New Tank Wont Cycle?

[rowens86]

Hello,
I bought a 10G tank about 4 weeks ago with 15 fish and it has still yet to cycle. Now I know I should only start out with 2-3 fish or fishless but its too late for that.

I have been changing about 15-20% of water everyday, always adding some form of bacteria like SafeStart, Cycle and Stress Zyme, never at the same time. Sometimes i add AmmoLock. I use Prime for the conditioner.

All of my fish are somehow living fine and not stressed at all, feeding once a day. No bacterial, fungal or parasite illness at all.

I have a penguin 100 power filter with bio wheel and an air stone, lots of oxygen and it is planted as well.

My water tests have been about the same for 4 weeks-
Ammonia- 8ppm
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0
Ph-8 (don't want to change it)
Temp- 80 F

Fish-
6- small Tiger Barbs
3- Platies
3- Zebra Danios
2- small Plecos
1- small Red Tail Shark

I plan to get a bigger aquarium as they grow bigger, but what can I do to get my tank to cycle?
Is it so overstocked that it wont cycle? Do I need to return some fish?
I was also wondering how they are all still alive.. I don't want them to die, I just cant understand how they are surviving.

Thanks, Rich

 

[alchemist]

Your ammonia is very high - even with Ammo lock in there protecting your fish from poisonous ammonia you may be growing the wrong sort of bacteria.
You need to do several big water changes and get your ammonia reading right down.
Once your cycle kicks in - your next problem is that you will get a nitrite spike waiting for new bacteria to form to convert the nitrite into nitrate. Again - as soon as you start seeing nitrite reading you are going to have to keep doing water changes to get the levels down. You can't protect the fish in the same way you are now with ammo-lock.

If you can return some fish I would do so.

 

[rowens86]

So basically I just need to do large water changes (w/o shock) 2-3 a day maybe?? and will that be enough for the nitrite also?, or drop off some fish at the pet store. I think you are right about the wrong bacteria, maybe. Thanks

 

[Amunet]

Wow, you are severely overstocked.
You need to rehome all of the fish, and read up on doing a fishless cycle. As the tank is cycling, research the fish you'd like to see if that tank is suitable for them.
It is NOT a good idea to say you'll upgrade later on, b/c things can happen and that might not be an option for whatever reason. You need to find fish that are suitable for that size tank.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Amunet, extremely overstocked, to the point of it being impossible to successfully perform the fish-in cycle. The other commenter is also correct that the ammonia is so high that the wrong species of bacteria would be enouraged. But the larger problem is that many of these fish will need to be rehomed anyway so why not do it before they are dead. During this urgent situation you will indeed need to be performing very large, very frequent water changes. Good luck!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rowens86]

Thank you guys for the help, much appreciated.

 

[arobinson1984]

Agree with what has been said above.

Your tank is overstocked with them fish at their current size let alone when they get even bigger.

The best thing you can do is rehome the fish and do a fishless cycle, if for any reason this isnt an option then I'd recommend you stop adding all the chemicals at water changes, the only thing you need to be adding is the dechlorinator which is your prime.

You need to up the amount of water you are changing, 15-20% per day isnt even enough for a lightly stocked tank during a fish in cycle, you need to be doing a 50-60% change in a morning, then testing after an hour and doing another 50-60% if levels are above 0.25ppm for either ammonia or nitrite if it shows up. You may find yourself doing 3-4 large water changes a day but this is going to be necessary.

Agree also about what has been said above regarding the ammonia level being too high for beneficial bacteria to colonate.

What testing kit are you using?

Andy

 

[rowens86]

I am using the API Freshwater Master Kit.

Ive done 4 large water changes (50%,50%,90%,30% same temp) since yesterday, got the ammonia down to .25 for now, only using Prime. I plan to take a lot of the fish back to the store, but not all of them. Only because they have made it so far, if I see any signs of stress then I will stop.

Thanks!

 

[arobinson1984]

The fish i'd recommend you return if you wanted to keep some would be the 2 pleco as they will more than likely outgrow the tank depending on what type of plec they are, if they are a bristlenose plec then you'd prob get away with having 1 in that tank but 2 would be pushing it.

I'd also return the red tailed shark as the tank is slightly too small for it and in the long run you may have problems as they tend the get aggressive as they get bigger.

Tiger barbs can cause probs with fin nipping depending on what other fish you plan on having in the tank in the long term.

If you wish to keep some fish, the platies and the danios are to 2 hardiest fish and will be the best equipped to survive your cycle

Keep upto the water changes to keep the levels below 0.25ppm and you shouldn't have many more probs with the cycle.

I wouldn't use the ammolock as it just tends to mask the problem rather than actually rectifying it, you are much better letting nature take course and the tank will cycle properly creating the beneficial bacteria you require.

Andy

 

[Amunet]

Definitely take back the plecos and the tiger barbs.
Even the smaller species of pleco need a bigger tank than that.
If you're determined to keep some though, I would only keep the platy b/c in that list, they're really the only ones suitable for the tank.
Even though the danios are small, they are extremely active fish that need a lot of room.

 

[Anna Robinson]

I know what Andy means about the ammo-lock masking the problem, but it can be a lifesaver in some situations.

Adding a pouch of Nitra-Zorb to the filter is an alternative to huge water changes when experiencing the nitrite spike. Nitra-zorb removes ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.