Whats with my cycle???

[Joeyb1731]

Ok so im at day 21 since I added my first bottle of tetra safe start and some fish. I started doing water changes to control a .50 ppm ammonia level, i vacuumed the gravel and did 20% water changes 3 days in a row and the ammonia level did not change, at day 13 I was told not to do any water changes anymore until the cycle was done. Just deal with the ammonia and let it do its job, so I added more safe start and im trying to ride it out. Since then my fish seem fine now yesterday at day 20 I noticed my ammonia was a high at 1.0ppm, so I did a 20% water change to keep the levels down. I didnt vacuum the gravel just took water off the top like I was told to do for now. My ammonia is still at 1.0 or a little under! I dont get it im 21 days into the cycle and I have seen no nitrites at all in 21 days and all my fish except for one seem fine. I dont wanna loose the fish but I don't know what to do.

50 Gallon tank-Ammonia=1.0 ppm, Nitrite=0 ,Nitrate=5ppm, pH=7.4


My tap water reads no ammonia and a pH of 7.4
and i have 6 fish (my only mistake)

 

[homebunnyj]

Patience, little one.

Sometimes it takes a while. Each tank is different. One of mine took over two months to become fully cycled. Relax, and keep up the good work.

When your ammonia is 1.0 and you do a 20% water change, it should go down to .8. Maybe you can't discern this small difference in the color of your test kit. And, since the fish are continually producing waste, yes -- the ammonia will be back up to 1.0 the next day. It's to be expected.

You could do a slightly larger water change, say 50%, to see a discernible difference in the ammonia level. It should go down from 1.0 to .5 in that case. That would give your fish more of a respite from the ammonia levels. And don't really expect to see nitrites until the ammonia spike is subsiding.

It will happen. I promise. Really, it will. You're doing your best to safeguard your fish's health, just keep it up. It takes longer to safely do a fish-in cycle, but it's worth it to not lose the fish. There's nothing abnormal about the time involved here; it is frustrating, though.

If you know someone with an established tank, you could 'import' some bacteria. Swish a used filter cartridge of theirs in the tank water, or place it in your filter if it will fit. Put a handful of their gravel in your tank, under the filter outlet. It will help.

Usually just when you're ready to pull your hair out by the roots because you've had all you can handle is when the ammonia drops and you get to move on to monitoring the next stage. Hang in there.

 

[Joeyb1731]

ok one more question then..how often should I be doing these water changes? only when the ammonia is high? once a week? I just went out and bought prime based on some other posts and stickies and added enough for my tank to hopefully reduce the ammonia level.

 

[brian1973]

Prime will not reduce the ammonia level, it will neutralize it, basically changing the bad ammonia into safer ammonia, but it will still show present in the tank when you test so dont think it isnt working. I personally would only be doing the changes when the ammonia is 1ppm but like i said in another post others here will have different opinions. Are you pre treating your water with dechlorinator before or after adding it to the tank? If your tap water has chlorine or chloramine you may be killing off the bacteria with each water change, so test your tap water for chlorine and ammonia as well.

 

[MissFishy]

Some may disagree with me, but here is my advice for a fishless cycle.

Do as many water changes as necessary to keep the ammonia levels under 1.0ppm. Don't vacuum the gravel and make sure to treat the water with water conditioner BEFORE adding the new water into your tank. Keep the temp around 80. Test the ammonia and nitrite levels daily until both are at zero on a daily basis, this means your tank has stablized and cycled. I don't like using prime or any of those other potions, they just mess with your cycles and throw your numbers off. A good basic water conditioner is all you should be using. If you know anyone with an established tank, this can greatly help your situation, take a look at my webpage for how to "seed" a tank.

 

[Joeyb1731]

Thanx again all, I have been treating my water with api water conditioner since day 1 I also test the tap water before I put it in for ammonia. The tap water is fine. I'm just gonna ride this out and keep my fingers crossed for the fishies and keep doing my water changes when I get to 1.0

 

[brian1973]

sounds like your on the right track just stick with it, I personally found cycling to be like the watched pot, the more I worry about it the longer it seems to take, just be glad that once it is over you probably will never have to do it again, I use established media in all my tanks now.

 

[robdollaz]

interesting....it seems like you are doing everything necessary to correct the problem.

I had a crazy ammonia spike a couple weeks after I added a decoration to my old tank..for the life of me, I couldnt figure out what it was...I removed it, and the next morning, my water levels were normal.

 

[LadyLail]

interesting....it seems like you are doing everything necessary to correct the problem.

I had a crazy ammonia spike a couple weeks after I added a decoration to my old tank..for the life of me, I couldnt figure out what it was...I removed it, and the next morning, my water levels were normal.

You have to be super careful with decor- I added a peice from Walmart to my terrarium and the next morning it smelled like someone had poured a bottle of Mineral Spirits in there. I'm sure my crabs got the high of their life, but after I removed it and changed out the sand, the tank was back to normal. I'm sure it would've killed my fish if it would've been one of my aquariums... I try and soak all of my plastic stuff for a few days just incase now. Crazy huh?

 

[robdollaz]

You have to be super careful with decor- I added a peice from Walmart to my terrarium and the next morning it smelled like someone had poured a bottle of Mineral Spirits in there. I'm sure my crabs got the high of their life, but after I removed it and changed out the sand, the tank was back to normal. I'm sure it would've killed my fish if it would've been one of my aquariums... I try and soak all of my plastic stuff for a few days just incase now. Crazy huh?

Same here...Amazing how one decoration can ruin all your hard work, if you don't catch it fast enough.

 

[Joeyb1731]

Just an update. My Ammonia level came down drastically over night. My nitrites are showing .50 today also, im at day 23, I also have to deal with ich now so im treating with salt. So I have to be carefull with my water changes, so hopefully the prime and safe start that ive put in my tank will keep my nitrite low during the ich treatment. Wish me luck

 

[MissFishy]

For ich treatment, I suggest simply raising your temperature up to 82 degrees and leave there for 2 weeks. That will take care of the problem, no salt needed.