paytertot
Aquarium Advice Addict
I would go ahead and do the water change. You can see how big of a water change you need to do by doing it in the test tube. Like put in 10% tank water and 90% new water and see where that puts your nitrites.
fish less cycle stalled (or I need patience)
- Thread starter jlbfish
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paytertot
Aquarium Advice Addict
Zero. Just like ammo.
librarygirl
Look It Up
I read through the thread again and can't see anything overtly wrong. SOme tanks are just slower to start. You don't want to know how long it too me to cycle my tank; I think I still hold the record. Can you get any seeded media from an established tank? That would help immensely.
You could do another water change but since you just did one and PH seems ok then it might not do much. Nitrites should climb, that's normal. It's just that usually by now the ammonia falls to 0 as the nitrites increase. Did you add anything to the tank such as a bacteria starter or anything? That can cause funky readings sometimes when using them without fish. Is it possible anything got into the tank such as cleaners, bleach, air fresheners, etc?
You could change to fish-in if you wanted as long as you didn't stock too much and are prepared for frequent testing and water changes to keep them healthy until the tank cycles; especially if they are just getting over Ich they're systems are already weak so any toxins would be detrimental. What size tank is this (sorry if you mentioned it before)? So you already have some fish in QT? If so and if that tank is smaller you might want to just move them to this tank especially if it's larger and go fish-in since you'll be doing frequent water changes on the QT tank anyway assuming that one isn't cycled either. Up to you though. If you do, make sure to get all that ammonia and nitrite out of the tank; might take a few 100% water changes to do so.
You could do another water change but since you just did one and PH seems ok then it might not do much. Nitrites should climb, that's normal. It's just that usually by now the ammonia falls to 0 as the nitrites increase. Did you add anything to the tank such as a bacteria starter or anything? That can cause funky readings sometimes when using them without fish. Is it possible anything got into the tank such as cleaners, bleach, air fresheners, etc?
You could change to fish-in if you wanted as long as you didn't stock too much and are prepared for frequent testing and water changes to keep them healthy until the tank cycles; especially if they are just getting over Ich they're systems are already weak so any toxins would be detrimental. What size tank is this (sorry if you mentioned it before)? So you already have some fish in QT? If so and if that tank is smaller you might want to just move them to this tank especially if it's larger and go fish-in since you'll be doing frequent water changes on the QT tank anyway assuming that one isn't cycled either. Up to you though. If you do, make sure to get all that ammonia and nitrite out of the tank; might take a few 100% water changes to do so.
librarygirl
Look It Up
Wouldn't hurt, no. So you have more than one tank? Are there fish in the other tank? Have you been testing the water? How long has it been set up? If it's just running without an ammonai source though (either fish or pure ammonia, etc) then there probably isn't any bacteria in there.
Nope no bacteria starter. Just straight ammonia, high temps, I did use some ph down initially (for phosphates I think) but that was back in the beginning of March, and some fish food.
There are only a few possibilities of things that got into the tank. The water may or may not have been dechlorinated after a water change and at times the water added may have been warmer or cooler than what was in there. Also a heater broke but didn't seem to change much. No cleaners (if only I was that on top of my cleaning), no air fresheners (I don't use them at all),
This tank is a 20 gallon tank. I happen to have 5 red eyed tetras and 1 black neon in ISO for now recovering from ICH they are set to be freed around Monday as long as we see no other signs (and so far we haven't in a week).
The other tank is a 28 gallon with an Aqua Clear 50 and an Aqua Clear 20. It has 6 neons and 4 corys so the bioload isn't all that big but it is something. I have been testing the water. This one has been up since February. It has been testing with 5'ish nitrates, never tested nitrites and is usually 0 ammonia. I changed the substrate to sand last weekend (for the corys) and it went closer to .25 on Monday/Tuesday but today tested back at 0.
I am not sure about the red eyed tetras in a 20G but they have been in a 10 and can move somewhere later so it doesn't have to be permanent. We have 3 tanks but only one is 'cycled' as it was a fish in and its population is slowly growing.
I am a SAHM with just one (the others are off to school) so I can manage consistent water changes if I switch to fish in. My son (6) has been waiting patiently for so long and is learning to do it right but is getting kind of bummed. He got the tank in the beginning of March and is still waiting. I told him mid-April so we are still ok but I just want things to be moving along so he doesn't get discouraged and understands why it is right to try to do things the right way before you get a pet ya know?
Thanks again for all the advice. This forum has been a life saver (mine and many itty bitty fishies.
There are only a few possibilities of things that got into the tank. The water may or may not have been dechlorinated after a water change and at times the water added may have been warmer or cooler than what was in there. Also a heater broke but didn't seem to change much. No cleaners (if only I was that on top of my cleaning), no air fresheners (I don't use them at all),
This tank is a 20 gallon tank. I happen to have 5 red eyed tetras and 1 black neon in ISO for now recovering from ICH they are set to be freed around Monday as long as we see no other signs (and so far we haven't in a week).
The other tank is a 28 gallon with an Aqua Clear 50 and an Aqua Clear 20. It has 6 neons and 4 corys so the bioload isn't all that big but it is something. I have been testing the water. This one has been up since February. It has been testing with 5'ish nitrates, never tested nitrites and is usually 0 ammonia. I changed the substrate to sand last weekend (for the corys) and it went closer to .25 on Monday/Tuesday but today tested back at 0.
I am not sure about the red eyed tetras in a 20G but they have been in a 10 and can move somewhere later so it doesn't have to be permanent. We have 3 tanks but only one is 'cycled' as it was a fish in and its population is slowly growing.
I am a SAHM with just one (the others are off to school) so I can manage consistent water changes if I switch to fish in. My son (6) has been waiting patiently for so long and is learning to do it right but is getting kind of bummed. He got the tank in the beginning of March and is still waiting. I told him mid-April so we are still ok but I just want things to be moving along so he doesn't get discouraged and understands why it is right to try to do things the right way before you get a pet ya know?
Thanks again for all the advice. This forum has been a life saver (mine and many itty bitty fishies.
There is no change in the readings this afternoon. I'm taking my aquaclear up there and seeing what happens. If I decide to go fish in do I do i do water changes until the ammonia and nitrites to stay 0 for 24 hours then put fish in and monitor ?
Yep! Get the water in good shape - as close to 0 as you can (make sure you check nitrates too) and then try and keep your ammonia and nitrites below .25ppm. May mean daily water changes and depending on how things go may mean more than one per day. Just have to stay on top of your water conditions. I would check your water right before (or the day of) you go and buy your fish to make sure you are not doing any spiking since you were doing the FishLESS before
Thanks. We are going to go on Sunday. Until then I may continue cycling. Today the ammonia was at .5! Finally dropped but it took a while.
It spent 2 days at 4ppm, 2 days at 2ppm and 2 days at 1 ppm. Is that a good sign?
I suppose I will dose back to 4 or should I stay at 1 or 2 to give the nitrates a chance to eat up some nitrites?
It spent 2 days at 4ppm, 2 days at 2ppm and 2 days at 1 ppm. Is that a good sign?
I suppose I will dose back to 4 or should I stay at 1 or 2 to give the nitrates a chance to eat up some nitrites?
That depends on what you are going to do. Are you going to switch to a fish in and buy fish on Sunday? If so I would not add anymore ammonia and see if it will zero out by the weekend then do whatever water changes you need to do to get your water safe for fish
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