Water parameters on new cycled tank

[AquaMan779]

I just added 5 pygmy corydoras and ten shrimp about five days ago to a newly cycled ten gallon tank. I know for a fact that two of the shrimp died, one in the filter intake and another was in a coconut cave that appeared to have his body eaten by a cory. I counted six shrimp yesterday and only saw five today. I have plants and the coconut cave so, I know that the other two or three could be hiding.

Today I checked parameters for the first time since fish were in the tank. Ammonia was 0.0 ppm, nitrites at 0.25 ppm and nitrates at somewhere between 0.00 ppm and 0.25 ppm.

The nitrites worry me, but I may be overthinking things. There is some dead plant material in there. Could that account for higher than 0.00 ppm nitrites?

Thanks!

[Aiken Drum]

From your other thread.

Originally Posted by Aiken Drum

To be cycled sufficiently to moderately stock a tank you need to be able to cycle out 2ppm of ammonia in 24 hours. You have no idea if you are at that stage. Cycling out 4ppm of ammonia in however long it took is not the same as cycling out 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours. You may or may not have water quality issues when your fish arrive, and you may need to complete your cycle with fish.

You arent cycled sufficiently for the amount of bioload you have added. 0.25ppm isnt a lot of nitrite, its the lowest positive test your test kit can read. Shrimp are less tolerant than fish to poor water quality and this is why your shrimp are dying when your fish arent. Try and keep it as low as you are able. Daily water changes will help keep things as safe as possible until your cycle establishes.

[AquaMan779]

Originally Posted by Aiken Drum

From your other thread.



You arent cycled sufficiently for the amount of bioload you have added. 0.25ppm isnt a lot of nitrite, its the lowest positive test your test kit can read. Shrimp are less tolerant than fish to poor water quality and this is why your shrimp are dying when your fish arent. Try and keep it as low as you are able. Daily water changes will help keep things as safe as possible until your cycle establishes.

Thank you, my friend!

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by AquaMan779

Thank you, my friend!

You need to keep in mind that when a tank first finishes cycling, it means that there is only enough bacteria present to handle the ammonia load at that time. You have to be careful not to overload the system. Unless you replace some of the ammonia producers you cycled the tank with new equal producers, your bacteria bed will need to grow to handle the overload. In a cycled tank this happens quickly but there will be poor water quality for a short while that can kill off sensitive fish or inverts.

And just an FYI, the bacteria bed is a living organism which grows or shrinks depending on how much ammonia is being produced. Often people think that just because they kept 10 small fish in a tank 2 years ago but those 10 dwindled down to 4 over the past year that the bed can handle the 6 missing fish at one time. That's not the case. In that case, you would need to add the numbers back up slowly.

[AquaMan779]

Originally Posted by Andy Sager

You need to keep in mind that when a tank first finishes cycling, it means that there is only enough bacteria present to handle the ammonia load at that time. You have to be careful not to overload the system. Unless you replace some of the ammonia producers you cycled the tank with new equal producers, your bacteria bed will need to grow to handle the overload. In a cycled tank this happens quickly but there will be poor water quality for a short while that can kill off sensitive fish or inverts.

And just an FYI, the bacteria bed is a living organism which grows or shrinks depending on how much ammonia is being produced. Often people think that just because they kept 10 small fish in a tank 2 years ago but those 10 dwindled down to 4 over the past year that the bed can handle the 6 missing fish at one time. That's not the case. In that case, you would need to add the numbers back up slowly.

Thank you! I did not know that about the bacteria bed, and I've been researching tanks for awhile.

[AquaMan779]

I found another shrimp today, which makes seven total! The last one may be hiding, which is good for my confidence. I thought I lost as many as five of my shrimp in less than half a week.

The fish that was in the filter intake probably could have been saved if I were more gentle, so I do feel bad about that. The shrimp that I found dead could have been dead for any number of reasons, so I won't take blame there. I'm going to say that the last shrimp is hiding, so I don't feel like I did bad any more, lol!