Hi All,
I'm cycling a 24L heated tank (26C) with flake food (im in Australia and don't have access to ammonia). I've been adding about 1 spoon of fish flakes progressively to the tank over the last week. The way im doing it is initially adding them to an mesh bag (organza gift bag) and then letting it just soak for a day and then im rubbing the flakes between my fingers to get tiny particles. Sadly all this seems to have done is build up a LOT of debris in between the gravel
the ammonia has only climbed a little bit and for the last few days I've seen some tiny white worms floating around in the water. They are about 5mm and as wide as a hair. they don't cling to anything but are rather floating around and occasionally wiggle a little. Im really not sure what these are but a quick google search says that they are feeding on the fish food in the gravel and arise with poor water quality. Any ideas on how to get rid of them? Should I do a PWC and give the gravel a good clean to take out the debris? or will this hinder my cycling? As of last night, ammonia was 0.5, Nitrite was 20ppm and Nitrate was 20 - 40 ppm (difficult to read the colour) my ph out of tap has always been very high, around 7.6. I've done no water changes for one week. I have one plant, one piece of store bought wood, two store bought lava rocks and an overhead compact flourcent light (11w). my filter is the kind that fits in the back of the tank with three separate compartments: two with filter media and a water pump in the third.
Just a bit of background, ive had this tank for about a month now and attempted fish-in cycling for the first three weeks. I found it impossible to control the ammonia even with daily 50% water changes for about two weeks and for the most part ammonia remained at 2-4ppm and I saw no nitrites or nitrates. then I added some filter water and also some ceramic noodles from a mature tank in an attempt to get the cycle going. I didn't realise that this other tank was teeming with nitrates and when I tested my water a day or two after adding, my nitrates were off the charts. my poor betta fish was really affected. So I moved him to clean water in a 10L tank and am now doing fishless cycling on the main tank.
thanks for your advice. Im very new to this hobby and would appreciate your thoughts...
I'm cycling a 24L heated tank (26C) with flake food (im in Australia and don't have access to ammonia). I've been adding about 1 spoon of fish flakes progressively to the tank over the last week. The way im doing it is initially adding them to an mesh bag (organza gift bag) and then letting it just soak for a day and then im rubbing the flakes between my fingers to get tiny particles. Sadly all this seems to have done is build up a LOT of debris in between the gravel
the ammonia has only climbed a little bit and for the last few days I've seen some tiny white worms floating around in the water. They are about 5mm and as wide as a hair. they don't cling to anything but are rather floating around and occasionally wiggle a little. Im really not sure what these are but a quick google search says that they are feeding on the fish food in the gravel and arise with poor water quality. Any ideas on how to get rid of them? Should I do a PWC and give the gravel a good clean to take out the debris? or will this hinder my cycling? As of last night, ammonia was 0.5, Nitrite was 20ppm and Nitrate was 20 - 40 ppm (difficult to read the colour) my ph out of tap has always been very high, around 7.6. I've done no water changes for one week. I have one plant, one piece of store bought wood, two store bought lava rocks and an overhead compact flourcent light (11w). my filter is the kind that fits in the back of the tank with three separate compartments: two with filter media and a water pump in the third.
Just a bit of background, ive had this tank for about a month now and attempted fish-in cycling for the first three weeks. I found it impossible to control the ammonia even with daily 50% water changes for about two weeks and for the most part ammonia remained at 2-4ppm and I saw no nitrites or nitrates. then I added some filter water and also some ceramic noodles from a mature tank in an attempt to get the cycle going. I didn't realise that this other tank was teeming with nitrates and when I tested my water a day or two after adding, my nitrates were off the charts. my poor betta fish was really affected. So I moved him to clean water in a 10L tank and am now doing fishless cycling on the main tank.
thanks for your advice. Im very new to this hobby and would appreciate your thoughts...
No more problem.
