Have I Added Fish To Early

[charlton]

added my first fish yesterday after my fishless cycle, i'd been doing daily water checks and after seeing the ammonia raise and drop then the nitrites raise and drop and stay at 0 for 3/4 days i thought it was about time so i did a 50% water change and went lfs spending but since adding 8 serpia tetras and coming home from work this mornig the nitrites had risen up to about 2 ppm. I've done another 50% water change and re tested but its still up at 2 ppm (I'm no mathematician but this doesn't make sense). I know this is way to high, i'm going to to do another big water change in a few hours but why has this happened ?

cheers

charlton

 

[waterdrop]

charlton,

I'm just another newbie watching to learn about cycling - the experts will probably be along in a bit... meanwhile, while you're waiting it probably wouldn't hurt to tell them as much data as possible. Tank size, method of fishless cycling you were using, all tests you were performing (ammonia, nitrite, pH(?), nitrate(?), temperature, etc.)

Seems like some of the cycling directions suggest a 75 or 90% water change after the ammonia and nitrite levels have begun to sit at zero - I'd be interested if they think that would have been important. Also, did your nitrite test is ok, right(?), it showed other levels at other times (ie. the test liquid hadn't expired or anything.)

Maybe the second colony of bacteria (the ones that convert nitrite to nitrate) are just not established in large enought numbers yet?

Good luck! Maybe one of them has commented while I was typing this!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rdd1952]

If you did a water change and the nitrite didn't drop, you either have nitrite in your tap water or your test kit is faulty. Since you used the test kit for the cycle, I wouldn't think it was the test kit but I've also never hear of nitrite that high in tapwater. By all means, do another water change to try to lower the nitrite (provided it's not in the tap water).

When you said you cycled and that when the nitrit returned to 0 and stayed there for 3/4 days, were you still adding ammonia daily? If not, then it's very likely that most of your bacteria died off in that time frame so you would probably see some ammonia and nitrte again. In all, how long did it take to cycle the tank, and did you use any media from an estblished tank? Did you add ammonia daily or only once?

The water change wouldn't have much effect on the bacteria. The sole purpose of the large water change is to remove the high nitrates that are present after the cycle is complete.

 

[charlton]

If you did a water change and the nitrite didn't drop, you either have nitrite in your tap water or your test kit is faulty. Since you used the test kit for the cycle, I wouldn't think it was the test kit but I've also never hear of nitrite that high in tapwater. By all means, do another water change to try to lower the nitrite (provided it's not in the tap water).

When you said you cycled and that when the nitrit returned to 0 and stayed there for 3/4 days, were you still adding ammonia daily? If not, then it's very likely that most of your bacteria died off in that time frame so you would probably see some ammonia and nitrte again. In all, how long did it take to cycle the tank, and did you use any media from an estblished tank? Did you add ammonia daily or only once?

The water change wouldn't have much effect on the bacteria. The sole purpose of the large water change is to remove the high nitrates that are present after the cycle is complete.

right really confused now, cycle took about 3 weeks, i was adding ammonia to raise it back up to 4ppm after every test cos it had always dropped to 0 - 0.25 which was at least every 24 hrs sometime 12 hrs (depending on when i was working) and was still adding ammo daily until yesterday when i introduced the fish. my lfs gave me some gravel out of one of their tanks to accelerate the cycle. But after doing a 50% this moring and about 70% this afternoon these are my reading (this doesn't make any sense )

7th feb 08 13:00

PH 7.6
AMMO 0.5
NITRITE 2.0 tap water 0 tap water after aquasafe 0
NITRATE 40

I've got a jewel rekord 96 with sand, 3 bits of bogwood an air stone and a few plants,

one more thing am i right in thinking i can change the white filter if i leave all other filters in place (ie it doesn't contain any good bacteria), i was given 3 of these which they said was 3 weeks worth, i changed it today for the fist time cos it looked filthy !

thanks in advance

charlton

 

[charlton]

something i just thought of, when i first started the cycle i added far to much ammonia the first time i added any and had to do loads of water changes to bring it down to a readable level, might it be that there was some ammonia still in the sand somehow and this has been broken down into nitrites ? In the last few days i've also added some root nutrient balls into the sand under the new plants (advice from lfs) might this be the problem ?

 

[rdd1952]

Changing anything in the filter results in a loss of bacteria. I'm not familiar with that tank or the filtration (I think it's built in??) but as a general rule, you should only rinse the filter packs & sponges lightly in old tank water to remove any trash and gunk. Only replace them when they are too worn and torm to function properly. I strongly suspect that you have started a mini cycle when you replaced the filter pack.

Just do water changes to reduce the ammonia and nitrite and try to get and keep them at or below .25 ppm until the mini cycle is over.

Edit: I don't think the initial ammonia is an issue. I guess it's possible some was still in the substrate but I think the problem is the change in media.

 

[charlton]

Changing anything in the filter results in a loss of bacteria. I'm not familiar with that tank or the filtration (I think it's built in??) but as a general rule, you should only rinse the filter packs & sponges lightly in old tank water to remove any trash and gunk. Only replace them when they are too worn and torm to function properly. I strongly suspect that you have started a mini cycle when you replaced the filter pack.

Just do water changes to reduce the ammonia and nitrite and try to get and keep them at or below .25 ppm until the mini cycle is over.

I only changed the white filter about an hour ago while doing the second water change of the day, its still wet so is it worth putting it back in again. I only changed it because when i was turning the filter back on again after the water changes it seemed to be spit little particles out to start with and assumed this was time to change !! Put it back in again ?

 

[rdd1952]

Unless it's torn up or so dirty that it's inhibiting water flow, I would put it back in provided it's still wet and hasn't been exposed to any contaminants that you wouldn't want in the tank. Is there any way to run both the new and old together?

 

[charlton]

Unless it's torn up or so dirty that it's inhibiting water flow, I would put it back in provided it's still wet and hasn't been exposed to any contaminants that you wouldn't want in the tank. Is there any way to run both the new and old together?

i was just thinking that, all it does is push into a plastic housing the same size as the filter so there's nothing stopping me putting one on top of the other nearer the time when ones falling apart !!

charlton