Out of the frying pan and into the fire!

[mdt62]

As Im assuming no one remembers I was having ammonia issues in a tank I made the mistake of cycling with fish. Well now finally after a month I have nitrites, problem is they are though the roof! Current conditions are Ammonia- 1ppm Nitrite- 5ppm? Nitrate- 40 to 80 ppm. My fish are breathing rapidly. I did a 50% this afternoon and currently changing the water again as they began breathing rapidly again. I really need some help here. Guess Im not sure what else to do, cant be changing the water every 4 hours

 

[lipadj46]

the nitrites will go away fast so just keep up with water changes and use prime

 

[mdt62]

the nitrites will go away fast so just keep up with water changes and use prime

Thats good to hear. Prime and Stability have been my buddies thoughout this process. Been like this going on 24 hours so I guess its not been an issue that long but its enough to really frustrate me. I will never EVER cycle with fish again. Anyone else have hints or tips?

 

[joe jaskot]

Add some live plants to the tank. The plants s will remove ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate directly from the water. There are also plenty of beneficial bacteria on all surfaces of the plants. The next time you want to cycle a tank quickly, just add live plants to your aquarium.

 

[TerryM]

What worked for me in that same problem was air, lots and lots of air. As the bubbles rise from the stones the molecules attach from the water to the bubbles and disperse into the atmosphere when the bubbles reach the top of the tank. At least that is what i got from the articles I read. Cleared everything up in a matter of days.

 

[lipadj46]

The nitrite phase of the cycling process goes the fastest, usually 24-36 hours IME

 

[BigFishMommy]

be sure to dose your Prime at 5x the regular dose, to detoxify those nitrites until they are back down to zero.

 

[mdt62]

be sure to dose your Prime at 5x the regular dose, to detoxify those nitrites until they are back down to zero.

Didnt know I could do that, thanks!

Nitrites are still maxed out but Nitrates have risen also. Good sign right?

 

[BigFishMommy]

yep, says right on the Prime bottle about the 5x dosage for nitrites. will detoxify for a 24 hour period as far as i know, so do those daily water changes! Prime also converts ammonia into ammonium, making it not toxic to fish. i would highly suggest a minimum 75% water change with those ammonia and nitrite numbers right now.

nitrates rising means your bacteria is in full swing. there are actually two types of bacteria at work in a tank - one type converts the ammonia to nitrite, and the other type converts the nitrite to nitrate.

 

[mdt62]

Well a little update. Its been nearly 2 weeks since I started this thread. As of 5 min ago my Nitrites are maxed out on the test and Nitrates are 20ppm, Ammonia still 0. Why wont this thing cycle? Am I doing something wrong? I've been doing water changes on a semi-daily bases with these numbers but I'm getting a little tired of it. I need some advice...From my limited knowledge of the cycling process the Nitrite stage doesnt usually take two weeks!