mhboge

I've had the tank setup for 3 weeks now. After all the negative feedback from stability i decided to swith over to TSS. I was doing the fishless method so before I added the TSS I did a 75% water change and dropped the ammonia down to 1ppm. I then went to the LFS and bought TSS, 5long fin blue danios, and a Large porous rock from one of their active aquariums(Kept submerged in their tank water during transport). Once home I added the TSS, acclimated the fish slowly, and added the rock. Im on Day 10 after adding TSS the fish are all really active and appear healthy. However I *think* im starting to see a hint of redness on some of the gills of the fish. The reading today were:

Ammonia:.25ppm
nitrite:0ppm
Nitirate: Between 5-10ppm(my tap water reads 5ppm)

The ammonia levels have not risen at all in the last 10 days but I'm thinking the bioload of the fish is small.(I have a 20 gallon tank)

So should I do a 20% water change today to lower the ammonia or leave it alone for a little while longer for the sake of the TSS. Im afraid the TSS may have not worked for me.....

JSK

I would guess that the TSS won't be affected by a water change. By now, most of the bacteria from the TSS (and their progeny) are in biofilms and not floating around.

I would do a water change as you suggest and add Prime. Prime will detoxify the ammonia but still allow the bacteria to use it. Keep checking your parameters and adding Prime daily.

It sounds like you are in a mini-cycle...have you done anything lately like change/clean filter media, do water change, etc.

Furallicah

I have to dissagree to agree...Ammonia at any level could kill TSS from what I understand. Your fish have red gills? That is ammonia posioning, get some prime...wait...ok 10days you should be fine to use Prime with the TSS Tetra recommends waitting at least 7 days before adding something that locks out ammonia. So get some prime which will detox the ammonia for 24hours so your fish will be fine. After 24 hours do a 25% water change and do it all over again until your ammonia levels drop to 0 and you nitrates are under 10ppm. Then your tank is cycled.

Lucy

Hi mhboge welcome to FishLore!

Hopefully this link will help:
Q & A With Tetra about Tetra SafeStart

mhboge

No....I've not done anything recently(filter change, etc)....The thing I dont understand is why have I not seen any nitrites? I've been testing daily and have not see any. My ammonia started at 1 and now is down to .25ppm. Ive been using a API liquid master test kit. The ammonia has steadily dropped. So is my cycle still in stage 1??(Early Stages)...

jdhef

If you are using the API nitrate test kit, be sure the shake and bang bottle #2 quite vigorously. Bottle two contains crystals suspended in liquid. The crystals have a tendancy to seperate out and have to be forced back into solution thru shaking and banging (I bang the bottle against the palm of my hand).

If not fully mixed, you will get a bad nitrate reading.

Good luck!

EDIT: Oops...that's what happens when I answer before my first cup of coffee. The question was why there were no nitrite readings and I answered why there may be no nitrate reading. Sorry!

flyin-lowe

I know how you feel and my opinion is to not get worried about 0 nitrites. In October I set up a 75 gallon tank for a family member. They wanted fish in cycle so it wasn't sitting empty for weeks. I was doing water changes every time the ammonia got over .50 to help the fish. I did this for about 7 weeks and never did get any nitrites. I think the biol oad was too small and I was doing enough water changes that the cycle was going very slow. After week 8 (end of Nov) I added TSS and some more fish and it cycled in about 10 days. Before the TSS I was testing the water daily and since I test it weekly and I have never had any test's that showed nitrites. My API kit fir nitrites always has the light blue color that are 0. My ammonia is at 0 and my nitrates stay around 15-20 so I know that it has cycled yet I never did see any nitrites. So as long as your ammonia drops and you are having nitrates that are higher then your water supply then you should be cycled.