Fish-in Cycle

[Chad]

That would be why.

 

[beccalovely]

That would be why.

So what do you think - does the benefit of moving the guppies to the bigger tank if it finishes cycling first outweigh the stress of moving them back and forth?

 

[Chad]

Personally I have getting fish out of an orb. I helped my friend with hers and it was a huge pain so for me I would say leave them. As long as you are willing (and you clearly are) to do the water work required they should be fine in there.

 

[fluttermoth]

Oh, sorry, tcamas, I'm going to disagree.

The stress of moving is far outweighed by the stress of living through a cycle, IMO.

 

[Chad]

I would agree normally but they are likely at the end of that cycle now.

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, true, but a nitrite reading of 1ppm is very worrying to my mind.

Becca; they're your fish, you can see their behaviour and know how much water you're prepared to change, it has to be your call in the end.

 

[snazy]

Normally, the water chemistry between your two tanks won't be much different since you've filled them with the same tap water. So switching fish between two tanks like that is not that stressfull. I personally just net the fish out of one tank and drop it into my other, recently did it with 3 new ottos and a platy. The Ph and temperature reads the same on both tanks and I don't see what elese could have changed the chemistry of my tanks considerably to actually cause any stress to the fish this way. The fish just kept going like they were in the same place. Acclimation via bags and adding water and keeping fish in buckets, netting 3 times is a lot more stressfull if it's not necessary, which in your case, as long as temperature wise the tanks are close(within 1 degree) and the Ph the same, just pop them in the other tank once cycled. This will cause little to no stress. If you can even scoop with water instead of netting, then the stress is very minimal

What I am trying to say is that as long as you have one of the tanks cycled, it's better to move the fish than subject them to even the minimum ammount of ammonia or nitrItes. You can never safely do a fish-in cycle.

 

[Chad]

I can certainly see that and always I say better safe than sorry so if there's any question.

 

[beccalovely]

Thanks for your advice guys, I've done a big water change and retest results are
0ppm ammonia
0.25ppm Nitrite

I think what I'll do is assess the situation again once the bigger tank has cycled.
Presuming this finishes cycling before the little one I shall move them over, but if the biOrb is not far from finishing its cycle then I'll leave them be.

There has been no change in their behaviour at all, but as both females are showing their pregnancies now I will def move them if the biOrb is still getting high nitrite readings, so that if they drop it will be in a cycled tank. Reckon there's about another 10-14 days until they drop so should be OK either way. With them having been going through the cycle process their may not be much hope for any of their fry anyway I guess.

 

[beccalovely]

Oh and also will be doing another water change (probably 50%) this evening to get rid of that left over nitrite.

 

[beccalovely]

Ok so, day 21 results...

this morning:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 1ppm (Scary!!!)
Immediate massive water change, plus a quick rinse of the rather gunky filter sponge in old tank water.

This evening
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm

Going to do a 50-60% water change now to get rid of that bit of nitrite.

Thankfully despite the earlier nitrite spike there have been no casualties so far, all three guppies swimming about as usual.

 

[snazy]

Immediate massive water change, plus a quick rinse of the rather gunky filter sponge in old tank water.

Don't ever wash the filter media during a cycle!!! That gunky stuff is the bacteria you are washing off. You shouldn't wash it at least a couple of months after the cycle has finished because you can cause an ammonia/nitrIte spike again as the tank is not well established.
The fish won't mind a dirty sponge inside a filter and if your filter is good enough, for that ammount of time you should not see any issues with dirty water or similar. If you do, then you should upgrade your filter.

 

[beccalovely]

Thanks for the info Snazy... hopefully I haven't done any damage to the cycle progress as still have 0ppm ammonia after 6 hours... will have to see.
In a biOrb I was led to believe most of the bacteria live on the ceramic media used as substrate so hopefully that will counteract any damage done by the quick rinse of the filter sponge.
I should have resisted the urge - it just looked so gunky!

 

[snazy]

Thanks for the info Snazy... hopefully I haven't done any damage to the cycle progress as still have 0ppm ammonia after 6 hours... will have to see.
In a biOrb I was led to believe most of the bacteria live on the ceramic media used as substrate so hopefully that will counteract any damage done by the quick rinse of the filter sponge.
I should have resisted the urge - it just looked so gunky!

More than likely the bacteria is mostly on the ceramic media, but in a cycling tank I would refrain. The sponges normally look gunky all the time in a nice cycled healthy tank

 

[beccalovely]

Good to know for future reference, thanks!