hello guys x

[tropicalfishlady]

Hi guys just wanna say hi as im new,i joined as i was on the look out for info on a mini cycle crash caused by adding too many fish,my own fault and i feel dreadful about it :-(.
This was a while ago and i lost a few fish in a 10 gallon,i had young endlers and cory habrosus and a cory jullii i have had for 2 and half yr now,he is only one tht has survived !!

I lost 8 fish altogether :-(,the ammonia went off the scale and i used ammolock as i panicked !! But still lost them,then i stopped ammolock so it could recover naturally,i have a ammo safe alert by seachem in and that has said safe for a while now but it has took ages to get ammonia down on liquid tests API ones,i know it can give high readings on liquid tests using ammolock so stopped after losing fish.

At present i am down to between 4.0 ppm and 2 ppm more towards 2.0 ppm on Api tests,Nitrite is starting to rise slightly,i was stuck at 4.0 ppm for ages and nitrite at 0ppm,it has been a long haul to get it back on track,am i starting to come out of mini cycle ? Any advice would greatly be appreciated,many thanks in advance x

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi. Welcome!
Very first thing you need to do is two or three large water changes using a good dechlorinator. The ammonia is going to be harming your remaining cory. Ideally you want to keep ammonia and nitrite at or under 0.25ppm if there are fish in the tank.
Thi will explain in more detail:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html

 

[tropicalfishlady]

Hi thanks,ive been doing regular changes,im not a newbie to fishkeeping,the tank i have now ive had about 3 year,originally i successfully set it up with a fishless cycle and had my fish a long time,its a mini cycle that has happened as i stupidly added 2 many fish and it caused this mini cycle i believe its called,i know Ammonia at tht level is harming the only one left that survived,i added plenty of ammolock in beginning,my seachem ammonia alert has said safe for a long while but as i used ammolock ive read that it gives false readings in liquid tests,so ive been doing lots of water changes and ammonia is coming down although its took a while,ill try a few bigger water changes like you said thanks for your reply x

 

[Mumma.of.two]

What the ammolock does is converts the more harmful type of ammonia to a less harmful one. The less harmful ammonia is still able to be consumed by the bacteria. The problem is that it does loose its effectiveness after a day or two so it then needs re-dosing. Its a good temporary fix but a water change (or two or three) does a much better job because it actually removes the ammonia.
Because the ammo lock converts the ammonia it still shows up on the test because the test tests for the total amount of ammonia.
This explains better than I do:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html#post1442989

 

[tropicalfishlady]

Wow thanks for that article,i did read about ammolock after i started using it and i read people on forums were saying not to use it because tank would never get stable by itself,plus i did lose fish even using it..
So i stopped a while ago and ammonia on liquid tests was off the scale now i get tht it will measure both,god its confusing,i do know any kind of ammonia is bad,and i bought the seachem alert as i read this would give an accurate reading while using ammolock,which it did,but then liquid test was off the scale,so last couple months ive not added ammolock and liquid test came down to between 4.0 + 2.0,but alert says safe.
Will i ever get a regular 0ppm test result now and i continue to do regular water changes, thanks i appreciate you taking the time with me i am learning about water slowly,i shoul not have added 2 many fish,i know that now thank you for your replys xxx

 

[tropicalfishlady]

Wow thanks for that article,i did read about ammolock after i started using it and i read people on forums were saying not to use it because tank would never get stable by itself,plus i did lose fish even using it..
So i stopped a while ago and ammonia on liquid tests was off the scale now i get tht it will measure both,god its confusing,i do know any kind of ammonia is bad,and i bought the seachem alert as i read this would give an accurate reading while using ammolock,which it did,but then liquid test was off the scale,so last couple months ive not added ammolock and liquid test came down to between 4.0 + 2.0,but alert says safe.
Will i ever get a regular 0ppm test result now and i continue to do regular water changes, thanks i appreciate you taking the time with me i am learning about water slowly,i shoul not have added 2 many fish,i know that now thank you for your replys xxx

Thanks Mumma of two !!!
Things are nearly sorted ammonia level is coming down now and Nitrite is creeping up as before ammonia would not budge and Nitrite didn't either,i just hope my remaining one Cory see's the Nitrite stage through,once im cycled again,my 10 Gallon will be home to a male Crowntail,once im happy all is stable and hope he gets on with my Cory Julii,ive had that Cory for 2 and half year now !!! I had a few cory habrosus with him tht sadly perished in mini cycle and while ive been trying to re cycle my tank i fell in love with the Crowntails and i wish i had looked into getting one before now,well i think Bettas are beautiful fish and my 10 gall will be perfect for one,so hopefully i will have success with one cheers for advice

 

[Mumma.of.two]

No problem. Glad to hear its all going well