate).
I had fish tank growing up (2nd grade thru 12th grade), so fishkeeping isn't completely new to me, but I was pretty young when the tank was first getting started & my parents did all that work. I don't think they ever really tested it, just put the bacteria stuff in & waited it to cycle for a week or so, & that was a 20-30 gallon tank.
Any other aquarists out there? What kind of fish do you have? How big a tank?
I got medication for her. Hopefully it goes away in a week. 
