Adding bio-spira

[tttnjfttt]

Ok, long story short (details can be found in this thread), my tank has gone into a mini cycle (was previously cycled). I have been doing daily water changes for the past three days, but it seems to be getting worse. here are recent ammonia and nitrite readings:

Tuesday: Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - .25
Thursday: Ammonia - .25, nitrite - .25
Friday: Ammonia - .5, Nitrite - .25

I currently have 7 tiger barbs and 5 zebra danios in my tank (yes, i know i should have barbs in a 30, but the dammage was done when I figured this out), and i know tiger barbs are sensitive to bad water. Would adding Bio-Spira (sp?) help to get my tank re-cycled? I'm talkign about the refrigerated stuff that has an expiration date on it.

Thanks.

 

[sinistral]

Don't have any experience with it, but you find various people who swear by it on the web.

I'd look at it this way:

It won't hurt.
It could potentially help.
It costs money.
You're going to be doing frequent water changes anyways.

I'd weigh all those factors before deciding. If it were me I'd probably just keep up with regular water changes and monitoring. On the other hand, this is exactly the type of situation that Bio-spira is advertised to work with...

EDIT: Are you sure that Pimafix is what affected the biological filter? The manufacturer suggests that Pimafix won't affect bacterial colonies...

 

[tttnjfttt]

Right now, my biggest concern is I went from .25 to .5 ammonia in one day, despite a 25% water change. The fish still seem active and happy, no signs of new illness. I decided since i've now done 3 water changes since medicating the tank, and added carbon, to put the betta's spoung in there. I was going to head down to a decent LFS today, about 45 minutes away, and I probably have more of a chance of finding it down there, and i really dont want to make another trip if the betta filter doesn't work.

EDIT: I am also going to start feeding my fish every other day till this is resolved, I just really don't want to loose any fish.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Yeah, this discussion has been going on under the removing meds topic i started yesterday. The link is in the first post I made.

 

[sinistral]

I understand where you're coming from and sympathise-- it's a tough thing to go through. But... I hope you won't mind if I point out that if there is some other cause of your tank cycling that isn't addressed, that water changes and adding bio-spira may not be helpful...

EDIT: I've just gone and looked at your original thread again...from afar I'd agree with your last post-- it looks like it could be a combination of recent gravel to sand change and possibly removal of the carbon. Contrary what many people think, carbon filters can also provide a vast surface area for bacteria to colonize. I am not sure if it matters if the carbon is activated or not.

In this instance, Bio-spira would have a greater chance of helping, IMO. Again, I've read a lot of people swear by it.

 

[tttnjfttt]

What other causes are you thinking about, I'm totally open for input here.

 

[mlee0332]

Bio-spira should work as it IS the actual nitrobacter. That is the bacteria trhat does all the transfers from one thing to the next. It MUST be refrigerated and lasts 6 months... its about 8 dollars for a 1 fl oz bottle and it treats 30 gallons of water.

Yes your minicycle will get worse as there isn't enough bacteria to change each one. That's normal for it to go up that much with that many fish in a 20g. And you shouldnt fret over .5, as they can live in up to 1.0 ammonia. BUT all of your recent hard hits (new fish, new substrate, no filter sponge, etc.) has caused it, and it should stabilize soon. since you are leaving... Maybe do a massive water change (close to 100%) (be sure to acclimatize and use dechlor) and that will give you about 2 days before the build up gets too high. How long are you away for?

 

[tttnjfttt]

By leaving I meant I was leaving to go to the LFS, which the only decent quality one is atleast 45 minutes away from me. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any bio-spira. I heard a few stories about Cycle good from LPS employees. I'm not too sure about it, since it isn't refrigerated, and I didn't see an expiration date on it either. I did get a small thing of that, and I figure, it can't hurt, and i'm doing daily watre changes anyways, so if it doesn't work, then it will be taken out pretty quickly anyways. .

Lesson learned - PATIENCE.

I had no spike when I added the fish, no spike after the gravel, but when I took out the old spounge and carbon at once (despite the month old spounge), trouble started brewing. I can see how I did WAY too much too quickly to this tank.

I also got a carbon filter that is the correct size for this filter, instead of rigging one of my old never used ones. So that is back in the tank, hopefully helping some and removing any left over medicines. I also re-arranged the filter so the two spounges are together, so hopefully I will get a colony growing on the new spounge too.

 

[mlee0332]

yes if they are touching that will help. You need to leave the rigged in there somewhere (whether it hangs by intake, or in the filter case some where) so that can help eat up some of that NH4s and NO2s. I have heard nothing but bad news about cycle. It cut a week off of regular cycle time, but that could have been coincidence as i only heard that from one person. I never tried it so tell us how it goes. I used biozyme, and it sux! here I am a month later and my tank is only 1/2 way cycled! My water is odd here and it takes 2x as long to cycle... Dunno why... But anyway, you should be fine, just keep NH4 below 1.0ppm and NO2s really shouldn't get any higher than they are , but if they slip to .5 you should be fine. That's just a precaution as they are a little more potent than ammonia.

EDIT: if you only added 1, 2 or even 3 fish, that could take a week for such a small load on the bio filter to cause a build up, and substrate doesn't have but a little bit of bacteria, but if its about to kick into a cycle and you remove the slightest bit, the cycle will be a little larger than it would normally be.

 

[tttnjfttt]

The last fish I added were added about two weeks ago, and the others 2.5 weeks ago. I konw better than to add fish that quickly, but I needed to add more tiger barbs to my school because of agression.

Thanks for your input!

 

[rdd1952]

Cycle is pretty much useless also. ANY bacteria additive that isn't refrigerated will be a waste of money. The reason Bio-Spira works is because it is kept refrigerated. You won't find it in any chain store (if you do it probably hasn't been handled properly but instead has been sitting in some hot warehouse. You can order it online with much better results. I think I posted a link to it in your original thread but here it is again.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I don't know if it was the cycle or putting back in the old filter spounge (not sure how much bacteria was left on the spounge from the betta tank, because I had the spounge sitting in the tank, since the filter created too strong of a current), but my ammonia is back to zero today. I still have nitrites of .25, but atleast the ammonia is gone.

 

[mlee0332]

it was adding your sponges back! They were full of bacteria and when you put them back, you got nearly a full cycle.