Very Confused And Feeling Down - Cycling Help

[Cooper2085]

Ok my tank was fully cycled, the filters got clogged up with java moss so i took them out and cleaned them in tank water. 4 days on im still getting high ammonia readings. The really strange bit is that it can be between 0-0.6 - 0.0 - 1.0, its very very strange. It showed as 1.0 this morning i changed 3 buckets of water (about 30%) and re-tested. The test then showed up as 0.

Something is going wrong somewhere, and its stopping my panda cories spawning, there last spawning was saturday night now and they seem to be quite lethargic.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[dzsigmond217]

Perhaps your tank is going through a mini-cycle? I'd keep testing your water stats and doing water changes as needed. Hope someone comes along with better advice! Good luck!

 

[Cooper2085]

My main worry is my panda corys. Iv only ahd them for 2 weeks, lovely fish and breeding every 2 nights. What are the odds of this stopping them breeding for good? Knowing my luck this will kill them off >.>

 

[Miss Wiggle]

when you removed the java moss was there a lot of it? did you do a large scale prune of the plants in the tank?

I ask because we caused a mini cycle by doing this, plants will prefer to take in ammonia than nitrate, so if there's a lot of plants in the tank these will suck up a load of the ammonia meaning the filter is only dealing with a small amount of it. so if you then do a significant prune, it's kind of like removing half your filter or something, the remaining bacteria can't cope so you then get a mini cycle while it grows back to catch up.

now on our tank it just took like 2/3 days, however the tank had been running problem free for about 2 years, so the bacteria colony was well established nad very resiliant, in a relativley newly cycled tank this may take a bit longer.

i hate to say this but you are right to be concerned about the panda's, they're delicate fish at the best of times, i can't imagine they'd live through a lot of days with ammonia readings. if possible the kindest thing to do for them is return them to the store or give them to someone with a cycled tank.

you need to get your tank cycled asap, try getting some mature media from someone or some bactinettes

 

[Cooper2085]

The tank was fully cycled, im just so *bleep*ed off right now, i just bought the pandas 2 weeks ago hoping to get some nice babies from them. Grrr i really hope its a small mini cycle, il keep up the water changes, i might even take them to my LFS to look after.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i appreciate it was fully cycled before, you have to remember that 'cycled' basically means that the rate of ammonia consumption is equal to the rate of production.

if you had a lot of plants then they will have been doing some of the consumption, meaning that the bacteria gradually die back as the plants grow, so the tank is still cycled, but only cycled to deal with a lower rate of production.

if you then remove the plants then effectivelty the rate of production shoots up, meaning that the rate of production is no longer equal to the rate of consumption, therefore the tank is no longer cycled.

weather it was cycled before is really of no relevance, if you did a heavy prune it can uncycle the tank and give you ammonia for a few days.

 

[Cooper2085]

Sorry if i came across as rude before, was typing fast at work and it didnt come out right. I think i know whats caused th problem, not only were the filters de-clogged but the tank had a ver good clean. A good gravel clean and about 1/4 of the gravel removed (reason being i added far too much during setup) and a rock ornament removed aswell.

The tank only really has fake plants and java moss in it, but with removing these bits and a bit of gravel added to a filter clean, i just think i did too much. Doing one of them would have been fine, but all together has caused a problem.

Im going to monitor closely and hopefully it will be over in a few days.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah sounds like you're right. got my fingers crossed for you and the panda's!

 

[Cooper2085]

The adults seem a little more active today which is good. The problem i have is the Nutrafin test kit. On the normal ammonia test it starts as clear = 0 but 0.6 is like a cloudy white. So difficult to tell if its 0 or 0.6, the nitrites are always between 0 and 0.1 anyway

New ammonia kit lands tommorrow which should help

I just moved all the panda babies from one net to another (long story <.<) there were 4 dead ones, looks like they barely hatched and about 12 good sized older ones.

 

[Cooper2085]

Quick update, things seem to be settling down now. Ammonia seems to have gone (Although it is difficult to say for sure with the yellow ammonia test kit), i would say its 0 anyway. Nitrite still has a reading of 0.1 so i guess there levels are just building back up now

 

[Miss Wiggle]

phew that's good to see, the panda's will be v intolerant of nitrites though so you need to get those levels down to 0 too.

hopefully won't take too long.

 

[Cooper2085]

Wharf aquatics are sorting me out some mature media to add to the tank just to make sure

 

[Miss Wiggle]

excellent, thats what i like to see from an lfs

should sort you out sharpish

 

[Cooper2085]

Yeah there nice guys (and gals) at wharf aquatics. If they could afford me id love a job there lol

 

[Cooper2085]

Water quality seems to be better now Had a spwan of 13 eggs from the pandas last night, 3 more in there atm aswell. Im very very happy