Cycling with fish in situ

[grinchy72]

I have had a traumatic couple of weeks with a persistent leak on my 190litre corner tank. This has resulted in the fish living across 3 buckets whilst i resealed it; it turns out is a condensation problem and i have sent the tank away for an all over reseal so the fish are now living in a 60 litre tank, which is essentially overcrowded for the size. Sadly I have had a number of loses, the usual guppies giving up too easily, a couple of corry's and a couple of gouramis.

I kept the water from the 190 tank and put the filter media in the 60l tank with them, but i couldn't keep the gravity fed external filter box going due to space and location. I started running an internal eheim filter and have added Fluval cycle to the tank on a daily basis also, but the nitrite levels are spiking every other day to the point the fish become listless. I have been doing water changes to halve the Nitrite but its right back up again the day after.

Ph is 7.0, Nitrite is 3mg/l or above, Nitrate is similar at up to 3mg/l and Ammonia is 0.

Do we think this is just because of the fish stock, or am I missing something really obvious here?

 

[Yorg]

I have had a traumatic couple of weeks with a persistent leak on my 190litre corner tank. This has resulted in the fish living across 3 buckets whilst i resealed it; it turns out is a condensation problem and i have sent the tank away for an all over reseal so the fish are now living in a 60 litre tank, which is essentially overcrowded for the size. Sadly I have had a number of loses, the usual guppies giving up too easily, a couple of corry's and a couple of gouramis.

I kept the water from the 190 tank and put the filter media in the 60l tank with them, but i couldn't keep the gravity fed external filter box going due to space and location. I started running an internal eheim filter and have added Fluval cycle to the tank on a daily basis also, but the nitrite levels are spiking every other day to the point the fish become listless. I have been doing water changes to halve the Nitrite but its right back up again the day after.

Ph is 7.0, Nitrite is 3mg/l or above, Nitrate is similar at up to 3mg/l and Ammonia is 0.

Do we think this is just because of the fish stock, or am I missing something really obvious here?

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Hi grinchy72:

Yes, it is almost certainly because of the extremely heavy bioload in the tank overwhelming the biofilter. When did you place the other fishes in the tank? From the information you provided it seems that the bacteria that oxidize ammonia are keeping up with the load (which is rather surprising), but those that oxidize nitrite have not yet caught up.

If it is available to you, I recommend that you use the water conditioner Prime (made by Seachem). It can help protect your fishes from ammonia and nitrite poisoning until the nitrogen cycle is reestablished and stable.

It's probably not necessary to keep using the bacterial additive.

Are you able to provide additional aeration (do you, for instance, have an air pump)? If so, if might be good idea to run it.

Do you know when the 190l will be ready?

 

[grinchy72]

Thanks.

The 190 wont be ready for at least another week, mainly because i am going away.... i intend to do another water change before i go but i fear what i may come back to! I am tempted to split them into a couple of buckets to reduce the bio load but they would be without light for 8 days..... thoughts?

I already have a 9 inch air stone running in the tank and the filter is breaking the surface.

 

[Yorg]

Thanks.

The 190 wont be ready for at least another week, mainly because i am going away.... i intend to do another water change before i go but i fear what i may come back to! I am tempted to split them into a couple of buckets to reduce the bio load but they would be without light for 8 days..... thoughts?

I already have a 9 inch air stone running in the tank and the filter is breaking the surface.

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Hmmm. . . this is a tough one.

Putting some of the fishes into the buckets will certainly help the main tank. The lack of light in the buckets for eight days is less of a concern than the lack of aeration/filtration in the buckets. Depending upon the size of the buckets and the number of fish in each, the dissolved oxygen could be depleted over the eight day period unless the water is agitated.

Do you have a means of splitting the tubing from your air pump in order to aerate the buckets?

I know you've probably thought of this already, but is there anyone who could look in while you're away and perhaps add a daily dose of an ammonia/neutralizer to the tank and the buckets?

 

[grinchy72]

Thanks. The nitrite has dropped by about half of what it has been today and the fish seem a bit livelier and interested in whether food was going to be dropped in. I have just done another PWC so will recheck the numbers before i leave in the morning.

I do have someone coming in to see to my other tanks so yes they will look after it for me; at least i can text some instructions!

keep your fingers, toes and fins crossed for me....

 

[grinchy72]

Back from hols, and we have only lost 2 harlequins.... i chose to leave all in situ in the tank; a friend did a 25% water change for me half way through and only fed twice. Now to sort out the repaired tank.