My tank is going through a mini cycle - help, please!

[Punkymom]

Ok, so I changed my substrate out recently (Friday of last week) bc I am going to live plants. I left all the decorations and plastic plants in there as well as a huge panty-hose full of the old gravel. I was concerned about this happening and was trying to prevent it. So today I noticed that my angels were hanging out in the back bottom corner of the tank. Didn't really think anything about it bc this morning they were fine. This evening they were still in the same place. I fed them. No reaction. They are usually ravenous so I immediately knew something was not right. I checked for ammonia. Reading between 0 and .5 ppm. I did a 50% water change. Checked again right after change and I got a higher reading then I did before. How can this be? It read .5-1.0 after I did the water change. Could it be that the tank just hasn't settled back down yet? The angels started swimming around again once I had the tank almost filled so I'm pretty certain that's what the problem was. So weird to get a higher reading after my water change, though. Any thoughts? Advice? I've had these fish for over a year and I really don't want to lose them. I didn't cycle them when I first set it up, I used Bio-Spira and never had any ammonia until now. Argh! So frustrating!

 

[mitcore]

What type of filteration are you using?? and did you clean the filter out when you were changing the tank?

 

[Punkymom]

I have a penguin filter on it. It's a 26 gal bow and the filter is rated for 30 gal. Sorry, holding a baby otherwise I'd just tell you the number on the filter. I also just added an additional filter. A Rena that's rated for 30 gal. They are both HOB. No, I did not change out the filter media at all when I did this. The only thing I did was take out the old gravel and put new in. I was trying to be careful when I did it and leave some of the grime in there for the bacteria. Maybe I left too much in.

 

[mitcore]

no i think you have changed the good bactria ratio, and have not got enough good bactria in the tank, hense the increase in you bad water stats
now you can correct this fairly easily but know that the next 24hrs will be a hope for the best
mela fix containers good bactria that can helpin reducing new tank syndrom,
by adding some to your water you stand a chance in stopping this cycle,
if you are going to do this you will need to remove any carbon in your filters as the carbon will kill the good bactria
I love angels i breed them and know how hard it is to be here, I lost 7 of my breeding angel pairs to mini cycles and countless amounts of fry
that was a sad day, but i fixed it by doing the above and i hope i can help you also

 

[Punkymom]

Ok, I have mela fix. Will add now. I never use carbon in my filters. Thanks for the help! I'll test again in the morning and see where it's at. They did eat for me, finally. I think they'll be ok. I just wish the rest of the parts for my python were here. I'm still hauling buckets. Thankfully it's not a huge tank!

 

[Punkymom]

Ok, so I just added the mela fix. I hope it works. The bottle says it expired in 07. What I get for using old fish supplies of mine.

 

[mitcore]

LOL oh well, remember you are in the hope for the best right now,
let the tank cycle the mela fix through and retest this time tom, you can always add more mela fix if needed
and your welcome

 

[SWerner13]

What kind of test kit do you have?

Also I had no idea carbon would kill bacteria, that doesn't make sense to me because people run carbon filters on their tanks all the time. Please explain?

 

[mitcore]

carbon kills the good bactria as it is forming, once the good bactria has attached itself to objects and gravel even on the glass then carbon can be re added, it is only while you are trying to boost your good bactria in the tank the carbon needs to be removed
when adding most chemical meds, whether it be mela fix or prima fix or any other type carbon should always be removed as it can kill off what you have put in the tank

 

[missileman]

OK HUH.
1. Melafix doesn't contain any baceria at all. It is an extract from a tea tree used to treat bacterial infections in fish.
2. Carbon filters do not inhibit bacterial growth or slow down a cycle in any way. Yes you should remove carbon when treating fish with meds but not when cycling a tank.

 

[SWerner13]

OK HUH.
1. Melafix doesn't contain any baceria at all. It is an extract from a tea tree used to treat bacterial infections in fish.
2. Carbon filters do not inhibit bacterial growth or slow down a cycle in any way. Yes you should remove carbon when treating fish with meds but not when cycling a tank.

my thoughts exactly

Melafix doesn't reduce ammonia poisoning, instead add a bit of aquarium salt it will help with the breathing which kinda what is messed with when toxins get high.

Do you use a strip test kit? They are considered very unreliable and may be the reason for your unwarrented results. If you don't already have one pick up a liquid test kit. Either way you will just need to do frequent water changes till your missing bacteria catches back up. As long as you keep your levels around .25ppm then your fish should be ok till everything balances out.

 

[marchmaxima]

missilman is right. There isn't any bacteria in melafix.

Punkymom, the only thing I can think of was your first test may have resulted in an incorrect result for some reason. It just doesn't make sense that ammonia was higher after a PWC. Have you tested the tap water just in case that's the source?

In any case, test daily for a few days and do PWCs as required to keep the ammonia down. No need for other additives. That said, some filter media guff from a trusted source will definitely help.

 

[Punkymom]

I've personally never heard that mela fix contained good bacteria. I've been meaning to put them through a treatment anyway to repair a couple small tears in their fins from when I changed the substrate (from netting them and all). So it can't hurt I guess. My test may be old. IDK. It's aquarium pharmaceuticals. Fish are acting normally this morning. I may test again just for kicks and giggles this morning. If it comes out wonky again I may just go out and buy a new ammonia test kit. Will let you know what results are.

 

[Punkymom]

Ok. The test kit works fine and I still have ammonia in my tank. Wonderful. Tested tap water. Result: 0 ppm. Result from tank water: .5-1.0 ppm. Low, but I want 0!!! Will do another 50% today.

 

[Punkymom]

Also, I have a pleco, so isn't it unwise to use salt in with them? And I think the reason I was getting such a high reading was that the test tube was stained yellow. I kind of let it sit in there for a while and I think it stained the tube yellow. So I scrubbed it out this morning and it's clear again and those are the readings I'm getting now.

 

[Punkymom]

Ok. Still getting a reading for ammonia. I guess I'll just keep on with daily water changes and keep on testing. Don't really know why there's this much ammonia in the tank. I don't over feed. I'd say I severely under feed if anything. I only feed a tiny bit at a time and every bite is gone. IDK.

 

[stutefc]

I am experiencing a similar problem. Have added some ammo chips to the filter. I do a 20% water change every day as well! No new filters added, and I do clean these out every Sunday in water removed from tank. The plus side is that fish (which are discus) all seem fine. I did add a new fish a week ago which may be why I have seen the ammonia rise. Def going to be adding an external filter as well, as I dont think the internal filters that come with Juwel tank is strong enough.

 

[Punkymom]

Have had 1 fatality. Fortunately, it wasn't one of my angels. It also wasn't due to the water quality. I had just bought a rainbow shark last week and he jumped out at some point. I found him all dry under the tank stand. I'm sad on one hand, but I'm kinda not...as bad as that sounds. I really want a nice school of yo-yo loaches when I get my 55 and he was cramping my style. RIP Elmo. At least he died early on. He was my 4 year old son's fish and he hadn't quite gotten attached to him yet.

 

[Punkymom]

Tested and got 0 ammonia 0 Nitrites and >5 Nitrates. I'm feeling very happy right now!