What Is This Cycle Doing?

[Winterlily]

Fish-in cycle in a too-small 3 gallon with one male betta. Okay, so for the first two weeks, I had the expected rising ammonia. Dealt with it with frequent water changes. Never went higher than .50. Then dropped fairly quickly to 0. Then the expected nitrite rise. they rose fairly quickly and were showing on the test results for about a week. During that week, most of the readings were 1.0. Dealt with it again, with frequent (every 2-3 hours) water changes. Then a couple days ago, they started to drop. To .50. Then to .25. Then all day yesterday (except for first thing when they were basically negligible) they were 0. (Only water change was a tiny one - like 15% first thing in the morning.) Ammonia stayed at 0 throughout.

I test this morning. NitrAtes still around 8 where they have been all along (shouldn't these be rising now??). NitItes jusssst above 0 but not .25 (that true blue color on the API liquid test - not the good turquoise if you knnow what I mean here? But no purple at all). But ammonia is .25 or .50 (so hard to tell the difference) !!! What? What is this about??

A couple of pieces of information that might be important (or not). I had been using Stress Coat to declorinate the new water. I ran out of it (from all those water changes!), so used just my API Tap Water Conditioner at that water change in the morning. Was the Stress Coat doing something to hide the ammonia from my test kit and it was there all along and I only thought it was 0??

Also, I'd been feeding really sparingly. The day before yesterday, I gave him 2 bloodworms in place of a meal, and yesterday I gave him a pea (well, you know, a piece of a pea). Could the pea have caused him to have a big poop that was too much for the ammonia-munching bacteria to handle at this point in the cycle or something??

What's going on here? Has everything gone kaflooey? What can I expect from here?

Of course I'll keep testing throught the day and doing water changes as necessary.

Thanks...

 

[OldMan47]

It sounds like you are making good progress. A single Betta splendens is not making much waste so you are not building a very big bacteria colony. The nitrate rise will be very slow because the fish biological load is so light. Small fluctuations in ammonia production are to be expected when you change foods or add something to the tank. As long as you water change when needed, the Betta will be fine.

 

[waterdrop]

Right, this is going along just as we said back in the beginning. Its hard to read the signs first of all because its a fish-in cycle and reading any kind of "stages" is much more difficult with a fish-in than with a fishless. Secondly, its a single betta and that in and of itself makes it very difficult to read. So the two combined is tricky enough that you just have to be satisfied to go along and keep going along and someday the little colonies will finally get mature enough that you won't see ammonia or nitrite and you'll feel free to test less often.

Bloodworms, whether the fish eats all of them or not, will have provided quite a nice organic source for the heterotrophic bacteria, so they will have had a little feast I suspect and dumped out a blip of ammonia! Your betta will have enjoyed the variety, the little bacteria (well, do bacteria experience enjoyment? afraid no nervous system there, lol) so you might as well relax and enjoy your betta! You're quite good now at your testing and knowing what to do and eventually the bacteria will catch up.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Winterlily]

Thanks guys. It was weird - ammonia went up up up, then dropped to zero (textbook, right?!), then nitrite went up up up, then dropped to 0. Textbook again. Then both were 0 - cool! Cycled! Nope. Now pretty nearly every time I test (about 3x a day), ammonia is that greeny-yellow - you know "Is it green? Or is it really yellow??" that I take to mean .25. Mannnn. And it's pretty constant. Nitrites are almost always 0, but sometimes sort of in between 0 and .25.

So what do I do when the test is greeny-yellow? (.25?) Do I change a small bit of water? Or leave it alone?

Cycling the 55 fishless and with mature media had better be smoother than this!

 

[cowboy507]

Thanks guys. It was weird - ammonia went up up up, then dropped to zero (textbook, right?!), then nitrite went up up up, then dropped to 0. Textbook again. Then both were 0 - cool! Cycled! Nope. Now pretty nearly every time I test (about 3x a day), ammonia is that greeny-yellow - you know "Is it green? Or is it really yellow??" that I take to mean .25. Mannnn. And it's pretty constant. Nitrites are almost always 0, but sometimes sort of in between 0 and .25.

So what do I do when the test is greeny-yellow? (.25?) Do I change a small bit of water? Or leave it alone?

Cycling the 55 fishless and with mature media had better be smoother than this!

Id say this is pretty normal, being such a small tank it is hard to get it just right. With that low of stats the harm done is very little, and with a fish in cycle keeping ammonia and nitrites below .25 ppm is the main goal.
It also might just be the fact that it is a small tank which might require bi-weekly water changes. I believe many people do this with small betta tanks that have no filter.

 

[Winterlily]

Okay good - I shall try to be patient and wait for the day that everything tests out at 0 and stays there!

Thank you!