Question about Cycling a Tank with Frozen Shrimp?

[neilanh]

Most likely some bits of the shrimp got loose and are somewhere in your tank or filter, and that's why the ammonia continues to rise as it continues to decompose.

You're seeing nitrItes already because your cycle is underway, and squeezing your 20g filter media into the tank has really kick-started things. This is really really good. Continue to do that every couple of days.

As for your ammonia. By removing the shrimp, you've removed your ammonia source. As the bacteria catch up and convert all that ammonia you have now into nitrIte, they'll start to starve, and it may take a bit longer for the other bacteria to get up to speed. Since you can't keep the stinky shrimp in there, you need to try to find a source of pure ammonia that you can dose. If you have an Ace Hardware near you, they sell a "Janitorial Strength" Ammonia cleaning solution that's 10% ammonia hydroxide. This is the stuff you want. With this, as your ammonia falls below 1ppm, you can add a few drops to get the level back up and continue to feed your bacteria.

And, like said above, high levels of ammonia and/or nitrIte can cause the nitrAte test kit to misread. Just ignore it for now, we'll worry about your nitrAte level once the cycle is done.

 

[mudraker]

If you absolutely cannot get the pure ammonia, you can add another round of dead shrimp to the tank, but it will take longer to produce more ammonia and take longer to cycle than with pure ammonia.

 

[mandy2936]

Thank you soo much Neilan!!! +1
I went on the Ace Hardware website and unfortunately there aren't any locations within 50 miles of my area. So, what can I do? Should I sprinkle some fish food in there to keep the Ammonia above 1ppm? I'd say that would be better than the stinky shrimp that I'm not aloud to have...

Also, thanks for reminding me about thar filter media "juice"! I almost forgot to continue squeezing it.

Thank you everyone who has helped out so far!
oh, I almost forgot. I understand that I will need to dose some more Ammonia before it gets below 1.0 to keep the bacteria happy, but when exactly will I need to stop that? Thanks! I guess I'm good for a while, right, cause' my Ammonia is still at 4.0.

 

[mandy2936]

Getting Really Frustrated.

Okay. Well, yesterday I squeezed the entire contents of the used filter media from my 20g into the filter and tank of my 5 gallon. The media was black and I squeezed everything out of it until it was white again.

That tank has to be loaded with beneficial bacteria... yet a day later AMMONIA IS NOT DROPPING. It's rising! Why??? There is no shrimp traces in there... it's been taken out for a while now. Plus, it was inside pantyhose to begin with.

It doesn't make sense to get the highest Nitrite reading on the chart while Ammonia is rising to 8.0ppm! Could be even higher, 8.0 is as high as the chart goes.
This is really getting frustrating, because to me these readings aren't making sense. I've stopped testing for Nitrate, as suggested. Hopefully all that bacteria that turned the tank water black will soon decide to start eating that Ammonia. Luckily the water cleared up, but left a nice patch of black debris on my new white gravel.

Anyways, am I doing something wrong? I want the Ammonia to start dropping not rise!

Thank you so much for your patience. Please excuse my ranting, just letting off some steam. LOL.

 

[neilanh]

Hmmm, interesting. If ammonia is reading that high (I do assume you're using a quality test kit) then i think a water change is in order. Too high a level of ammonia could be toxic even to the bacteria. Just make sure to properly dechlor the water, just like any PWC, to protect the bacteria.

As for why the ammonia is still rising. I'm kind of at a loss too. It could be really rising, it could be some craziness in your test kit, I'm not sure, unless like I said earlier, some piece of shrimp got free from the pantyhose and is hiding in the tank somewhere, although this is probably unlikely.

 

[mandy2936]

I am using the API Master Test Kit, it's liquid testing tubes.
I'll do a water change. I have no idea why my Ammonia would be so high, which worries me that no one else knows, either.
Anyway, I'll do a water change... but should I just remove water? Or should I vacuum up debris, too?

 

[fort384]

Vacuum up the black bits that landed on your gravel... it won't effect bacteria count too much, as the vast majority are in your filter media, not the substrate.

What kind of substrate are you using, and what else have you put in the tank? This could be your source of ammonia.

 

[mandy2936]

I am using some white Petco gravel, that was rinsed several times before being placed in the tank. Everything else in the tank is just fake silk or plastic plants, one which was from the cycled 20g. There are of course no fish in there, I'm doing a fishless cycle. I have so much BB in there you would never think my Ammonia would be rising, I was hoping for a decrease.
Oh boy I can see this tank becoming a stressful problem.

I chose to do the fishless cycle because of all of the ways it benefits the fish. I really really don't want to have to regret that choice, because I always want to do what's best for the animal.

 

[mandy2936]

Significant Ammonia Drop

Hi Everyone,
Last night I did a 50% water change in the five gallon. Remarkably, the Ammonia went from 8.0 to about 3.0 in only one day!
I'm assuming the water change contributed to some of the drop, but some of it must also be from the bacteria, right?
Well, if so, looks like this cycle is finally moving in the right direction.
Thank you to everyone who has been helping me so far

Totally off topic here, but what does OP mean/stand for? I often hear people on this site referring to a thread starter as the OP. What is that?

Thanks again,

 

[fort384]

Original Post or Original Poster. In other words, the first post in a thread.

It went from 8 to 3 and you did a 50% water change... this sounds about right... if it is at 8ppm, and you change half the water with water that is at 0ppm, you can expect the tank to now have 4ppm ammonia. So... it may not be much bacteria contribution... especially if the ammonia was that high... bacteria that eat ammonia would even have trouble surviving in 8ppm ammonia.

I am still curious about where the ammonia is coming from in your tank...

 

[mandy2936]

Yes, I am too. I'll just wait for tomorrow and if the Ammonia continues to decrease or at least stay the same, I'll know that I'm actually making progress. However, if the Ammonia starts to increase again... then I have a real problem. Also, thanks for clarifying OP for me

 

[tyspot1000]

Keep us updated, And what about pic?

 

[mandy2936]

Hey guys!
Tested for Ammonia this morning... it read as 0.25! This means the bacteria has been eating it, right? And that's a good sign, right?
However, I know that in order to keep feeding the bacteria I need to keep the Ammonia above 1.0ppm, correct?
So, I added two small pinches of fish flakes and a sinking catfish pellet (those decay quickly) to hopefully bring the Ammonia around 1.0ppm... the problem is it's so hard to dose correctly when your not using something more accurate like the pure Ammonia.

Oh well, it's all I can use. Haven't got an Ace Hardware within 50 miles here.
Thanks for the help! As for pictures... oh errrr- about that. I might have... dropped it- in the fish tank! Yep, that's right. Clumsy me dropped it straight into the fish tank while taking an above view and now it's being fixed.

 

[tyspot1000]

Thanks for the help! As for pictures... oh errrr- about that. I might have... dropped it- in the fish tank! Yep, that's right. Clumsy me dropped it straight into the fish tank while taking an above view and now it's being fixed.

haha. lol

 

[fort384]

Hey guys!
Tested for Ammonia this morning... it read as 0.25! This means the bacteria has been eating it, right? And that's a good sign, right?
However, I know that in order to keep feeding the bacteria I need to keep the Ammonia above 1.0ppm, correct?
So, I added two small pinches of fish flakes and a sinking catfish pellet (those decay quickly) to hopefully bring the Ammonia around 1.0ppm... the problem is it's so hard to dose correctly when your not using something more accurate like the pure Ammonia.

Oh well, it's all I can use. Haven't got an Ace Hardware within 50 miles here.
Thanks for the help! As for pictures... oh errrr- about that. I might have... dropped it- in the fish tank! Yep, that's right. Clumsy me dropped it straight into the fish tank while taking an above view and now it's being fixed.

This is excellent news... we can chalk up the case of the rising ammonia to another unsolved mystery, but what is important now is that the cycle is taking hold.

You are correct that you want to continue to seed the ammonia, or the bacteria you have will starve and you will be right back to square 1. The fish food should work fine... only drawback is it is messy, and can cause phosphates to rise... I think you will be fine though as soon as the cycle is done and you put some fish in and do some water changes. In the mean time, just keep the lights off as much as possible... phosphate can contribute to algae growth if the lights are on... and the lights won't help the cycle in any way. This way you get a cycled tank with the fish food, and hopefully combat any negative side effects from the slight rise in phosphates that will be inevitable.

 

[mandy2936]

Update with a Question

Thanks! Alright... here's an update on the cycle.
For the past about 2? days I've been adding fish flakes to the tank. The problem is the food takes a day or two to start decaying, which makes it hard to keep up with the hungry bacteria. Also, if you remember, Nitrites were very high from the beggining, but are now at zero.

To refresh your memory, here is a recap:
1/21 Ammonia: 1.0 <--Ammonia begins to rise after adding shrimp
1/22 Ammonia 4.0, Nitrite 5.0 <--Immediately a high levels of Nitrite
1/23 Ammonia about 6.0, Nitrite 5.0 <--Ammonia continues rising after shrimp was removed. Still high Nitrites.
1/24 Ammonia about 7.0, Nitrite 5.0
1/25 Ammonia 8.0
1/26 Ammonia 3.0 <--Ammonia is brought down with a 50% PWC.
1/27 Ammonia 0.25 <--Bacteria finally begins eating the Ammonia
1/28 Ammonia 0 <--My slow decaying flakes can't keep up with this hungry BB!
1/29 Ammonia 0.25, Nitrite 0 <--Rising again after adding more flakes. Nitrite now 0????

Okay, so we've declared the rising of Ammonia after the shrimp was removed a mystery, but what about the Nitrites? I was surprised to see such high levels during the early stages of the cycle, but was it just a fluke? I was also surprised to see them at zero this morning when I tested because you would think they should begin to be converting now, shouldn't they? The BB is eating away at the Ammonia, yet no Nitrites present. Any input on this?

Thanks so much!!