3 gal won't re-cycle

I have a 3gal tank for an ill betta I been treating on and off since I got him in Oct 2019. It has sand and moss balls, and the filter is some unknown asian brand I got second hand. Previously he had a box/corner filter. Meds have killed the cycle about a month and a half ago, and I can't get the tank to cycle or even restart. It was cycled from like end of Oct to Dec. I have use seeded media and gravel from my own tanks, I have bought seeded media from Angels Plus (look it up before you ask), I have used Tetra safestart which has worked for setting up my many betta tanks. Nothing helps. Yet this tank always has 1 ppm ammonia and no nitrites. I've been doing every other day water changes which may be stopping the cycle from even starting. What else can I do? I basically want to re-cycle as fast as possible.

 

Sounds like you are doing everything spot on. I'm leaning towards the filter. What type of filter media is in the filter that is on there now? Have you tested your tap water lately?

 

Was your tank ever fully cycled? You mention meds stopped the cycle a month and a half ago. What are all of your current water parameters? That will give us a better indication of where you’re at

 

My city water is currently .5 ammonia and 0 nitrites. I would need to test nitrate again.

The filter is crammed with a sponge from Angels Plus that I cut up. It is set at the highest flow rate. I am guessing it may be an Azoo Mignon? filter.

 

My city water is currently .5 ammonia and 0 nitrites. I would need to test nitrate again.

The filter is crammed with a sponge from Angels Plus that I cut up. It is set at the highest flow rate. I am guessing it may be an Azoo Mignon? filter.

That is really strange then. Is the filter that is on there now the same one that was on there when the cycled was killed due to meds? Wondering if it could be a residual type of thing from leftover medication?

 

Was your tank ever fully cycled? You mention meds stopped the cycle a month and a half ago. What are all of your current water parameters? That will give us a better indication of where you’re at

The tank was fully cycled around end of Oct. I had it set up with another betta previously. I'd say I kill the cycle in December. I was treating with Thomas Labs Doxycycline so I removed the filter media and put it in another tank's filter. When I was done with the doxy I moved it back to this tank.

This morning-

Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm

These parameters haven't changed in like the last month aside from the ammonia going down to .5 at times. The test kit is not bad as I use it on my several other tanks.

 

Well, you got me. Let's call in the expert. mattgirl ? Any ideas here?

 

That is really strange then. Is the filter that is on there now the same one that was on there when the cycled was killed due to meds? Wondering if it could be a residual type of thing from leftover medication?

This filter on there now is not the same as the filter when he was on meds. He had a box/corner filter with his old media, gravel from another tank (assuming the BB living there may help) and zeolite ( pretty sure the zeolite was not helping). I was skeptical that the box filter had enough flow going thru it to do its job, so I switched to the HOB a couple days ago. I pitched the old media and replaced with the Angels plus sponge since that is supposedly full of good bacteria. The old media obviously wasn't helping anyway. Before someone says that I threw away all the good bacteria with the old media, I am positive there was no good bacteria on that media since my parameters never changed.

My next plan now that I have a different filter on there is to borrow some Tetra safe start from a friend.

 

That is really strange then. Is the filter that is on there now the same one that was on there when the cycled was killed due to meds? Wondering if it could be a residual type of thing from leftover medication?

This is the only thing that seems to make sense. There had to have been some residual medication/byproduct that was still present when to ur filter media went back in

 

This is the only thing that seems to make sense. There had to have been some residual medication/byproduct that was still present when to ur filter media went back in

Let's say that were true, then since I switched to a new filter and supposedly seeded media, the cycle should start now? My every other day water changes won't screw up his cycle? Once I get the safestart I will hold off on those like the directions say

 

Thankfully I have never had to deal with any kinds of medications but this is leading me to believe that there is residual medication stalking all bacteria added to this tank. I would break it down completely and thoroughly clean it with soap and hot water. I would use dawn dish soap and once done rinse it like my life depended on it. Once done I would wipe it down with vinegar and then rinse again. Since we are talking about a 3 gallon tank, cleaning will be easier than say a 30 gallon.

I would do the same thing to the filter and any hard decor you plan on reusing. I see you mentioned having other tanks so am assuming you have another one that is cycled. Once you are sure anything and everything that had anything to do with this tank while medicating it has been cleaned or replaced take some seeded media from your cycled tank to restart this one. If you don't have extra media you may want to invest in another AngelsPlus sponge. Be sure to dump all the dirty water the sponge comes in into this tank along with inserting the sponge when you get it. I would go that route instead of bacteria in a bottle.

 

Thankfully I have never had to deal with any kinds of medications but this is leading me to believe that there is residual medication stalking all bacteria added to this tank. I would break it down completely and thoroughly clean it with soap and hot water. I would use dawn dish soap and once done rinse it like my life depended on it. Once done I would wipe it down with vinegar and then rinse again. Since we are talking about a 3 gallon tank, cleaning will be easier than say a 30 gallon.

I would do the same thing to the filter and any hard decor you plan on reusing. I see you mentioned having other tanks so am assuming you have another one that is cycled. Once you are sure anything and everything that had anything to do with this tank while medicating it has been cleaned or replaced take some seeded media from your cycled tank to restart this one. If you don't have extra media you may want to invest in another AngelsPlus sponge. Be sure to dump all the dirty water the sponge comes in into this tank along with inserting the sponge when you get it. I would go that route instead of bacteria in a bottle.

I should have mentioned I moved him to a brand new tank last week. His old tank is a six yr old acrlyic tank that has seen many fish. I scrubbed his old decor and replaced some because his old tank had a lot of algae. He has literally all new everything aside from using his thermometer and betta leaf. New substrate, new moss balls, new heater. Altho I transfered the filter. If there was residual meds could it really still be affecting the bacteria after all that?

I can not for the life of me get seeded media to work. I have transfered media many times from a tank established for 10years and no luck. I only get it to work when I attach the intended filter to an established tank and let it seed for a few weeks.

 

When I get home I may cram the oldest sponge I have into his filter and remove the Angels Plus sponge. I'll do that if the parameters haven't changed. If the parameters don't change with an ancient sponge then I know I got a problem.

 

I can't say for sure whether there could still be residual medication on the items exposed to it. I've never used any so really don't know what it is are capable of doing. This is just the only explanation I can come up with for what is happening.

When I get home I may cram the oldest sponge I have into his filter and remove the Angels Plus sponge. I'll do that if the parameters haven't changed. If the parameters don't change with an ancient sponge then I know I got a problem.

Sounds like a good plan. Please let us know how it is going.

 

I can not for the life of me get seeded media to work. I have transfered media many times from a tank established for 10years and no luck. I only get it to work when I attach the intended filter to an established tank and let it seed for a few weeks.

I am thinking it is possible that the angelsplus sponge filter would have worked better if you have hooked it to an airpump instead of cutting the sponge up and putting it in another filter. I keep extra sponge filters running in my well stocked main tank. When needed I just pull a sponge filter and use it to instantly cycle another tank.

These thoughts are proven by your ability seed a full filter and move it to another tank to cycle it. By doing it this way you aren't disturbing the bacteria that has grown on the media in it. Disturbing the bacteria shouldn't have killed of all the bacteria from the sponge filter though so I can only assume something in the tank is killing it.

sorry about the double post but I feared you would miss it if I edited my previous post.

 

I am thinking it is possible that the angelsplus sponge filter would have worked better if you have hooked it to an airpump instead of cutting the sponge up and putting it in another filter. I keep extra sponge filters running in my well stocked main tank. When needed I just pull a sponge filter and use it to instantly cycle another tank.

These thoughts are proven by your ability seed a full filter and move it to another tank to cycle it. By doing it this way you aren't disturbing the bacteria that has grown on the media in it. Disturbing the bacteria shouldn't have killed of all the bacteria from the sponge filter though so I can only assume something in the tank is killing it.

sorry about the double post but I feared you would miss it if I edited my previous post.

I did attempt to hook it up but the sponge os simply too big for the little tank (even tho I ordered a small). Their site said it was all right to cut it up. I got another of their sponges in a planted 20 gal with a single betta and *think* that one is working since I have nitrites in that tank.

Not sure if I mentioned I have had the Angels filter in the tank for a couple days. But I figure something would have changed at this point.

Since I am getting some free Safestart from my friend I am going to try it again anyway, maybe it will help after everything.

Btw I think we ended the doxy about half a month ago?

I can always give up and try to cycle it normally. The betta is more or less okay as and I've been doing every other day water changes for him for over a month. I'm just so tired of doing it.

 

It does seem like folks have more trouble getting these small tanks cycled. I really don't understand why. The only thing I can think causing it is the small volume of water allows ammonia to rise quicker than it would in a much bigger tank.

I can only go by my personal experience with all the times I have instantly cycled a tank with sponge filters from my main tank. When doing so I never get an ammonia or nitrite reading and start seeing nitrates within a few days. I think the main reason for that though is because the tank I seed the media in is what some would consider over stocked. The sponges have a LOT of bacteria on them. If seeded media comes from a very lightly stocked tank the bacterial colony won't be as big and strong as from a heavily stocked tank.

Are you possibly over feeding your little guy a bit more than he needs? I wouldn't think one little guy even in a tank this size would be producing that much ammonia.

 

I can understand your thoughts on smaller tanks not cycling because I had a 2.5 I couldn't cycle. I have 3 3.5 gals and they all cycled easily. I feed my fish carefully and remove anything they miss. When I change water every other day in this 3gal I do a gravel vac as well. I could try to seed a new sponge for him in my main tank if nothing else works (that space is occupied by a sponge seeding for my new 20 gal)

 

Update. Over the weekend, the ammonia was insane. I could not believe the test was right when it said 2ppm ammonia, then 4ppm the next day and no nitrites. I dumped in the safestart my friend had and this morning I am at 0 or .25 ammonia. I have a very hard time differentiating the colors. My 20 gallon that I put the other Angels Plus sponge in is showing me the same parameters. I have not tested the nitrates because I do not have the time to sit here and shake bottles this morning.

So for now everything seems okay.