aerobic bacteria in cycled tank will die without fish?

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mr.bigglesworth

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 22, 2012
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By SF, Farther Inland, NorCal
Hi i have a 100gal aquarium that i setup in May. It was heavily seeded with multiple sponges/filters from the beggining. I just sold off all of my fish yesterday about 26 hours ago i believe. I transfered 2 bristolnose plecos into it to make sure all the bacteria doesnt just die off. they are about 3" each. I understand they are HUGE poopers but i had 6 fish in the 5-10" range before. I will be waiting another 5 days or so before i even start adding fish to it. Should i be concerned about the bacteria dying off?

Extra Information: the bristolnose were added just a few hours at most after the fish were gone. Same day and everything. I remember hearing somewhere that bacteria dies off 24hours after their is no food left. The tank is heavily planted. Tons and Tons of algae which the bristolnose are just going crazy on. Which means i shouldnt need to feed them wafers for a few days. About 15 pieces of driftwood in it atm ranging from 4 feet to just 6 inches. malaysian, manzanita, mopani, african hardwood, pretty much every kind of driftwood.
 
You should Be ok IMO because you have BB all in the tank of the Drift wood Plants etc... also if you replace with the plecos in a few hrs of removeing other fish but less than 24 hrs like you stated then the Bio-Filter should be ok plecos crap alot as long as you have ammonia in the tank then you should be ok... pleco provide plenty of just that..
 
Kinda of new to the hobby, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but you should be able to just add some fish food to the tank and as it breaks down it'll create ammonia for the bacteria to feed on or you could just add pure ammonia straight to the tank like doing a fishless cycle.
 
Your bb colony needs food to exist and live, fish secret ammonia and waste, thus the amount of bb depends on stock of the tank, more fish the more bb for the purpose of converting toxic waste into removable nitrates. Now you can add fish food it will also feed the bb for the time being, the colony won't crash in a few days as long as there's is a food source, now it will start to diminish so I'd get some more fish in there to keep everything stable. Just test and make sure u read 0 ppm ammonia/nitrite!



Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
 
Hello; Do you have snails in the tank? If so they will produce ammonia as part of their cell respiration. The plecos being largely vegitarian will make waste that is rich in partially digested plant matter. This will break down thru decay processes which, according to my understanding, will also generate the release of ammonia from the life process of the decay bacteria. The snails, if present, will do much the same.

I have not checked this out completely, but seem to recall from my plant biology studies that plants undergo a cellular respiration phase. They use some of the sugars produced during photosynthesis along with O2 much the same as animals will. This happens, I think, to a greater extent during the dark period. To me this seems to indicate that a planted tank should help support the ammonia consuming bacteria. Comments?

Some have suggested adding fish food or raw shrimp during the process of a fishless tank cycle. I have not tried it as yet.

Your tank population of beneficial bacteria (bb) than depend on ammonia will over time adjust in numbers to the amount of that nutrient available. As the bb population should not crash substantially, the tank will likely be ready for additional fish over time. I always try to add to the population of fish gradually so as to allow the bb to match up when practical. You will not, at any rate, be starting from a new setup. Good luck.
 
If you wish to keep the tank fishless and maintain BB, all you need to do is add a cap full of pure ammonia every other day. It's alot cheaper than wasting expensive fish food.
 
skjl47 said:
Hello; Do you have snails in the tank? If so they will produce ammonia as part of their cell respiration. The plecos being largely vegitarian will make waste that is rich in partially digested plant matter. This will break down thru decay processes which, according to my understanding, will also generate the release of ammonia from the life process of the decay bacteria. The snails, if present, will do much the same.

I have not checked this out completely, but seem to recall from my plant biology studies that plants undergo a cellular respiration phase. They use some of the sugars produced during photosynthesis along with O2 much the same as animals will. This happens, I think, to a greater extent during the dark period. To me this seems to indicate that a planted tank should help support the ammonia consuming bacteria. Comments?

Some have suggested adding fish food or raw shrimp during the process of a fishless tank cycle. I have not tried it as yet.

Your tank population of beneficial bacteria (bb) than depend on ammonia will over time adjust in numbers to the amount of that nutrient available. As the bb population should not crash substantially, the tank will likely be ready for additional fish over time. I always try to add to the population of fish gradually so as to allow the bb to match up when practical. You will not, at any rate, be starting from a new setup. Good luck.
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No i dont believe i have snails. I havent seen them in the tank, doesnt mean i dont have them though. I am very good with cleaning plants of snails/pests. If they are there they would have to be really small or be active in the night time, drawing a blank cant remember what that is called... Anywho my plants are healthy, rip, and hole free except 1 aponogeton which my featherfin went crazy on. so the snails would have to be the non-plant eating type.

Plants actually will outcompete the bacteria for food (ammonia) in a heavily planted aquarium. They do not support bacteria, rather they elliminate the need for it all together. efficiently reducing the need for water changes. Still some are needed due to hormone/heavy metal/fertilizer buildup and perhaps decaying plant matter.

I think im just going to add a dozen or so fish at a time rather than waste food. I will be buying everything at fry size (dime) so i should still be able to buy like 10-15 fish at a time. And im talking like cory cats and oto and tetras (little fishes) anyways. So not much of a need for the bacteria pop. to adapt anyways.
 
mr.bigglesworth said:
No i dont believe i have snails. I havent seen them in the tank, doesnt mean i dont have them though. I am very good with cleaning plants of snails/pests. If they are there they would have to be really small or be active in the night time, drawing a blank cant remember what that is called... Anywho my plants are healthy, rip, and hole free except 1 aponogeton which my featherfin went crazy on. so the snails would have to be the non-plant eating type.

Plants actually will outcompete the bacteria for food (ammonia) in a heavily planted aquarium. They do not support bacteria, rather they elliminate the need for it all together. efficiently reducing the need for water changes. Still some are needed due to hormone/heavy metal/fertilizer buildup and perhaps decaying plant matter.

I think im just going to add a dozen or so fish at a time rather than waste food. I will be buying everything at fry size (dime) so i should still be able to buy like 10-15 fish at a time. And im talking like cory cats and oto and tetras (little fishes) anyways. So not much of a need for the bacteria pop. to adapt anyways.
Click to expand...

Hello; This statement is of interest to me. Others have posted similar comments along the line that live plants actually consume ammonia directly. My understanding has been that plants consume the results a bit further along in the process. That the plants take up the end product when the ammonia gets to the nitrate/nitrite product?
If plants were able to take up ammonia directly then it would seem that we would only need to have some live plants in a new setup to consume the ammonia that is so much of a concern while a tank in cycling?
My understanding is that plants do not take up ammonia directly. I am very interested in more input on this question.
 
mr.bigglesworth said:
No i dont believe i have snails. I havent seen them in the tank, doesnt mean i dont have them though. I am very good with cleaning plants of snails/pests. If they are there they would have to be really small or be active in the night time, drawing a blank cant remember what that is called... Anywho my plants are healthy, rip, and hole free except 1 aponogeton which my featherfin went crazy on. so the snails would have to be the non-plant eating type.

Plants actually will outcompete the bacteria for food (ammonia) in a heavily planted aquarium. They do not support bacteria, rather they elliminate the need for it all together. efficiently reducing the need for water changes. Still some are needed due to hormone/heavy metal/fertilizer buildup and perhaps decaying plant matter.

I think im just going to add a dozen or so fish at a time rather than waste food. I will be buying everything at fry size (dime) so i should still be able to buy like 10-15 fish at a time. And im talking like cory cats and oto and tetras (little fishes) anyways. So not much of a need for the bacteria pop. to adapt anyways.
Click to expand...

Hello; You may have some MTS (maylasian trumpet snails). They are generally more active at night and burrow thru the gravel. I have had them in with my planted taanks for decades. They do not seem to harm living plants. They will graze a bit on surface algae. They are livebearer snails.
I also like to keep the rams horn snails which are active all the time. They will eat holes in tender leaved plants when they get to dime size or larger. The smaller ones do not seem to cause any harm. I keep the larger ones in a QT or simply crush them with some plires and feed them to the fish when they get large enough to harm my plants.
It is likely that if you see a few, that you have many more.
 
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