Fish in tank, not fully cycled dilemma:

[moogie21]

Fish in tank, not fully cycled dilemma:

Ammonia level: 1.5ppm
nitrite: 0ppm

1. Do I do WC to reduce the ammonia, but risk of slowing down the cycle and killing some BB?
2. Or don’t do WC and let the cycle continues and not disturb the BB but slowly stressing the fish with high ammonia?

 

[Circus]

Water change or remove the fish. Over 1 ppm is toxic to fish. You let it play out and you might end up with dead or damaged fish. Depending on how long the ammonia has been this high, you might want to do frequent small water changes over the course of a few hours. If it has been that high for only a short time, do a large change.

 

[Fishiemang]

What kind of fish? A single.fish or multiple?

This will determine what you need to do, but for the immediate, do a.series of smaller water changes and get that ammonia lowered, but balance that goal with maintaining some water quality. The bacteria will be in the water, but for now your filter likely has developed a colony to get going. Even add some API Quick Start to get some.ammonia loving bacteria in that tank. Use it after each water change.

 

[moogie21]

4 small goldfish in 40gallon tank
ph 7.8
temp 77f

3 weeks ago, ammonia was 0.25ppm, and nitrite 5ppm. and recently within the past 7 days, reading were almost flipped (ammonia 2ppm, nitrite 0ppm). after a series of WC with and w/o gravel vaccuum, it's down to ~1.5ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite. not sure what or why this phenomenon happened?

this is my 12th weeks on this tank and not sure why it's not fully cycled properly. i'm not even sure if my fluval filter is working correctly. i just added another aquaclear 50 filter to make sure.

will try to feed less(perhaps 1/day) instead of usual 2/day and perhaps do a 50-75% wc w/ vaccuum gravel.

 

[Circus]

4 small goldfish in 40gallon tank
ph 7.8
temp 77f

3 weeks ago, ammonia was 0.25ppm, and nitrite 5ppm. and recently within the past 7 days, reading were almost flipped (ammonia 2ppm, nitrite 0ppm). after a series of WC with and w/o gravel vaccuum, it's down to ~1.5ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite. not sure what or why this phenomenon happened?

this is my 12th weeks on this tank and not sure why it's not fully cycled properly. i'm not even sure if my fluval filter is working correctly. i just added another aquaclear 50 filter to make sure.

will try to feed less(perhaps 1/day) instead of usual 2/day and perhaps do a 50-75% wc w/ vaccuum gravel.

Goldfish are absolute poop machines. Make sure not to overfeed them, as uneaten food will cause ammonia spikes. So only what they can eat in about 2 minutes. I would do daily WC until you don't have any ammonia readings. From what I have read and been told here on the forums, recommended to only have 1 goldfish per for 20 gallons and an additional 10-15 gallons for each additional goldfish. This is for the fancy varieties anyway. The single tailed goldfish should only be kept in 6ft+ tanks, but preferably ponds.

I believe that Fishiemang is correct in that multiple small changes would be better, so as not to shock the goldfish.

 

[moogie21]

should i dose api ammo-lock or seachem prime??

 

[Essjay]

Ammo lock and Prime will detoxify ammonia for around 24 hours after which it will become toxic again. They will protect the fish between water changes.

Provided you add dechlorinator to remove the chlorine in the new water, water chnages will not kill off the bacteria.

 

[moogie21]

how about fluval ammonia remover:

Fluval Ammonia Remover, Chemical Filter Media for Freshwater Aquariums, 180-gram Nylon Bags​

how soon can i check water chemistry after water change?

 

[Essjay]

That looks like zeolite. It removes ammonia rather than detoxify it. The danger is that it gets full and stops working so if you don't replace it before it gets full, ammonia goes up again. But because it removes ammonia, the bacteria colonies don't have enough food so they stop multiplying.
I would only use zeolite in emergencies. For coping with a fish-in cycle, it is better to do water changes and allow the bacteria to grow.

how soon can i check water chemistry after water change?

That depends. If you use Prime it affects the ammonia test so you are supposed to wait 24 hours. For everything else, wait half an hour for the new water to mix in thoroughly.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Daily large water changes, treat with Prime during every WC, until ammonia and nitrite are 0, and trates are at 10 or below.
Read the cycling stickies in the beginner section of the forum.

What kind of test kit do you have?

 

[moogie21]

Daily large water changes, treat with Prime during every WC, until ammonia and nitrite are 0, and trates are at 10 or below.
Read the cycling stickies in the beginner section of the forum.

What kind of test kit do you have?

api freshwater master test kit.

i was able to get the NH3 down to ~0.75ppm.

does 0 nitrite indicates no BB?

i just added another aquaclear 50 filter...hopefully this will accumulate more and faster BB.

 

[moogie21]

would dosing the api quick start help speed up this cycle with the nitrifying bacteria?

 

[Circus]

would dosing the api quick start help speed up this cycle with the nitrifying bacteria?

It likely would. I use the prime and tetra versions of the product.