My Tank won't cycle

[Mark Fairhead]

Hi

I have a Juwel Rekord 80 ( 80 litres ) fish tank which comes with it own built-in filter system, I’ve added an air-stone and fake plants and rocks for decoration. I have about 1 cm of gravel in the bottom of my tank and have stocked it with two Swordtails and two Platies.

I’ve had the tank for three months and the Ammonia is off the scale ( 8ppm or more ). The Nitrite levels have not moved ( 0ppm ). The pH is between 6.8 and 7.0.

I am careful not to over feed my fish and have avoided the temptation to put AMMO-LOCK in to reduce the ammonia concentration, but have used Stress Zyme to speed up the filter system and use Stress Coat to dechlorinate any water I add. I have been doing a 10% water change once a month and try to suck up the debris from between the gravel when doing so.

What am I doing wrong ? or am I being too impatient ? I was hoping to see some change in the Ammonia and Nitrite levels by now.

Please help me.

 

[Kissyboots]

Ooo, yikes! Don't worry about your pH and nitrite levels; they are perfectly fine. You should, however, do something about that ammonia. You need to do at least a 50% water change IMMEDIATELY. If that ammonia has been there for a while, your fish probably have ammonia poisoning by now... 80 litres is about 21 gallons. You should be doing weekly 25%-30% water changes including your gravel vacuuming.

Once you have the ammonia fixed, you'll have to go with fish-in cycling.

And welcome to the tank, now go do that water change! Keep doing water changes every day until the ammonia is in the 0-0.25 range. Are you using liquid tests or strip tests? How many fish are in there and which species?

 

[unwritten law]

Well doing a vacuum vac wont really help with the cycle.... I am pretty dumbfounded by that concentration for that period of time. What is your heater at? What kind of filter media is in the filter?

 

[MissFishy]

Hmm, sounds like something's up. If your ammonia levels have been at 8.0 for 3 months, your fish would be dead, they can't live at those levels for more than a week or so max.

I would first take a sample of your water to a local fish store and have them see what results they get. You must be doing something to kill off the good bacteria in your tank, usually people do this if they change the filter pads or if they add water to the tank without treating it. Make sure you are adding a product that removes chlorine and chloramines from your tap water BEFORE you add the water to the tank. If you add water to the tank without treating it, it can kill your bacteria.

 

[Whiskers]

hi Mark, and welcome to the tank. like kissyboots said, you need to do a waterchange to get ammonia down to below 1ppm. I would think your tank should have done some kind of cycle by now. did your tank come with filter pad for built in filter? is it installed correctly and water flowing throught it? as kissyboots asked, what kind of test kit are you using to check water prams with?

 

[Mark Fairhead]

Thanks for the advice

Let me try and answer some of your questions.

My tank came with the filter system installed. I have cleaned it out once, by gently bobbing it up-and-down in a bucket of water which I had just vacuumed out of the tank as part of my water change, and the filter media ( 2 x Poly Pads, 1 x Carbon Sponge, 1 x Nitrate Removal Sponges , 1 x Filter Sponge Fine and 2 x Filter Sponges Coarse ) seemed to be installed correctly and the water flows through it at a good rate.

The test kits I’m using are the API ( Aquarium Pharmaceuticals ) liquid Ammonia, Nitrite and pH Test Kits.

I have lost two fish, now only have one Swordtail and one Platie ( one died giving birth. All the fry got eaten ! )

I use API Stress Coat to dechlorinate any water I add to the tank.

My heater is set to 24˚C / 76˚F

 

[BlueStraggler]

I would bump the heat up a few degrees like to 80 degrees, The bacteria find it more comfortable to reproduce in warmer temps.

 

[MissFishy]

I don't know what a "nitrate remover sponge" is, but it sounds suspicious. I would take it out unless you know exactly what it does. Are you treating the water before adding it to your tank?

As I said before, your fish would be dead if the ammonia was really 8.0ppm, I would check your test kit or how you're running your test.

 

[Mark Fairhead]

Thanks for the advice

I tested the water of Ammonia before I added it and it was at 0

After a 50% water change I tested the water in the tank and immediately it was at 8 !

I’ll take a water sample down to my local fish shop and ask them to test it for me.

 

[DesignsOnYou]

It sounds like there's ammonia in your tap water. There's some in mine too. I think it's probably because your water treatment plant uses chloramine instead of chlorine. I have always wondered if this type of ammonia, (I think it might actually be ammonium) is actually harmful to fish, or if it just shows up on the test. Sombunya, or someone else who knows water treatment care to jump in on that? As far as your situation, if it is harmful, what I do with mine is let the water sit out for about 24 to 48 hours before the water change, WITH Prime in it. This greatly reduces the ammonia to a point where the bacteria in the tank gets rid of it quick. Hope this helps.