Ammonia Problems needing help desperately

[newatsalt]

Hello to all. My name is Tim and I am new to this community. I have a really big problem that needs freshwater aquarists expert opinions to rectify my problem.

First of all, my wife bought my son a 29 gallon aquarium. She didn't know any better and basically set it up and started stocking it with 7 fish. She put the proper water conditioner in and that day she an my son were out buying fish. I have been away on business for 2 weeks and came home to a major ammonia problem.

For the past 2 weeks, I have been doing a daily 25% water change. I have been using Prime to detoxify and dechlorinate the water. Somehow, these fish are staying alive, however, after doing the water changes, the ammonia spikes to between 1 and 2 overnight.

I have been testing for nitrites and there are none present whatsoever, so at this point (a total of 4 weeks the tank has been setup) I am still spinning my tires. I have even added stress zyme or quickstart to the tank for the beneficial bacteria and nothing. I also have a marineland bio wheel filter.

My question to you all,
1) am I prohibiting the nitrifying bacteria from growing doing a daily water change?
2) What is the common practice of jumpstarting a fish cycle tank? I do know with fish in the tank, they are creating fish waste and ammonia. How do I convert that ammonia into nitrites?

At this point, I am at a loss. Any advice would help.
Thank you in advance,
TIm

 

[dalto]

1) am I prohibiting the nitrifying bacteria from growing doing a daily water change?

Probably not materially. It is possible that if your water it chlorinated you may be slowing it a little but water changes in and of themselves should not effect your cycle much.

2) What is the common practice of jumpstarting a fish cycle tank? I do know with fish in the tank, they are creating fish waste and ammonia.

There are 3 options here:
1. Be patient.
2. Get some filter media from an established aquarium
3. Buy one of the many bacteria in a bottle products.

 

[newatsalt]

Thank you dalto.... I have added stress zyme which contains beneficial bacteria. I think option 2 is the my next step. I would think that at 4 weeks in I should see some kind of nitrifying bacteria, but I could be wrong. My buddy has some rocks, not gravel in an established tank that I think I am going to borrow. Hopefully, that will jumpstart the process.

Thank you again for your input.
Tim

 

[Mama Karoti]

Be sure not to change the filter media, either. And do not rinse it in tap water. Gently swish it in old tank water when it is needed. That is where your BB will be building up and you don't want to kill it off.


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[Crankkt]

Gravel or substrate doesn't contain a large concentration of the beneficial bacteria needed to cycle a tank but If you could get some filter media from an established tank that would speed things along(as long as you know it's coming from a healthy aquarium) . I have seen nitrites in under a month in my experience. I would suggest buying tetra safestart and or seachem stability. I personally like to use them both. Tetra safestart doesn't have very detailed directions but I would do a very large water change or several pwc to get the ammonia as low as possible and wait 24 hours after adding prime or any water dechlorinator and then add the safestart. I'd get a bottle that's meant for double the size of your aquarium and add it all(I usually turn my filter off and pour it right in there) . Watch the levels of ammonia and nitrite closely to make sure they don't reach "danger" levels. If they are staying low, don't do a water change for at least a week. If they get high it's safe to assume the safestart isn't working and to start water changes as per normal. I usually dose seachem stability as well which is a similar type of product but requires you to dose for a week. Continue with prime to detoxify the ammonia and nitrites in the meantime no matter which route you choose to go from here. As for water changes affecting your cycle, if the water is dechlorinated, a similar temperature and pH it shouldn't effect your cycle very much. What kind of fish do you have? Also I would like to say that I am by no means an expert best of luck

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[newatsalt]

Thank you Crankkt for the very sound advice. Everyone has very good advice. Sounds like I have a variable of options I can take..

As far as filter media. Could I just take filter media and put it in the tank or actually put it in the filter itself?

 

[Mama Karoti]

Put it in the filter itself.


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