Ammonia Spike.

[the_lock_man]

Quick thought...

Ive just checked and my PH is 6.5 or there abouts..

Tap water is 7.2.

Maybe my 4 pieces of Bogwood is lowering the PH which is stalling the BB ?

Any Comments ?

It may well slow down the recovery, but it wouldn't explain what killed them in the first place.

 

[Shaddex]

So... 12 hours since I deep cleaned my tank and the results are in.

As you can see. PH 7.4, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ammonia .5

Looks like all my BB are dead and gone...

Not sure what to try now other than selling all fish so I can re-start the fishless cycle.

9 Months of tank perfection and now I have to start from Scratch. Even with the added media from my daughters tank Im still getting ammonia.

I give up.

 

[Shaddex]

anyone had any experiance with "NITROMAX BACTERIA BLEND"

Does it work ??

 

[Shaddex]

Well. Tested ammonia tonigyt and its gone. Yey !
No idea what stalled it or what started it again but for now ammonia is 0.

Will keep checking daily.

Thanks for assistance.

 

[Shaddex]

Still 0.

 

[the_lock_man]

 

[snazy]

If you still have problems with re-cycling, or cycling a new tank, please read below.

Put Tetra Safestart double the recommended amount on the bottle for your tank(fish should be in the tank). I did two fish cycles with it, one of them when ammonia was already high to control. Expect a stable tank with no ammonia/nitrites in a about a week after that. Don't test the water as it will give you crazy results(mine were 2ppm-4ppm ammonia for 5 days, then nitrites off the charts for a day/day and a half and then zilch, just nitrates rizing.). Don't change the water under any conditions( It's very hard to resist!!). All my fish were healthy, eating, and still alive, no signs of any poisoning, except for the one I accidentally killed myself long after that(today). Do not do water changes during the cycle!!!!(do one before the putting the tetra safestart if this is not a new tank). You temperature should be between 75-80. And if you normally put water conditioner that contains ammonia remover, wait at least 24hrs before you put the tetra safestart. If you don't mind spending money, when you get the nitrite reading, put another bottle of Tetra SafeStart.

This will save your fish and cycle your tank again.

 

[colleen0309]

If you still have problems with re-cycling, or cycling a new tank, please read below.

Put Tetra Safestart double the recommended amount on the bottle for your tank(fish should be in the tank). I did two fish cycles with it, one of them when ammonia was already high to control. Expect a stable tank with no ammonia/nitrites in a about a week after that. Don't test the water as it will give you crazy results(mine were 2ppm-4ppm ammonia for 5 days, then nitrites off the charts for a day/day and a half and then zilch, just nitrates rizing.). Don't change the water under any conditions( It's very hard to resist!!). All my fish were healthy, eating, and still alive, no signs of any poisoning, except for the one I accidentally killed myself long after that(today). Do not do water changes during the cycle!!!!(do one before the putting the tetra safestart if this is not a new tank). You temperature should be between 75-80. And if you normally put water conditioner that contains ammonia remover, wait at least 24hrs before you put the tetra safestart. If you don't mind spending money, when you get the nitrite reading, put another bottle of Tetra SafeStart.

This will save your fish and cycle your tank again.

If you have fish in the tank during the cycle, YOU MUST do lots of water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite from killing the fish. If you are doing a fishless cycle, you don't do water changes.

 

[Shaddex]

Read up.

My tank stalled and is now back to normal.

Thanks for the replys.

 

[Shaddex]

Spoke to soon.

After 4 days of 0 ammonia its back up to .5

Water change here I come.

 

[snazy]

If you have fish in the tank during the cycle, YOU MUST do lots of water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite from killing the fish. If you are doing a fishless cycle, you don't do water changes.

I know how that sounds to you, and in normal circumstances when cycling a tank you must do water changes otherwise the fish will die, and I completely understand what you mean by that.

But if you don't want to wait weeks, maybe months in some cases to cycle your tank, then use TETRA SAFESTART and I give it max 1-2 weeks to cycle.

I have not done one water change when cycling my 2 tanks . It takes 1 week if it's done properly. I started the water changes after the cycle finished. First tank had 4 guppies, second tank had a pleco, 4 corydoras, 2 platies and 1 swordtail. All of them survived and were doing great, no gasping/red gills/fin rot, etc...But you must use tetrasafe start and put it at the same time with the fish. And as mentioned above, if your water conditioner has ammonia remover, then forget the tetrasafe start working. If youd do water changes, then forget about that either.
I am not suggesting people put precious/expensive fish in their tanks if they follow my steps, but trying with a feeder guppy for example won't hurt if you can afford double the doze Tetra Safestart to put in your tank. And as I said before, throw one more bottle when you get nitrite reading. Mind you that if you test during cycling your ammonia/nitrites might have quite a spike. Do not tempt yourself to change the water. Watch your fish, and if they behave ok, then don't worry. I had spikes up to 4ppm ammonia and I couldn't tell if nitrites were 2ppm or 5ppm!!

And I forgot, I put 1/3rd of the Tetra Safestart on the filter pads and rest into the water.
Good luck.

 

[Shaddex]

Sorry but this is not a case of new tank syndrome. Established tank for over 9 months with no issues.
Not over stocked either.

Ammonia is at 0 now so am buying new test kit as I'm sure I'm getting false readings on the 2 I have.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

If you have fish in the tank during the cycle, YOU MUST do lots of water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite from killing the fish. If you are doing a fishless cycle, you don't do water changes.

I know how that sounds to you, and in normal circumstances when cycling a tank you must do water changes otherwise the fish will die, and I completely understand what you mean by that.

But if you don't want to wait weeks, maybe months in some cases to cycle your tank, then use TETRA SAFESTART and I give it max 1-2 weeks to cycle.

I have not done one water change when cycling my 2 tanks . It takes 1 week if it's done properly. I started the water changes after the cycle finished. First tank had 4 guppies, second tank had a pleco, 4 corydoras, 2 platies and 1 swordtail. All of them survived and were doing great, no gasping/red gills/fin rot, etc...But you must use tetrasafe start and put it at the same time with the fish. And as mentioned above, if your water conditioner has ammonia remover, then forget the tetrasafe start working. If youd do water changes, then forget about that either.
I am not suggesting people put precious/expensive fish in their tanks if they follow my steps, but trying with a feeder guppy for example won't hurt if you can afford double the doze Tetra Safestart to put in your tank. And as I said before, throw one more bottle when you get nitrite reading. Mind you that if you test during cycling your ammonia/nitrites might have quite a spike. Do not tempt yourself to change the water. Watch your fish, and if they behave ok, then don't worry. I had spikes up to 4ppm ammonia and I couldn't tell if nitrites were 2ppm or 5ppm!!

And I forgot, I put 1/3rd of the Tetra Safestart on the filter pads and rest into the water.
Good luck.

The whole point of changing water during a fish-in cycle is to minimise the amount of time our fish are in direct contact with poison (Ammonia and NitrItes), which in turn WILL kill them. I'm afraid that if you have the view of not being bothered about their health ("try a feeder guppy for example") then you may find ALOT of enthusiasts on this particular forum will disagree with you. "Watch your fish, and if they behave ok, then don't worry" this is the whole point as to why we test our water on a regular basis, is it not?

Terry.

 

[snazy]

The whole point of changing water during a fish-in cycle is to minimise the amount of time our fish are in direct contact with poison (Ammonia and NitrItes), which in turn WILL kill them. I'm afraid that if you have the view of not being bothered about their health ("try a feeder guppy for example") then you may find ALOT of enthusiasts on this particular forum will disagree with you. "Watch your fish, and if they behave ok, then don't worry" this is the whole point as to why we test our water on a regular basis, is it not?

Terry.

Hi Terry,

I have not used feeder guppies for cycling my tanks and trust me that I do care about my fish more than most people. The only reason I suggested this is because I know other people, that eventually intend to put expensive fish in their aquaruims, would rather go this way.
And additionally, is it not more cruel to feed the feeder guppies to other fish when they are still alive. I've seen that, fortunately only on youtube only, and some of them are torn to pieces.
The point I was trying to explain is how Tetra Safestart normally should be used in order to work. And this is not to endanger your fish, but on the contrary, to minimize the time they are subjected to poisonous ammonia and nitrites. When I cycled my tanks, I did not have the type of test to check if the ammonia reading I got on the Api liquid test was actually in toxic or non-toxic form. But to be honest, from my observation it wasn't as the fish did not show signs at all and seemed quite happy. Nitrite spike lasted only 24 hours on both occassions and was down to 0 afterwards and tanks cycled.
When I said "Watch your fish if they behave ok, then don't worry" I meant it for people that know what I am talking about. I have had pets(inclusive of tropical fish for years in the past) since I remember myself and I can tell you without any special tests if they are ok or not. Testing the water on regular basis is a preventive measure I agree, but you may see your fish are not ok by observing them long before your scheduled routine check shows you a bad surprise.

Let me ask you something....When you do a normal fish in cycle, do you really think that you are not subjecting your fish to prolonged ammonia and nitrite for a long, long time in most cases, no matter of the water changes? As you are probably aware, ammonia and nitrites can rise in the matter of hours during cycling and by the time you change your water, your fish could be dead anyway. I just sugest a better more efficient way to cycle a tank. Tetra Safestart is actually the non-refrigerated version of BioSpira and for me it worked a charm. The instructions on how to use it I got directly from one of their representative. And as absurd as it seems, it does work if instructions are followed.

The whole point of changing water during a fish-in cycle is to minimise the amount of time our fish are in direct contact with poison (Ammonia and NitrItes), which in turn WILL kill them.

None of my fish died during or after the cycle, all of them are in great health(Except the male guppy I killed myself by accident with my stupidity the other day which I still can not forgive myself).

If you care, you can actually see some videos of all the fish that were in the aquariums during cycling on my other threads("Aggressive Albino Koi Swordtail", "Guppy lost tail in accident" and "Crazy Pleco")and also my guppy fry I will be soon getting a third aquarium it seems

 

[Louiseness]

Let me ask you something....When you do a normal fish in cycle, do you really think that you are not subjecting your fish to prolonged ammonia and nitrite for a long, long time in most cases, no matter of the water changes?

Hence why the vast majority of people on this forum recommend a fishless cycle. That way no fish are getting exposed to any ammonia or nitrate at all for any period of time.