Cycle crash?

[CoryKat]

Last week I tested my 5 gallon betta tank's water and it came back cycled. No ammonia, no nitrites and a small amount of nitrates. Now, a week later, I'm testing the water and there's about <.25 ppm ammonia and 0 nitrates. I did add a mystery snail two days ago, but I haven't done anything else except top off the water. What happened? Did the cycle crash?

Edit: pH is 7.6

 

[mattgirl]

Adding the snail added to the bio-load (more ammonia) in this tank. The bacteria needs to catch up with it. It shouldn't take long to grow enough bacteria to clean out the extra ammonia. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and change out half the water. Be sure you add your water conditioner to the fresh water and also to any water you use to top off for evaporation.

 

[Dechi]

How did you cycle your tank ?

 

[CoryKat]

Adding the snail added to the bio-load (more ammonia) in this tank. The bacteria needs to catch up with it. It shouldn't take long to grow enough bacteria to clean out the extra ammonia. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and change out half the water. Be sure you add your water conditioner to the fresh water and also to any water you use to top off for evaporation.

Okay, thank you!

How did you cycle your tank ?

I did a fish-less cycle and used some API Quick Start and a sponge filter from another tank to help it along.

 

[Dechi]

I did a fish-less cycle and used some API Quick Start and a sponge filter from another tank to help it along.

API Quick start won’t do much. The sponge might have helped, depending on how much it was seeded and how big it was.

But it’s possible your cycle isn’t done yet and you’re actually in a fish-in cycle. Make sure you test everyday and do water changes when ammonia and/or nitrites go over 0.25 ppm.