Fish-in Cycle (day 16)

[Gustavo]

Hello!

I'm cycling a 55 gallon tank with 4 Danios and 4 Guppies, so far everything looks 'ok' (1 Danio died, but I think he was sick, his spine was bent one morning, and he was still alive when I found him, but he died later on) Also, I'm testing with an API Master Kit.

PH: 7.2 ppm
Ammonia: 1 ppm
Nitrite: 1 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm

I do a 10 gallon water change daily, and the levels so far have remained the same. What should I expect for the upcoming weeks? Am I in the 'normal' for 10 days? I used gravel from a established 10 gallon tank, and pieces of the filter to try to speed up the process a little bit. I also have some plants: 2 Java Ferns, some water Lillies, and an Onion plant that the Guppies like to nip on. Today I counted about 10 Java Ferns daughter plants growing in the underside of the leaves, so I guess at least the plants are happy!

In my 10 gallon tank I have 19 Guppy fry about 2 weeks old, and so far they are all happy and growing. The other adult female, I think she's about week, week and a half out to drop the fry, and the younger on in the group developed a gray spot about 3 days ago. She's all yellow, and when I got her she didn't had the spot, so I hope the Tequila Sunrise guppy male in the group impregnated her.

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice.

Gus


Day 13:

Ammonia: 0.5 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
Nitrite: N/A
PH: N/A
Temperature: 80F steady

I did a water change in the morning (12 gallons) and I'm feeding sparingly twice a day.

 

[KittyKat]

All good apart from the fact that you are harming living beings in your care. If you want a human equivalent of what you are doing to them, it is about the same as pouring bleach all over yourself and leaving it there.

 

[Gustavo]

Ok, thanks for your opinion.

 

[60007]

What should I expect for the upcoming weeks?

Alot of water changes for the next 3 weeks!

I have recently just finished my fish in cycle, though I had 2 danios, and 5 neon teras and a cherry shrimp, all made it but a guppy and anotehr shrimp. I changed 50% of my water daily to just try and keep my ammonia under control, even with 2 danios in my 17 gallon tank I had loads of ammonia build up quickly, so I imagine yours might aswell.

I know you can't do anything now, but I'd avoid breeding guppies at this stage (probably easier said than done) because all that is happening is more and more ammonium is building up, I say let nature take its course, survival of the fittest, but don't try and save any to keep population under control, there's plenty of time for that later!

~60007

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Gustavo and Welcome to TFF!

In a Fish-In Cycling situation your goal is to be a bit of a detective and try to figure out (via your liquid-reagent testing kit) what percentage and frequency of water changes will accomplish the objective of keeping both ammonia and nitrite(NO2) at or below 0.25ppm before you can be home again to perform another water change. The usual approach to this is to establish two testing/water-changing times 12 hours apart, morning and evening. Obtaining a reading of 0.25ppm or higher lets you know you need to change more water or change it more frequently, whichever is more convenient for you. Finding the numbers closer to zero ppm than to 0.25ppm means you may be able to skip a water change are change a little less water.

Unlike humans, who only give off CO2, fish give off ammonia(NH3) when they move water through their gills in addition to CO2. Fish waste, excess fishfood and plant debris all break down in the tank to create still more ammonia. Ammonia, even in small quantities, causes gill damage, leading to shortened fish lives or possible death. In nature, ammonia is flushed away from the gills by thousands of gallons of fresh water.

Luckily, aquarists can grow a species of freshwater bacteria (Nitrosomonas spp.) in their filter which will "eat" ammonia and process it into nitrite(NO2). Unfortunately, nitrite(NO2) is also a deadly substance for fish. Nitrite, even in tiny amounts, attaches just like oxygen(O2) to the hemoglobin protein of fish red blood cells and destroys those cells, turning them into a brown mush. The immediate effect of this is nerve damage, especially to the brain, leading to shortened fish lives or death.

Luckily, the second species of bacteria aquarists can grow (Nitrospira spp.) will "eat" nitrite(NO2) and process it into nitrate(NO3) which is much, much less harmful to fish. Nitrate(NO3) is still undesirable but can be removed, along with other undesirable metals and organics during the weekly water change.

This process, called "nitrification" is at the heart of an environmental phenomenon called the "Nitrogen Cycle" and is core to the hobby of tropical fish keeping. Understanding it is the first step to developing the skills of Fishless Cycling and Fish-In cycling that are key components of filter maintenance and keeping alive and healthy.

If you are still seeing values of "1.0ppm" for ammonia and/or nitrite(NO2) then I suggest you get the family to pitch in and do a couple of large (70% or more) water changes with at least an hour in between. This will be very hard work but often will clear things out and then you may be able to maintain things down within the 0.25 type level more easily with one or two 50% daily changes. Good Luck!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gustavo]

Hi Waterdrop!

Thanks for all the help. I did what you told me and the Ammonia dropped to 0.25 ppm. I also tested for Nitrates, and I think is between 5 and 10 ppm (not almost orange yet), so hopefully in the next couple of days it'll double up.

I see you live in Chapel Hill, I live outside Fort Bragg, but my Reserve unit's in Wilson, so I drive through Raleigh every time I have to go over (usually once a month).

Thanks again!

Gus

 

[GuppyGoddess]

All good apart from the fact that you are harming living beings in your care. If you want a human equivalent of what you are doing to them, it is about the same as pouring bleach all over yourself and leaving it there.

This is very helpful

 

[AdAndrews]

Unlike humans, who only give off CO2,

Hang on(I know this may not be totally relevant) but Us humans do excrete more than co2, correct me if i am wrong but dont we go to the toilet? Our waste would still have to be broken down by some bacteria if we left it.

 

[60007]

Unlike humans, who only give off CO2,

Hang on(I know this may not be totally relevant) but Us humans do excrete more than co2, correct me if i am wrong but dont we go to the toilet? Our waste would still have to be broken down by some bacteria if we left it.

for humans in respiration:

Glucose + Oxygen = Carbon Dioxide + Water + Energy

C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy

 

[waterdrop]

Unlike humans, who only give off CO2,

Hang on(I know this may not be totally relevant) but Us humans do excrete more than co2, correct me if i am wrong but dont we go to the toilet? Our waste would still have to be broken down by some bacteria if we left it.

..was only talking about respiration of course, sorry if I made my sentence to short, I'm not usually known for that

 

[fatheadminnow]

Unlike humans, who only give off CO2,

Hang on(I know this may not be totally relevant) but Us humans do excrete more than co2, correct me if i am wrong but dont we go to the toilet? Our waste would still have to be broken down by some bacteria if we left it.

..was only talking about respiration of course, sorry if I made my sentence to short, I'm not usually known for that

You can say that again!

Oh no, here comes the essay response...

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

Unlike humans, who only give off CO2,

Hang on(I know this may not be totally relevant) but Us humans do excrete more than co2, correct me if i am wrong but dont we go to the toilet? Our waste would still have to be broken down by some bacteria if we left it.

..was only talking about respiration of course, sorry if I made my sentence to short, I'm not usually known for that

You can say that again!

Oh no, here comes the essay response...

-FHM

essay:
You can say that again: If you want to agree strongly with what someone has said, you can say 'You can say that again' as a way of doing so.

 

[Gustavo]

Day 16

Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 1 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm

I tested earlier, and I had a 0.25 ppm Ammonia reading, I did a 25% water change after feed time, and it didn't change. The Ammonia did show a reading of 0.5 ppm a couple of days ago, so its going down slowly. The Nitrates went from 5 ppm to 10 ppm today. No fish died so far, and I'm adding aquarium salt to help the fishes with the Nitrites, that still at 1 ppm no matter how much water I change.

 

[waterdrop]

Are you deep gravel cleaning when you water change? Deep gravel cleaning and making the water change quite large (like 75%) are often needed when you're trying to drop down from high NO2 or NO3 levels.

Forgot to say.. you should check out the dates of the Raleigh Aquarium Society as perhaps it would coincide with one of your Wilson trips or something. I try and get over to those sometimes when I remember to look at a calendar! Really mad that I missed a good talk when I missed one of the recent ones.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Gustavo]

Waterdrop,

I did a big water change and I siphoned the gravel big time, and the NO3 went down along with the Ammonia and the NO2. I though the NO3 was the 'good' bacteria, and after the water change, it went down to 5 ppm from 10 ppm, is that normal? I though I wanted to build up the NO3 bacteria?

Thanks!

Gus