Silly Cycle Question
- Thread starter 6erikar9
- Start date
How soon after feeding did you test?
In a small tank like a 40 B, just feeding a tank will make ammonia fluctuate.
It may also depend on what foods you used, if you fed market shrimp, or fish meat, both these items ooze ammonia.
Also an infrequent 10% water change is a drop in the bucket, compared to how fast nutrients can become urine soup in such a small body of water .
Luckily bichirs have the ability to tolerate less than stellar water quality, I believe if the tank had something more sensitive to that low water quality like cichlids, you may have lost some, or at the least had them get permanent gill damage with those reading.
In a small tank like a 40 B, just feeding a tank will make ammonia fluctuate.
It may also depend on what foods you used, if you fed market shrimp, or fish meat, both these items ooze ammonia.
Also an infrequent 10% water change is a drop in the bucket, compared to how fast nutrients can become urine soup in such a small body of water .
Luckily bichirs have the ability to tolerate less than stellar water quality, I believe if the tank had something more sensitive to that low water quality like cichlids, you may have lost some, or at the least had them get permanent gill damage with those reading.
It was API, the liquid test kit.
My ammonia was actually higher before I fed, I fed a cube of bloodworms which were eaten in 10 minutes. There isn't too much as far as nutrients go that could've been in the water since I do try my best to remove everything I see when I see it, then do a 20-40% WC weekly or biweekly depending on what I've fed since I keep tilapia and beefheart to water change days. But anything is possible, I'll watch the ammonia just in case something happened.
I know what you're saying. Since I use the seneye I always know when ammonia fluctuates. When I change water it typically goes up to about 0.010 or sometimes 0.020. I figure this is because I am now changing water in the sump (which decreases the BB a bit?). It returns to 0 in about a day.
When I feed it usually goes up to .005-.007. Returns to 0/ .001 overnight.
Did you rinse the bloodworms (like with tank water) prior to putting them into the tank? If not the juices have enough organic compounds for bacteria to feed off of.
Yeah I rinse bloodworms as often as I can, but that particular time I don't believe I did
I would suggest testing after a feeding (couple hours) and then testing next day before another feeding. If this ammonia returns back to 0 your BB are working. It's being caused by the feeding. Like Duanes says uneaten fresh market foods will raise ammonia quite a bit.
Also as Duanes indicated more frequent/ larger water changes are recommended. 40 gal is a pretty small tank. Much better for the fish health, growth and immune system if water is fresher. Just be careful if you are in a cold climate that you don't swing temperature to much by adding cold water. If I was doing changes in a 40 gal I would pre-treat the water and make sure it is close to temp. and add back in. With a small tank you don't want drastic swings. But the fish will love regular clean water. Gravel cleanings also.
Also as Duanes indicated more frequent/ larger water changes are recommended. 40 gal is a pretty small tank. Much better for the fish health, growth and immune system if water is fresher. Just be careful if you are in a cold climate that you don't swing temperature to much by adding cold water. If I was doing changes in a 40 gal I would pre-treat the water and make sure it is close to temp. and add back in. With a small tank you don't want drastic swings. But the fish will love regular clean water. Gravel cleanings also.
Luckily it's a bare bottom tank, but I'll try those things and see if something shows up. I'll be moving them into a 180 when I pick it up from an old friend so hopefully things will go much smoother. Thank you.
