boogie

Hi everyone! Am super new to fishlore, though I have read past threads as a guest and now I'm begging for help.

I have read that amquel/cycle is not a good combo on this site.

I have had major crash and I'm frantic. My pH is like zero (six or below), my ammonia is so severely high it is off the chart, my nitrite is fine.

125 gallon tank with lung fish in it. Put seachem flourite black as substrate and added plants. I added some water, water was low, added a lot of amquel, and then added cycle. A day later a complete crash.

I have always used cycle and amquel liberally.

What do I do now?

Do I do a complete water change? How much. Do I just let it go and hope it makes it? I did do a 1/2 tank water change as soon as I saw the results, but still no change...

I had never heard that cycle and amquel can be so dangerous. Why do they make and sell these then?

Help me out, so I can fix this situation. At least it's a lungfish, but still with such bad water it will affect him in time.

There is some wood in there from my other planted tank.

Also, what should I use to condition my water? And do I never add bacteria? I have always replaced bacteria! How about Tropical Science? Really like that too. Ever heard of Geo Liquid? Yes, you could say I'm addicted to chemicals, but have never had a crash before.

Thank you.

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore

What's your ph out of the tap?
I'd normally recommend 50% water changes until you get the cycle back, but if there's a huge ph difference from tap to what your tank reading is, that wouldn't be good for your fish.
Possibly a series of small changes so as not to shock your fish. You can use Prime or Stress Coat+ as your water conditioner, they'll detox the ammonia for 24 hrs.
With that said, with such a low ph, you would have ammonium not ammonia, which isn't toxic to your fish.

I don't know what effect flourite would have on your water, I'm sure others can address some of these things better than I can.

Good luck, I hope you get things straightened out.

boogie

Thanks. My ph from tap water is a perfect 7. Thanks for your help. May do a small water change tonight. Was wondering, am a going thru another cycle or something? Speaking of cycle, what is Cycle used for anyway? I'm very confused now.

Regal

I would agree with 50% daily water changes rather than 100% I wish their was a way to measure ph below 6. The Fourite should not have an affect on your ph. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it's marketed as being inert. The driftwood will lower your ph. Is your water tea colored?

Personally I only use stress coat in my tank as far a chemicals

MissMTS

Welcome to Fishlore I would love to see a pic of your lungfish sometime. They are very cool fish, but I have never seen one in person.

If you can get your hands on some Tetra Safe Start, it should cycle your tank for you very quickly. It is the only kind of bacteria out there proven to work.

Cycle does not really cycle your tank. In order for your tank to remain cycled, you would have to continue dosing the tank with cycle for as long as you have the tank set up.

When a tank is propperly cycled, you should not have to add any bacteria to the tank. The bacteria colonize on the substrate, plants, decor, and filter media.

Prime is a great water conditioner for your tank.

For now, I would due daily water changes until your cycle completes. If you decide to use Tetra Safe Start, you can add it to the tank and DON'T do any water changes for about 10 days until it is done cycling. You also should not add Prime if you are going to use TSS. Good luck with your tank and keep us posted

prairielilly

Hello and welcome to FishLore!

From what I've read here on FishLore (someone pls correct me if I'm wrong), Hagen's cycle contains non-aquatic bacteria, which will keep a cycle going for a short time but then needs to be replenished. I've read posts where people have had a crash while using it. I don't know whether or not its use caused your tank to crash, but I'd say your tank would be a lot more stable in the future if you established a healthy bed of beneficial bacteria within your filter media that can sustain your tank's bioload (ie cycled it), instead of regularly replenishing bacteria with cycle or any other chemical.

I use Seachem's Prime as a water conditioner, it's very effective and a little goes a long way. An added bonus for your situation is that Prime detoxifies ammonia for 24 hours, so if you do 50% daily water changes - a tall order on a 125g tank I know - you could potentially cycle your tank with your fish still in it (although it would be much preferable to relocate them temporarily if possible). If at all possible, the best situation would be to relocate your fish to another tank (yours or someone else's) and cycle the tank fishlessly, then put your fish back in once the beneficial bacteria bed has been established.

Good luck with your tank!

Lucy

Your welcome
Technically, you weren't cycled at all.
Cycle was taking care of the ammonia however, it contains the wrong type of bacteria (it not aquatic). It's dies off quickly in the tank, thats why you have to keep adding it.
It uses the ammonia the beneficial bacteria needs to grow in your tank so your tank never actually gets a chance to cycle properly.

Several members who've used Cycle had their tanks crash.
A lot of members have had good luck with Tetra Safe Start. I don't have enough personal experience with it, but it's worth a try if you can get it.
I just picked up a bottle since I've recently bought a bunch of fish. I haven't used it long enough to come to my own conclusions but I trust the members who recommend it.

HaHa....wow I type slow.

Regal

Maybe it's 6 now and the driftwood lowered it from 7. Has the tank been set up for a while? I thought you were saying you had just set it up and assumed it was not cycled. Do you know your other water parameters?

If it's been set up a while the ph may be lower because of organics in the tank like old dead plants.

boogie

Thanks everyone. The tanks has been up for at least 5 years. The lung is about 7 years. He is fine for now and my plants are doing great for some reason, I just need to fix it to make him more comfortable. I can't relocate him. Just will do water changes with Prime. Glad to know the info on the bacteria - was spending too much $ on that anyway. Have several bottles - oops - still in my cabinet.

Lucy

Good luck.

I think we all have a collection of stuff we bought that we don't need.
This link explains the Nitrogen Cycle
You might find the illustration helpful.

Regal

I was reading somewhere on the web about "old tank syndrome" it was interesting but I don't remember enough detail to pass all the info along to you. I'll see if I can find it and post you a link. Might be something worth reading.

Lucy

I read about that. It was very interesting.

boogie

bestfish.com oldtank syndrome.

Yes, I have it on my computer and I read it frequently.

I really just have to not do so much at one time, like I usually do....

I'm the best at giving advice to a lot of people starting out but I think then I can do anything and it's the same advice for newbies as oldies.......


But at least I learned about amquel/cycle. That is so scary.