lost2getherNAMA

not sure why, but I am going through what seems to be a mini-cycle. I cycled my new 20Gal tank very quickly with only three fish but used several pieces from the ten Gal that was already established. some gravle adn some decor and a filter sponge. I purchased a couple of hardy fish for the cycling and placed tehm in after acclimation. After 7 days I had nitrates and ammonia and nitrates were backing off. I added my other fish (1 male guppy, 2 silver tip tetras, 1 rummy nose tetra, 2 red wag platy's, 1 emerald cory) from the 10 Gal tank into this one. I wanted to wait another week but one of the Paty's we bought for the cycle had 5 fry and we needed the 10 Gal tank for them. I fed the fish medicine (anti-bacteria medicated fish food) for 10 days because my guppy had bactreial fin rot or what appeared to be. no problems with the tank. about a week after i stopped feeding the medicine I noticed ammonia starting to rise.. I put in some more "cycle" and added some ammonia buddies tablets to remove some of it quickly. after a couple days i added another ammonia buddy b/c the levels were rising again. no more nitrates were present either and their had been nitrates pesent previously. then I started to notice the nitrites going up so I did a 25% pwc and added more "cycle". the next day the #'s are right back up. so we went to LFS and bought AmQuel Plus to help remove Nitrites. "couldn't find anything else to help. came home and did another 25% pwc and added amquel plus (that was last night) and this afternoon tested and results are ammonia=.25ppm much lower.. nitrites=1.0ppm same as last night, and nitrates=20ppm. why won't the nitrites go away?

Gunnie

It sounds like your tank is back to a full cycle. Do you have any other media from another tank that you can borrow? The amquel plus will help a lot on keeping the fish from being stressed during this time. Don't let the nitrites get above one.

jsalemi

It's possible the anti-bacteria food you used killed off the good bacteria as well, throwing your tank into a full cycle. The 'Cycle' product isn't all it's cracked up to be, and folks here have reported that it causes mini-cycles or may prolong the cycle. I've had good success with Seachem's Stability in a tank that already has fish.

And Gunnie has good advice -- grab the filter cartridge from your 10g and put int in the 20g to help re-seed it.

lost2getherNAMA

I recently changed teh filter in that tank.. I am somewhat afraid to do that? what about some of the gravel? how much?

Peterpiper

Gunnie is right, You have lost your good bacteria, and your tank has started a full cycle. stop adding meds & chemicals. start doing 50 - 70% water changes to keep the Ammonia and Nitrites down. you will need to get some filter media that has the good bacteria ( cycled ) and put it in your filter. see if the LFS can help with the cycled filter media or a friend, just watch the levels and keep up with the water changes.

lost2getherNAMA

tHANK YOU, that's what I was afraid of