is this ammonia ok to feed beneficial bacteria in the absence of fish?

[ashleynicole]

Is this ammonia ok to feed beneficial bacteria in the absence of fish?

 

[jetajockey]

Yes looks ok to me. Does it foam up? Not sure what your plan is but I wouldn't bother unless the tank is to run a long time without fish.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_hydroxide

 

[DGabbs]

I did a fishless cycle with a similar product (old dutch/ old county).

Worked for me. Don't add too much at first or you'll be waiting a really long time to get the ammonia back down. Just do a couple drops at a time until you get a ammonia reading of about 4ppm.

 

[ashleynicole]

the last two betta's we put in my daughters 5 gallon tank died, ugh, All the parameters checked out fine. so I sterilized the filter and changed out 100% of the water and also treated with antibiotics, then let it sit for the last 4 days with the antibiotics. Today I did another 100% water change, I have sand and live plants in the tank so I don't really want to tear the whole thing down and sterilize the tank and buy new sand and throw out the plants, sooo... anyway now that there is fresh water in the tank I am going to let it sit empty for two weeks with just the plants and dosing fertilizer. in a week I was going to add one of the seeded sponges to the filter and then feed it with a drop of ammonia every day until we find a good betta for the tank. Once I find the betta he will be kept in a QT container with a heater and a filter for two weeks before going into this tank. So basically this tank is going to be 2-3 weeks without any fish in it, although there are still malaysian trumpet snails that have survived everything, and dosing ammonia will help feed beneficial bacteria and also create nitrates to feed the plants. I do dose seachem flourish as well but havn't since I treated and cleaned the tank.

 

[DGabbs]

Easy on the sterilizing. Your fish likely didn't die because of a chemical or something, but more likely because the tank wasn't cycled/properly cycled. Come to think of it though, i can't see beta fish being too sensitive to ammonia seeing that they can live in those torture cups for weeks.

You really need to have a fully cycled tank before adding fish. Sometimes your tank can be cycled, but you haven't developed a large enough bacteria colony for your bio load.

Some people claim you can cycle a tank in a week and a half, but i think for a full cycle (depending on bio load) it takes at least 3 weeks to have a good colony going.

It can really help your colony if you ad bacteria supplement to the tank during the cycling.

I don't think it is ever a good idea to do a standard water change of more then 50%. It can shock your bacteria colony. Just keep water changes small and frequent.

Good luck, and sorry to hear about your last two betas.

 

[ashleynicole]

The tank WAS cycled and the female betta fish that was in the tank had been there for almost a year. She took a suicide dive. So we bought a betta from petsmart and it showed signs of fin rot two days in and before I could buy treatment it died. When I put the next one in he was ok at first then I noticed he started getting ragged fins. I went and bought meds for him and when I got home he was covered in velvet looking spots . Definitely not ich, as I know what that looks like. He died quickly and that's when I decided to treat with antibiotics. I tested water parameters there were never nitrites or ammonia. I used sulfa (bactrim to be specific), after the tank was void of fish.


I removed 100% of the water in the absence of fish. And sterilized the filter so of course the tank is not cycled at this time..its empty except for Malaysian trumpet snails and live plants.