I set up my new 55 about 5-6 weeks ago. I let the water set for over a week before I put any fish in to begin cycling. I bought 8 giant danios for the cycling. About a week and a half ago, my ammonia spiked, as well as the nitrite, while the nitrate remained moderate. I bought the 'bacteria in a bottle' stuff and I've been adding that since before I bought the fish. A few days after seeing the nitrite spike, I made a water change. Now my nitrite and nitrates are a solid 0ppm, while the ammonia is atleast 8ppm! I just don't understand what's going on with the tank. I check the water everyday now and I've seen no change in any of the params. Any ideas?
Weird Cycle
- Thread starter KYeasting
- Start date
i used that bacteria in a bottle stuff when i set up my 75g about a month ago and i replaced it with the following WC but that was it. maybe you should stop with the bacteria in a bottle.
KYeasting;2895221; said:
I don't find this to be particularly unusual. There are at least two separate species of bacteria involved in the oxidation of ammonia to nitrate. All these data indicate is that for some reason, the bacterial species responsible for oxidizing ammonia to nitrite has either been compromised or has never really become established. The nitrite and nitrate are low because the first step...the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite is missing. Either continue with the wcs to ameliorate the ammonia level and/or get some Seachem Stability and inoculate your tank. All will be well.
Ok, I'm still struggling with the ammonia. I've been doing 50% water changes either everyday or every other day. The ammonia goes from around 2-3 ppm up beyond 8 ppm between water changes. I feed the fish a minimal amount every other day. I'm using Seachem Stability everyday and after every water change. I did a water change this morning. I changed more than 50% of the water. The ammonia was through the roof! It was so high the tests before and after the water change yielded the same ammonia level.
I switched over from a HOB filter yesterday to my XP4 from an established tank. Hopefully this will help my situation.
Any ideas or is this normal?
I switched over from a HOB filter yesterday to my XP4 from an established tank. Hopefully this will help my situation.
Any ideas or is this normal?
Have you cleaned your filter? Sometimes the sponge or other media will need a good rinsing in some of your tank water that you have siphoned out into a bucket. My Aquaclear filter gets a good rinsing on the filter media every 2 weeks as do my other HOB filters.
KYeasting;2918395; said:
Regarding Stability, the bacterial spores will often form a gummy sludge at the bottom of the bottle and I have found that you have to remove some of the liquid (and save it), shake the bottle well, return the liquid and invert several times in order to fully resuspend the spores. Dose your tank with Prime to detoxify the ammonia, continue to add the fully resuspended Stability and don't perform a wc for one week. If the ammonia is bound to the Prime, its presence is largely irrelevant in terms of toxicity. What are you dechlorinating with? 8 ppm is astronomical...do your fish appear to be acting normally?