Help; 5g Mid-Cycle

[AceOfHearts]

I bought a 5g on July 17, and began my cycling the same day with fish.
I started out with 3 balloon belly mollies, a bottle of Nutrafin Cycle and a master test kit.
I test every two days and record levels but refrained from doing water changes for a few weeks.
We went through a few bacteria blooms, Ick AND dropsy before one molly died.
Since then I added 2 more mollies, a common pleco, air stone and heater to keep the temp at 26ºc.

My question is about these cycling pictures and my water levels.
I've read so many articles on cycling (like Aquamaniacs :: View article - Cycling Safely - by Clint Tisher)
and they seem to say in simple terms when ammonia falls nitrites rise.
Then when nitrites fall, nitrates rise.
Once ammonia and nitrites are at 0, the only way to get rid of nitrates is water changes.

Except right now my ammonia finally fell to 0.3 BUT my nitrites and nitrates have almost always been at their maximum level.
Should I be doing more water changes, or will nature balance it all out in the end?

Im sure people have asked many questions like this but I cant seem to find anyone saying their NO2 and NO3 have always been this high..
Im just worried.​

 

[JWright]

Absolutely do more water changes. If your nitrite levels are over 1ppm, then it's time for water changes until it's below that level. Nitrite is very toxic.

So, you've got a total of 4 mollies and a pleco in your tank?

I would recommend seeing if the store will take the pleco back. 4 mollies is a little more than I'd recommend for a 5 gallon, but if you're good about weekly water changes, you should be fine. That pleco on the other hand will grow to the length of a football and will need to be in 55 gallon tank (at a minimum).

~JW

P.S. I removed your duplicate thread from the general freshwater section. No need for two threads.

 

[MissFishy]

From what I got from this post, it sounds like you're not treating your tap water for chlorine and chloramines. I'm not familiar with "nutrafin cycle," is this a water conditioner? If not, you absolutely have to treat your water, otherwise your tank will never cycle as the chlorine will just continue killing off the bacteria that grows in there. Not only will it kill off the good tank bacteria, it will also eventually kill your fish. There is a helpful link in my signature on tank maintainance and cycling that puts the cycle in simpler terms.

IMO, your tank is grossly overstocked, time to get a bigger tank or return half of your fish.

 

[AceOfHearts]

Well, the pleco will soon be going to my 30g with a few yoyo loaches from my dads 180g tank. (plus i love him, i could never take him back)

I thought doing this many water changes would affect the bacteria trying to establish?
My NO2 is currently at 1.6mg/L and NO3 is 50mg/L.​

 

[AceOfHearts]

Cycle is one of those 'bacteria in a bottle' type deals.
I do treat my water, should have mentioned that before..

Yeah it seems everything is hard to keep under a watchful eye on a 5g scale, we are going to go find a 16g I do believe.
Would that still be too small?​

 

[JWright]

As you're seeing, the product Cycle is pretty useless. Doing water changes will lengthen your cycle to some extent (not a tremendous amount), but not doing water changes will result in the death of your fish. Use water changes to keep the nitrite level below 1 mg/l (ppm).

Anything less than 55 gallons is too small for a pleco.

16 gallons would be great for your mollies, and you could add a few other fish (perhaps some small corydoras castfish).

When you say your 30 gallon is currently cycling, what are you doing to it to cycle it?

~JW

 

[AceOfHearts]

Right now i have my Fluval 40 running on my dads tank.
Im trying the established media method to cycle my 30g.
So ill be using some of his rock and water once the filter has enough bacteria in it.

Id say my pleco is currently just under 2inches.
My dad has 3 plecos that are already a foot long so i know a 5g wont do.
Think he'd be okay for a bit in a 30g till hes bigger?
Cause if the 30 is too small I can put him into my dads tank, but the fish in there are much much bigger and very agressive.
I dont want him hurt.​

 

[JWright]

Putting establish media in an empty tank won't cycle the tank, it'll simply starve the bacteria. If you want to cycle the tank before adding fish (a good idea), check out the stickies in this forum regarding fishless cycling.

~JW

 

[FroggyFox]

I think your pleco would be much better in the 30 than the 5 for awhile
Although I think you should have that filter running on your dad's tank for a couple weeks before putting it on your 30...then when you move it to your 30 you should add fish immediately (ie move at least the pleco over) and then stock it slowly (no more than a couple fish every couple of weeks added) and keep an eye on the levels. Even though you'll get a fair amount of bacteria built up on your filter from your dad's tank...it probably won't be ALL that you need for the tank when its fully stocked.

 

[AceOfHearts]

So I did a water change this morning and it didnt really bring down the NO2/NO3 by much.
Should I continue doing changes every 2nd day or daily?
I should only do one a day though right?​

 

[JWright]

Do as many water changes as it takes to get your nitrite level down below 1 ppm (do them one right after another if you need to). Keeping that nitrite level down is critical for the survival of your fish.

~JW

 

[AceOfHearts]

Alrighty.
Thanks a lot for the info.
​