Cycle crash?

[Bking426]

I’m on week five of fish-in cycling. I’m wondering if my cycle crashed. I used prime and stability. I stopped using stability s week or two ago. I ran out. I’ve had all the normal readings. Ammonia went up then lowered, nitrite went high then lowered. I was having nitrates the whole time. The last week or so no nitrates show up. Nitrites are zero and I have ammonia. I have live plants but I wouldn’t consider it highly planted. 10 gallon. Four mystery snails, betta, five harlequin Rasboras. Is my bioload too high? I just got a substrate vac a few days ago and have been working on that. Could my plants cause zero nitrates reading for almost two weeks?


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[Colin_T]

Nitrate test kits read nitrite as well as nitrate so when you use a nitrate test kit it will pick up any nitrite at the same time.

If the ammonia and nitrite went up and came down then the filter should have cycled. Why the ammonia has started to go up now, that could be anything from uneaten food, a dead fish, rotting plants or possibly a power failure or cleaning the filter.

Have you cleaned the filter since the tank was set up 5 weeks ago?

The fish and snails are not an excessive load for the tank.

 

[TallPaul]

Could be that the gravel vac has kicked up something from the substrate and it's getting in the water.

If you are using the API master test kit be aware that Nitrate bottle 2 is a bit "finicky" and is known to not always give accurate results.

I am unfamiliar with the brand of products you are using but I do know that Fluval Cycle does not contain the naturally occurring bacteria that is required for the nitrogen cycle. So using a product like that would mean having to use it constantly.

If the filter has been washed out in tap water then the chlorine could have killed any beneficial bacteria in there but they are supposed to be able to handle a quick rinse, not that you should. Clean the filter in old tank water so that the gunk goes into the bucket but the bacteria remains on the sponge/floss.

Do a water change and keep checking for ammonia. Fortunately the fish you have chosen are relatively hardy so they won't drop dead over night if water quality is not pristine.

 

[Bking426]

I have yet to clean the filter. I have floss and biomax. Other than perhaps possible dying plants I can check for there are no dead fish. I’ll definitely take some tank water in another bowl and give the floss a good rinse. The biomax as well?


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