Did My Tank Go Thru A Re-cycle?

[boomer2000ctr]

4x(was 5) Male Sword Tail
5X Male Guppy
5X Black Skirt Tetra
5X Flame Tetra
1X Male Black Sailfin Molly
3x Ottos
25x Neon Tetra

Ive been cycling my tank for about 3 weeks now, and I started getting the ammonia spikes and then I got the nitrIte spikes, so one Friday I tested the water, and ammonia was at 0ppm and nitrites 0ppm, so I added ammonia that day, and told the guys here about it and they said that I was at the end of the cycling, so they told me that it was ready and that just need to do a big water change. So Saturday I tested the water again and it was 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrItes, so I did the big water change, turned off the heater, filters, etc..then added water, then de-chorine it, waited a while, then powered everything up, then I took off to do something for about 4 hours, then after that I went to go buy some fish, then I got home and starting acclimating the fish, then I tested the water, and it was a 0ppm ammonia, but the nitrItes where at 2.0ppm+! And they were at 0ppm! So I was like what! I already had the fish, and I couldn't take them back, cus I live like 40 min away from my local fish store, so I just put them in the tank. They r doing fine, they dont seem to be acting weird or sick, but some of them do rub on stuff, and one of my swordtails died, he died a slow death, he was inactive for a good while, then he was ok, then it seemed like he couldn't swim with his fins (the ones on the side) he was only able to swim with his rear fin, so he was bouncing around uncontrollably, he couldnt control him self, then he perished. I did notice that my male sword tales were fighting a bit, maybe he was injured. I think I might have killed some bacteria that were on the gravel, since I didnt de-chlorine the water before I put it in the tank, but I thought that was fine. I let the water sit 4 a while, then I powered the filters. Ive been testing the water, and the ammonia is still at 0ppm, so Im glad that it is, but the nitrItes are still up. I know that these are hardy fish, but Im just worried, do you think they will be ok? Any help or advice would be grateful! Thanks!

 

[trace1]

not sure why that has happened, how long did you leave the filter off before restarting it maybe that was the cause as the bacteria needs a water flow to survive
the only thing you can do to get rid if the nitrItes now is daily water changes till it goes to 0 again.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

If the filter started to dry out from lack of water (You didn't say whether it's an internal or external) then the bacteria would have started to die. It's possible it just needs to get back on par. Keep an airstone running in the tank as high nitrIte means less oxygen in the water (Basically means fish die from oxygen starvation). Fish rubbing means there's bacteria in the water the filter isn't dealing with and their likely to not be feeling 100% with the nitrIte problem so watch for signs of whitespot and other bacterial disease. Vigilance is the key right now.
Hugs,
P.

 

[boomer2000ctr]

ok, i will keep an eye on them, thanks hugz

 

[rdd1952]

I too am at a loss as to where the nitrites came from. If your ammonia and nitrite were both at zero and you did the water change and there shouldn't have been anything in the tank to produce nitrite unless you added more ammonia in. Just keep an eye on the readings and do water changes to keep them low, under .5 if possible. The neons are the ones most likely to have problems with the nitrite.

Even though you did a fishless cycle, that is a very heavy fish load, 48 fish for a 55 gallon tank (probably only 45 to 48 gallons of water after substrate and decorations are added). Fortunately, you are VERY overfiltered so you shouldn't have many problems down the line other than maybe having to do twice a week water changes (filters will be able to convert all the ammonia but nitrates may get too high with only one w/c a week), especially once the guppies start having babies but even with a good fishless cycle, you may still not have enough bacteria to handle that large of a fish stock.

 

[boomer2000ctr]

Yeah, i sure hope the nitrItes go down, they should, the ammonia is still at 0ppm, there are only male guppys, so no fry Yeah i did get out of hand with the fish load, but i hope they will be fine. Hehe! The neons dont even seem affected! The ones right now that seem to be kinda ill is 1 of the guppys and the black sailfin molly. Well i will keep on doing water chagnes untill hopefully the nitrIte eating bacteria comes back or grows. Thanks alot for the advice! have a good one!