what am i doing wrong

[trace1]

in process of doing a fishless cycle & things have been going well till now, just done reading & they are as follows.
ammonia 0
nitrIte 0
nitrAte 40.

also noticed today that i have little worms in there & a snail
little worms look like little bits of cotton that wriggle eeeeewwww & also looks like there is scum on top of water.
any advise would be great

 

[annka5]

Snails almost certainly came in on a plant. Pick them out by hand, use ant-snail treatment if you've no fish in the tank yet, or try to live with them!!
Worms - erm, no idea where they could've come from, I assume the plants and that they are planrium worms?Usually you only get them if you overfeed your fish, so don't understand what they would be living on in a fishless cycle if you're just adding drops of bottled ammonia?
Scum on the top - oily? I'd get a piece of dry clean paper, float it on the surface of the water, the immediately remove paper. This should take the scum off the surface. Once your tank is mature, you shouldn't really get more scum appearing.

 

[freddyk]

How long have you been cycling? Those levels would normally indicate a cycled tank.

 

[trace1]

only being cycling since saturday, but it did have the filter in from a well matured tank so think that may have helped things along. .
thought reading were of a cycled tank but wasn't sure, do the worms cause any probs with fish, don't want to add fish if they are a prob

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How often do you add ammonia to the tank and how much?

 

[trace1]

add the ammonia when level reaches zero on tests, check regular at the moment. only been addin enough to get a reading of 5, the nitrAte level has come up today so taking that as a good sigh, so was goona start reducing the amount of ammonia i put in. have been puttin in bout 6 mls of ammonia

 

[simonbrown403]

I cant remember the exsact name for the worm things, its something like planctonarius something or other.

There harmless, the fish will eat them, they sign of a dirt aquarium, give your tank a once over and a realy good gravel clean, get rid of as menny as pos the fish will do the rest.

 

[freddyk]

it did have the filter in from a well matured tank

Perfect, your tank was pretty much cycled from the start! With a mature filter I'd have just added some fish and skipped the fishless cycle - I haven't cycled a tank since I started the first one.

You're safe to add the fish any time. The day before you add them do a complete water change to give the fish get a cycled tank with perfectly fresh water. Keep adding ammonia until the day before you get the fish though.

 

[freddyk]

I cant remember the exsact name for the worm things, its something like planctonarius something or other.

I think you mean Planaria, a small aquatic worm. Otherwise that's about it - they'll disappear now that the cycles done and the tank can be maintained.

 

[trace1]

u mean i spent all that time cycling an already cycled tank . theres not many of the worm things in there in fact they were only noticed today, so if i do a full water change 2nite that means i can go get my new fishy friends tomorrow

 

[tttnjfttt]

On the bright side, the time you spent meant that you can definately know you have enough bacteria to fully stock your tank.

 

[simonbrown403]

I cant remember the exsact name for the worm things, its something like planctonarius something or other.

I think you mean Planaria, a small aquatic worm. Otherwise that's about it - they'll disappear now that the cycles done and the tank can be maintained.

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thats the one thanks freddyk, i can never remenber there dam name lol