Yeti's 55gal FW Journal (Pix and Flix)

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I was under the impression that Amquel (and products like it that claim to neutralize ammonia) can stall your cycle... I might be wrong though, as that is not a product I use myself. Can someone please clarify this?

As Fatz mentioned, you'll want to cut back on your feedings. Once every other day will be fine. Don't worry- I promise your fish will not starve! :lol: This will make it easier for you to keep nitrite down.
 
Yeti said:
Okay I didnt do a PWC today but here's the results from the water test:

Temp: 79
pH: 7.8
NO2: .25
NO3: 0
NH4: 0

If I did a PWC this test It would have been 0's So according to what you say, im in the MIDDLE of a cycle.. well I guess thats better than the beginning ;)

on a lighter note when I first added my swordtail he just floated in one spot and didnt move around much, only to eat and then back to the same spot.. a few times I had to look real close to see if he was alive.. Well now hes all over the place, he loves to swim through the bubbles and they shoot him to the top of the water and then he darts back down and does it again.. crazy lil bugger.. once im 'cycled' i guess Ill add some more of them.. maybe pair them!

Edit: Here's a video of my swordtail.. kinda big.. low quality though sorry was taken on my phone..
Click Here

My snails are crazy too and are all over cleaning my ruins and plants, they eat any misc algae flakes that are lying around.. should I up how many im putting in when I feed.. right now I break one in half for the snails, and toss a whole one by the pleco
Click to expand...

How often are you putting in the waffers for the snail and pleco?
 
severum mama said:
I was under the impression that Amquel (and products like it that claim to neutralize ammonia) can stall your cycle... I might be wrong though, as that is not a product I use myself. Can someone please clarify this?

As Fatz mentioned, you'll want to cut back on your feedings. Once every other day will be fine. Don't worry- I promise your fish will not starve! :lol: This will make it easier for you to keep nitrite down.
Click to expand...

I will back you up on this 100% and I know some will disagree but I know what happened to me this past week. Long post but worthy of discussion.

I am a Prime user. I loved the stuff, still think its great but also in MHO can do damage in certain times. I had a tank crash as we know and lost MANY fish. My water during this was great. "something" got in my tank.

AFTER the dead fish and AFTER everything stopped and settled down I was slapped with ammonia in my tank. I have not seen ammonia since I cycled back in October! I did PWC and the ammonia was sitting there. I had no nitrItes and NitrAtes still at 20. Something was wrong only in the "ammonia" area of my cycle.

After several days of PWCs and testing I grew frustrated. I took water into my LFS and he tested it. The ammonia test did the same thing to him. Right away it would read 1 and jump to 3 and got chunks in it. I thought it was just me.

I mentioned Prime and the conversation haulted and he said that is why I had a reaction on the ammonia test and why it is acting all funny.

He claims that these conditioners that detoxify things such as ammonia were invented for "emergency" situations and to help the fish live through a spike but was not a "cure" it is for short term use and a PWC. This can disrupt the good bacteria in a tank.

I agree with this to an extent now and if you read on the back of a Biospira bag it clearly states things such as Prime and Amquel will kill Biospira bacteria.

I think in a healthy tank the bioload is okay to deal with Prime etc. I think a out of whack tank such as what I had it can make problems.

I did what he said.

1) Go home and do a good PWC and get the Prime out of the tank.
2) Use a conditioner that does not have these chemicals I got AquaPlus
3) let the tank sit over night
4) add the biospira

Now the next morning I tested after the tank sat and I used AquaPlus not Prime and my ammonia was lower and didnt react in testing like it had been. It was more "stable"

I added the biospira, my ammonia was below 1 at this point where as before it was 1+

Next day I tested

Ammonia was trace

Next day it was clear 0

NitrItes still 0, everything back on track.

I had the LFS test yesterday and they got the same results and my cycle is back on track.

I agree with him that Prime was messing with my cycle when it was weak. I am no expert by any means but you have to wonder about the back of a bag of bacteria saying things that detoxify ammonia can kill biospira.

Also after 20+yrs of fish keeping I believed him that he has seen such things wipe out a tank from disrupting a cycle. I think when you got a problem it can make matters worse.

I am not knocking such things as Prime and others. They work great, but I just believe there are times they can hurt too.
 
as far as the feeding goes: twice a day, morning and night.. just a pinch of flakes or a lighter pinch and a tiny tiny dash of bloodworms for my angel and swordtail. I toss 1 wafer down by my pleco, and break another in half and put one half on one side of the tank, and 1 half on the other (my snails kinda have the tank split).. at night I only give a wafer to my pleco, and do the same flake feeding for the rest... so I know im not putting too many flakes in.. they all get eaten too so they dont really have much time to dissolve into the water

as far as chemicals.. when I could not for the life of me get my ammonia below 1.0, I tried StressZyme and used the recommended dose and thats when it hit 0.. I also use either stress coat or aquasafe which is the dechlorinator..
 
I understand that you aren't overfeeding for a cycled tank. I wasn't suggesting that you cut down the feedings for good, but really you should consider doing so just for the duration of the cycle. I promise it will help your fish in the long run. :)
 
I normally feed flakes morning and night, a single algae wafer every few days, and a small amount of bloodworms every few days.

I have several snails, 2 golden algae eaters, 1 pleco, and 3 cory cats and 1 algae wafer every few days seems to keep em happy.
 
I have a 55gl and feed only in the morning flakes, feed a few sinking pellets at lights out for the plecos and pim cats.

Algae waffer (1) every couple of days. Blood worms every couple of days and on those days I add nothing else.

veggies some days and those days I add nothing else.

I dont think you are overdoing it with the flakes

algae waffers.... are you sure they are ALL eaten? I would suggest those every few days cause it just makes it poop more and make more waste in the tank. They are good at finding other foods in the tank.

I only suggest this because what I have found is algae waffers really pollute my water.
 
yes they all get eaten, when i wake up in the morning before work around 6am I turn on the tank lights and feed them, put 1 wafer by the pleco.. i give them about 15 mins or so for them to find the flakes, eat etc.. and then i turn the lights off when i go to work.. about 4-5 hours later my wife wakes up and turns the lights back on for me.. when i come home around noon all the wafers and flakes etc are gone. so I know they get eaten.. ive put one too many in there before, or it lands on a piece of decor and the pleco doesnt see it - ive seen it start to break down and/or grow mold.. so i know about how long it would take..

you think feeding the pleco only 1 wafer a day is fine? rather than one at night and one in the morning? how about the snails? they can just live off of uneaten flakes right?
 
I would do once a day instead of twice. It is good they are eating it, but remember a hungry fish is a healthy fish, they can live off much less then that.

Sinking pellets are great. My snail has no issue getting those and will eat it before algae anyday. Just now I threw some in and he doesn't care if a fish is snacking on it, he moved right in on it. Its cute.

It seems you keep a very close eye on it and that is good!!! I respect that.
 
I know we have probably covered this already, but have you had someone else test your water? How long have the fish been in the tank?
 
rich311k said:
I know we have probably covered this already, but have you had someone else test your water? How long have the fish been in the tank?
Click to expand...
The LFS's here are crap and dirty and dont care about the fish they sell, so I wouldnt even believe their results for a test.. the fish have been in Since April 20th this year.. so a little over a month now..

courtnee said:
eeek wonder why nitrAte is at zero
Click to expand...
no clue, according to everybody else, Im in the middle of a cycle.. at least I managed to zero out the nh4.. which is more toxic than anything.. so they are at least at a comfortable medium now..

PICTURE TIME! here's a couple new pix I took while strolling by.
Closeup of my Yellow Mystery Snail (perhaps its a ramshorn? or an 'apple?')
img_806760_0_39f780df1e49e3ff1d22e071f9e9ad44.jpg


here's a shot of both snails cleaning up my centerpiece ruins..
img_806760_1_c08fe628090a22a200d56372c699e0a4.jpg


I need names for my 2 snails! any ideas?
 
I just cant figure why after a month you don't have any nitrite and no nitrate, something is just not right. You should be at worst two weeks from being done and it seems like from the tests you are still at week 2. Does your test kit have a date on it?
 
not that I know of.... can you buy individual test chemical bottles? I can try to get another Nitrate test chemical and see if something new happens.. *shrug*
 
Yes you can buy individual kits (bottle and tube for each).

Are you testing before or after the PWC?
If After make it before....again after if you want to compare (and a good idea while cycling),but the before number will be more telling.

FWIW I would not do another change until I tested positive for something,anything so you can figure out exactly where you are with it all.

Zeros across the board makes no sense.Leave it be (testing of course) until you see something rise.Somethings gotta start coming up....,,Keep us posted.
 
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