Cycle Stalled - Too many fish

[normie_5]

Things were going well till I did a 50% water change. (see image below), due to too many fish in the tank during cycle , 14 inches / 30 gal (sorry, I am new at this), I now have high ammonia (approx 2 ppm), no nitrites, no nitrates. Only thing I can see doing is I have added a slight overdose of Prime which is supposed to make both ammonia and nitrites non toxic. If this does in fact work I will no longer do the water changes and let the nitrites and nitrates build on the ammonia.

Here is an image of the test tube results.

Can anyone verify that the Prime does indeed make the ammonia and nitrites non toxic.

 

[dkpate]

It says it removes ammonia, and detoxifies nitrite, but since you still get ammonia readings when using it, I believe it just binds to it and makes it LESS toxic, but doesn't remove it all. The bottle says it does a certain ppm or %.
I used Prime during my cycle, (I had a fish too), and my tank was cycled after 4 weeks. I did a 50-70% pwc every single day of those 4 weeks.
When you use Prime, you will still get readings for ammonia and nitrites too, but you probably already knew that.

 

[normie_5]

Thanks for your reply, Darby.
I spoke to the store and they agreed the labelling was not clear, and also stated that it binds as you suggest and does not remove.

 

[logansmomma1228]

Going by your picture it looks like you did have nitrites on day 13 and 14.

If you were going the fishless route it would indeed be easier, but it looks like you didn't know until it was too late. Since you do have fish I would recommend doing a 50-70% water change daily, as stated above.

Here is a link that hopefully will provide very useful to you. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now-116287.html


good luck! and welcome to AA

 

[normie_5]

Thanks, LM. Good link. Appreciate it.
Time to roll up the sleeves and do the daily changes.

 

[Crepe]

A teaspoon* (accidently put tablespoon lol) of KCL will help prevent nitrite poisoning as Cl ions reduce the toxicity of NO2.

 

[StuG]

Prime which is supposed to make both ammonia and nitrites non toxic.If this does in fact work I will no longer do the water changes and let the nitrites and nitrates build on the ammonia

As Darby stated it binds to them and does detoxify them to a certain extent, but it doesn't actually get rid of them. The other thing If I remember correctly is that it dissipates within 24-36hrs. So if you don't perform regular water changes your levels will quickly become dangerous for the fish again.
Best bet is to keep up with your water changes and dose prime.

 

[normie_5]

Thanks, StuG. Your comment about dissipating within 24-36hrs I had seen once before so that's very helpful. I will continue with the changes.

 

[normie_5]

No water changes done

I decided to put my trust in Nutrafin Cycle which states it de-toxifies the ammonia and nitrites.
No water changes were done.
The fish showed no signs of stress at all during this time - and just look at the results.

 

[dkpate]

Looking good!

 

[logansmomma1228]

I am glad to see that! Makes me think about trying to cycle a tank with it... I already have 3 tanks lol so I could do an experiment and see! Seems to work really good with fish in there too, it probably relieves them.