Have My A-Bacs Snuffed It?

[Gazanimal]

Just starting to wonder if my A-bacs have died off in my filter media?

3 days have passed since my last ammonia processing & the Ammonia reading in my tank is stuck at 4ppm.

As you'll see from my log I'm upto Day 30 of my fishless cycle & have gone through the Nitrite spike and come out the other side successfully up to 3 days ago when ammonia processing stalled.

Here's the log from the last 8 days, so you can see what's happened:

Day 22: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.0 / Ammonia: 0ppm / Nitrite: 5.00ppm / Nitrate: (Did not test) *** Dosed 0.5ml of Ammonia
Day 23: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.0 / Ammonia: 0ppm / Nitrite: 0.00ppm / Nitrate: (Did not test) *** Dosed 0.5ml of Ammonia
Day 24: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.0 / Ammonia: 0ppm / Nitrite: 0.00ppm / Nitrate: Between 80-160ppm *** Dosed 0.5ml of Ammonia
Day 25: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.0 / Ammonia: 0ppm / Nitrite: 0.00ppm / Nitrate: (Did not test) *** Dosed 1.25ml of Ammonia
Day 26: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.0 / Ammonia: 0.5ppm / Nitrite: 0.25ppm / Nitrate: (Did not test) - Ammonia & Nitrite haven't completely processed but nearly. *** Dosed back up to 5ppm
Day 27: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.0 / Ammonia: 2.00ppm / Nitrite: 0.00ppm / Nitrate: (Did not test) - Ammonia hasn't completely processed. *** Dosed back up to 5ppm
Day 28: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.2 / Ammonia: 4.00ppm / Nitrite: 0.00ppm / Nitrate: (Did not test) *** Ammonia is not being processed within 24 hours.
Day 29: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.0 / Ammonia: 4.00ppm / Nitrite: 0.00ppm / Nitrate: Between 80-160ppm *** Ammonia is not being processed within 24 hours.
Day 30: pH = 7.6 / pH High = 8.2 / Ammonia: 4.00ppm / Nitrite: 0.00ppm / Nitrate: (Did not test) *** Ammonia is not being processed.


Day 25 I had my 3rd day of double 0.00 for ammonia & nitrite so started to re-dose up to 4-5ppm with 1.25ml of ammonia. Since then you'll notice that the ammoina has struggled to be processed, so much so, in the last 3 days no ammonia has been processed by the filter which is starting to make me thing the A-bacs have died off & I'm worried that I'm back at the beginning of my cycle & the N-bacs will die too.

Am I being overly concerned and it's just another blip or should I take other action?

 

[Joshwainwright]

I'm not exactly an expert in this field but by the looks of things, it's very likely that for some reason they have either died or been reduced. I sure hope your ammonia begins to be processed nice and swiftly as before very soon.

 

[Whitey_144]

I'm not exactly an expert in this field but by the looks of things, it's very likely that for some reason they have either died or been reduced. I sure hope your ammonia begins to be processed nice and swiftly as before very soon.

i had a similar thing, i went away for the weekend on about day 30 and asked someone to dose for me, there was a 1hr powercut and it seemed it stopped the processing of ammonia for 2 days, i was worried but advised to do a large water change down to the gravel, i did and next day i was back on track with the bacteria processing like normal.

i wouldnt say this would fix it, but maybe it will freshen things up a bit and kick them back into action.

i assume nothing else has happened like powercut, accidentally adding untreated tap water?

 

[Gazanimal]

Nope, nothing untoward has happened.

Always treated the tap water when I needed to top up the tank due to evaporation and there's been no power cut that I know of so it's a tad confusing.

I had thought about the water change to kick start things again but wasn't sure, but if it's a necessity then it's got to be done

 

[Gazanimal]

If after I test tomorrow, there's no ammonia processed then I'll do a water change down to the sand level to see if it gives it a kick start.

 

[adzilla88]

I'm in a similar situation. Again if I see no change in my ammonia readings tomorrow, I too will be doing a large water change.

Adam

 

[nehpets81]

Just to add - this happened to me too. I wasn't as far along the cycle as you and I just left it to see what happened, after about a week Ammonia is still not being processed and all the Nitrite has now been converted into Nitrate so I'm getting exactly the same figures as when I started.
Strangely this also seemed to correspond to an increase of the ph from 8 to about 8.3...

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Judging by the quantity of dosing i assume its a small tank.

Check everything over to make sure its working including heater and thermometer.

You have for example dosed when ammonia has not dropped to 0ppm. The problem with this is that if there is something wrong then you are simply building up ammonia concentration in the tank.
My personal opinion is that you should only re-dose when it is 0ppm at the specified time period, eg 24hrs.

Agree with Whitey_144. Complete water change, temp matched and dechlorinated.
Then dose to 4ppm ammonia so that you can compare to a colour on the chart (i am asuuming you have an API test kit) rather then try to guess whether it is a bit darker and 5ppm.
Wait 30 minutes and then test to confirm dosing.

How old is the test kit?

Hopefully it is only a blip and you will be back on track soon.

 

[Joshwainwright]

I need to change my ways. I've always dosed back up to 5ppm if the ammonia drops a little rather than to 0ppm. Or do I?

Does it actually make a difference?

 

[Gazanimal]

Everything is working ok in the tank.

2 Thermometers in there & temps are spot on.

API Test Kit, bought just before I started my tank so 5 weeks old.

Re-tested today & the ammonia still hasn't processed so about to do a full water change.

 

[Gazanimal]

90% water change done.

Small trace of ammonia in the water from the existing tank water already (0.25ppm).

Going to re-dose up to 4ppm.