When will it ever end?

[sissy58]

I am a newbie and I am so thankful that I found this website because at several points I have really freaked 8O out with what has been happening with cycling. I had no clue from the instuctions or the IFS. I really don't understand when you buy your first tank the instructions go against every thing that you REALLY need to look out for and do. I am in the 2nd month and thought that I had the tank from but thanks to this website I found that it's normal (cycling). I think that I crashed my tank at first but now understand somewhat of what has to happen. I have a few questions...I have a 29 gal FW tank with 1 Rosy Barb, 1 cherry Barb, two guppies and 1 molly. I am in the NitrIte phase (can't tell if 5ppm or 10ppm on test strip, not quite either one) and have 40ppm NitrAte and 0 Ammonia

1. How long does the NitrIte phase take. It has been high for 1 1/2 weeks? I used aquarium salt to help and the fish have been very active, playfull and are always the little beggars at feeding time.

2. I have the nasty brown algae on my panes and gravel and a few plastic plants. I read somewhere that alot of new tanks go through this. Do I just clean and wait it out or what? I don't want to use any chemicals because I believe this is what crashed my cycle the first time because I had a molly that had ich and treated with Quick Cure.

3. What is an algae eater that I could get (when I can ever get more fish because of this cycle) that won't take up too much room in my tank but get the job done?

I know that I have more questions but these are the most important at this time.

Thanks everyone for being there because if you weren't I think that I would have gone into a MAJOR depression if I lost any more fish. At least I havent lost any for about a month. I was wondering at the first if I had found that I had spent alot of money just to kill fish . I've lost 4 in all but had many tears for each one.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:60bebcbd66] Welcome to AA, sissy58!! [/center:60bebcbd66]
First, get the liquid test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Then post those results. Are you doing water changes or vacuuming the gravel?

You are correct in not adding any chemicals to treat the algae. There are various algae eaters--my favorites are the smaller plecos including the clown, rubber lip, bristle nose and pitbull. They go by various names, so reserach carefully. These plecos reach a max of 5" over their lifetime. Common plecos can max out at 1-2 feet!
Have you read the article on FW ich in the Articles section? Be prepared for the next time ich strikes

 

[bunebop]

Another possibility for an algae eater could be an otto. They're kinda ugly, but stay nice and small.

here's a picture of one and some info on him: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=923

Good luck!

 

[poppab02]

I've found that oto's are better when you have live plants and pleco's are better at actually keeping the tank glass and other stuff clean---either way, those are probably your best options and both of those fish are pretty hardy

 

[jaysono]

Speaking as a newb myself, (and please correct me if I am in error) I encountered some issues as well, however, not as drastic.

From day 1 of my new tank, I always had a Nitrite reading of 0.25ppm. My tank is approaching the 7 week mark, and only withing the last few days have I noticed my Nitrite level decrease to 0. We'll see how long that lasts, becuase 2 days shouldn't set a trend for a reading that has been consistent for the last 6 weeks!

It was only into week 4 that my Ammonia spike took off, and boy did it!!. Once it did, I was trying everything to get it down. Thankfully I haven't lost a fish, but my patience level was clearly tested as was the labor of doing daily water changes and testing. When the results didn't show any inmprovement for a few days, you can't help but wonder "What am I doing wrong?" My ammonia was so high, it wasn't even registering a change with 20-25% water changes daily. Again, it was only now in week 6, are the levels looking more manageable.

From what I've read about algae, it's spores are present in the air and even tap water. If given enough light, and nutrients to feed off of, algae will grow. If you have a lighted tank, try cutting back the night/day cycle. Try 5 hours of light, and if near a window that gets a lot of sunlight, move it away to a darker location.

You may even want to try and starve the algae by reducing your fish feedings...from what I can gather, a healthy fish doesn't need to be fed twice a day, and even can go 1-2 days without a feeding. Not that I am 100% on-board with this, but I've tried it recently, and my fish appear to be doing well.

This has had a few benefits as well for the tank in general...less amonia...less nutrients in water...less algae.

If you have access to RO water, try mixing that in from time to time. It's so pure, it shouldn't have any algae spores, or nutrients for that matter. It shouldn't have chlorine and can lower the harndness of your water over time.....just don't do too much RO....I think you need some tap water because of the mineral contents.

Since I've done some of the above steps, my algae growth has pretty much stopped and even diminished, though I had little to begin with. I caught it in time!