Have I Done A Really Stupid Thing?

[petal040]

For detailed info on what led up to this see here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=300412&hl=

Well to cut a very very long story short, for some unknown reason there has been zero zilch no ammonia-eating bacteria in my tank for months. It absolutely will not cycle. Not even one little bit.

We did think we'd be able to get filter squeezings from someone but that didn't work out. So - we were resorting to very frequent large water changes and Seachem Prime.

We are pregnant and baby is now 11 days overdue. We cannot keep up with the water changes just now. Ammonia levels go up rapidly in our tank. If I need to be induced we will possibly be in the hospital for a while and therefore unable to add Seachem to the tank.

In desperation, I got some ammo-chips. I have an internal filter. According to the instructions on the box I needed to put 20 tablespoons of ammo-chips in the filter for it to be enough, so I removed all my filter media (that to be fair wasn't doing anything anyway) apart from the fine pad and put the chips in inside a popsock. This was the only way I could fit them in.

Despite rinsing the chips very thoroughly (or so I thought) - my tank instantly filled with dust when I switched the filter on.

So, at the moment my only filter media is ammo-chips and a fine pad, and the tank water looks cloudy, as if the fish have been plastering. I am worried I have done a stupid thing.

Is this an acceptable situation? Will it help keep the fish as healthy as possible just until we can resume the huge almost daily water changes again? Honestly I feel like throwing the tank through a window this has been an ongoing problem for so long, we have tried every single thing we can think of, and have no solutions. (cries)

Can I leave the tank like this or should I remove the ammo-chips and go back to the (apparently non functional) filter pads again?

 

[Curiosity101]

Where abouts are you in the UK?

 

[petal040]

We are in Huddersfield

 

[Curiosity101]

If you could collect and cover the cost of some replacement media then I can probably donate enough to get your cycle going...

I'm in Sheffield...

Otherwise I would be willing to post, but obviously dieback could be an issue.

 

[petal040]

That's really kind of you and I would love to but we wouldn't be able to get to Sheffield at the moment... also I wonder if the bacteria would die? We have never figured out what caused it to die in the first place (it was a fully cycled tank) or why it won't cycle again now.

 

[Curiosity101]

Ah right...I didn't realise it had uncycled. I just thought that it was an unluckily timed Fish-in Cycle.

How long was it cycled for? Perhaps the colonies you had if they were still young weren't established enough to withstand some spike or something in the water?
My colony is about 6months old (on the new filter media) and 2+ years old altogether (2 years since the tank was 'cycled')

I'm sure this has already been covered but..
Have you tested for chlorine spikes?
And pH crashes?

 

[coldcazzie]

I'm in Bradford and would also be willing to give you some media if you could get here - I have no transport of my own though. Don't know if I'm any easier to get to than Sheffield though...

 

[petal040]

The tank had been cycled for around 8 months I think (can't remember now!) in total however we had done a nearly 100% water change due to moving house about 3 months before it crashed.

We had been going along fine, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate around 10 for those months, then one day we lost a fish. I did a water test - ammonia was at 8(!!) and pH had gone down to 6. Big water changes brought the pH back up again but it is currently at 6 again now. I admit I had only been testing the water every second or third change at the time of the crash, so the ammonia could have built up slowly.

since then we have tried changing all the media in hopes of starting a fish-in cycle but there has been no cycling. Ammonia continually rises, nitrite remains at 0 as does nitrate. We did keep the pH at 7.2ish for a long time while we hoped for a cycle to start, it has only recently gone back down (because we decreased water changes as we couldn't manage them, and started trying to neutralise some ammonia using Seachem between changes).

Unfortunately we also have no transport at the moment! Thanks for the offers of media though I do appreciate them!

 

[Curiosity101]

Do you know your GH and KH values?

Ps. Bradford is closer than Sheffield. Perhaps you could convince the OH to go by train maybe?

If you do know your GH and KH values and they are low then you could always order some crushed coral, stick it in the bag (much like you have with the ammo chips) and over time it'll raise both (I think), but eitherways it should increase your pH (as your low pH could be the reason your cycle isn't starting).

Higher pH + Donated media could get you cycling again.
But then I haven't got a clue what could cause you to uncycle in the first place. Guess it must've been something to do with the move.