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Love_MyFish

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Feb 1, 2011
Messages
202
Location
Richmond, VA
Ok! Help me out here. I have a 29 gallon tank with gravel, running a tetra ex 70- 3 stage filter, 4 live plants, 3 swordtails, a rainbow shark, clown loach, 4 snails, and 4 tetras. I thought I had cycled but now that I have my master test my reading are, 2/1/11 PH- 7.6 HRPH 7.4 Ammonia 8 NI 0 NA 0... 50% water change. 2/2/11 PH 7.6 HRPH 7.4 Ammonia 4 NI 0 NA 0... 2 50% water changes. 2/3/11 PH 7.6 HRPH 7.4 Ammonia <2 NI 0 NA 0... agian 2 50% water changes. 2/4/11 PH 7.6 HRPH 7.4 Ammonia 1 NI 0 NA 0... My questions are...

1) Some people are saving the 50% WC will kill the good bacteria, well???

2) what can I do to help the Aquarium along?

3) Any other Advice?
 
I would keep doing 50% water changes until you get your ammonia down to 0.25ppm. Above that level is potentially dangerous for your fish. Doing water changes will not kill the good bacteria, the bacteria is on your substrate, decor, filter media, etc. The bacteria does not reside in the water column so doing water changes does not do any harm.

I'm sure some others have already told you but your clown loach will probably get too big for a 29g. I have one that a co-worker kept in a 20g long tank and it stunted the growth of the clown. I have had it in my 30g long for almost 2 years and it hasn't grown at all. It eats like a pig and is very active but hasn't grown at all.
 
+1 on continuing the 50% PWCs. Your ammonia level has come down, but it still has a bit to go. Ammonia at the high levels you've been experiencing will eventually lead to fish loss if not taken care of.
 
Even 0.25ppm is toxic...it just takes longer to damage/kill the fish than a higher concentration would. There is no amount of ammonia that is safe for prolonged exposures.

I agree, water changes do not kill your bacteria, unless you just went crazy with water changes. The water does not contain the bacteria, but it contains the bacterias food source. Minimizing the food source will reduce the bacterias population. Of course this is largely hypothetical, since no one changes that much water. And if they did, it wouldn't matter if the tank was cycled or not.
 
WC

Even 0.25ppm is toxic...it just takes longer to damage/kill the fish than a higher concentration would. There is no amount of ammonia that is safe for prolonged exposures.

I agree, water changes do not kill your bacteria, unless you just went crazy with water changes. The water does not contain the bacteria, but it contains the bacterias food source. Minimizing the food source will reduce the bacterias population. Of course this is largely hypothetical, since no one changes that much water. And if they did, it wouldn't matter if the tank was cycled or not.

I had to do 2 50% WC a day to get my Ammoina down. Do you think my bacteria are still good. No NItrites or NitrAtes yet,
 
This is the problem with cycling with fish - you have to keep the concentration down to keep the fish alive, but the lower concentration limits the growth of the bacteria. That's why it takes so long.

There are a few things you can do. Best is to go to the LFS and ask what they use for biomedia. Then go to the shelf and grab a box. Ask them if they will swap out some of their media for the new media you are buying. Then you will have a cycled tank.

If you can't do that you can ask for some of their gravel. Buy a media bag, put the gravel in the bag and put it in the filter. There is a small amount of bacteria on the gravel, and putting it in the filter, in contact with the new media will get it going faster. Getting the established colony, no matter how small, into the filter is going to accelerate the process.

If you can't do that, you ought to consider returning the fish and doing a fishless cycle. It's easier on both you and on the fish.

If that's not an option, then you'll have to continue to do daily water changes until the tank is cycled, which can take at least a month.
 
Update !!!

This is the problem with cycling with fish - you have to keep the concentration down to keep the fish alive, but the lower concentration limits the growth of the bacteria. That's why it takes so long.

There are a few things you can do. Best is to go to the LFS and ask what they use for biomedia. Then go to the shelf and grab a box. Ask them if they will swap out some of their media for the new media you are buying. Then you will have a cycled tank.

If you can't do that you can ask for some of their gravel. Buy a media bag, put the gravel in the bag and put it in the filter. There is a small amount of bacteria on the gravel, and putting it in the filter, in contact with the new media will get it going faster. Getting the established colony, no matter how small, into the filter is going to accelerate the process.

If you can't do that, you ought to consider returning the fish and doing a fishless cycle. It's easier on both you and on the fish.

If that's not an option, then you'll have to continue to do daily water changes until the tank is cycled, which can take at least a month.

After several days and nights of WCs My Levels are in the safe range. PH- 7.6 AM- .25 or less NI- 0 NA- 0-5.:) Am I alost at smooth sailing or has the WCs just stall the ammonia. My fish seem happy.
 
If you have 0.25 ppm of ammonia, then you'll soon have a nitrite spike, which is also dangerous and toxic to the fish. How long has the tank been running for?

This was explained by a someone with a lot of letters after their name. Fish release ammonia into the water column through their gills. The reason fish die of ammonia poisoning is that as the the concentration of ammonia in the water is greater than what's in the fish's body, so the fish cannot release it.

Doing the water changes keeps the ammonia level down so the fish can release it. Prolonged exposure to low levels of ammonia result in secondary problems - stunted growth, susceptibility to disease and other things.

I'm sure your fish are thrilled, if you ammonia concentration was in fact 8 ppm
 
After several days and nights of WCs My Levels are in the safe range. PH- 7.6 AM- .25 or less NI- 0 NA- 0-5.:) Am I alost at smooth sailing or has the WCs just stall the ammonia. My fish seem happy.


As Fishguy mentioned, the next likely occurance after an ammonia spike is a nitrite spike. If you haven't yet seen any nitrItes, then you will probably will soon. As Meegosh mentioned, doing water changes will not stall your cycle so keep up the water testing and the PWCs. The majority of the good bacteria is on your substrate and filter materials, very little resides in the water. As your nitrites rise, make sure you are doing those water changes to keep them from getting out of control like your ammonia was. Once the nitrites start falling, you'll be in the end stretch.
 
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