Fish In Cycle...help!

Ok, I’ve posted before about transferred fish from 10 and 20 gallon to a 35 gallon tank. 5th day of new cycle and nitrites and ammonia are coming down but Nitrates are now up. Been doing small water changes, added Special Blend bacteria 15mm to Filter every other day and adding Easy Balance when Nitrates soar. One dead fish tonight and I’m concerned they are stressed from the cycle. If nitrites and ammonia coming down and Nitrates up is that a good sign or bad sign?

 

Okay so, how many fish and what kind are they? Nitrates are the end product of your cycle, and are only dangerous when they get above 40ppm. You're definitely cycling, so that's good. You don't need to add Easy Balance or the bacteria. You need to let the bacteria in your tank grow now, which they are, because most people don't see nitrates this fast. I would use Seachem Prime, as it detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and even nitrate. It also is a water conditioner. Can you tell me your exact ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings?

 

you need to be using prime every day while u cycle or ur fish will die

 

I wouldnt necessarily say that, Ive never used prime a day in my life, did a transfer cycle from a 45 to a 75. Switched the gravel bed first, then filled the 75 with as much clean water from the 45 as I could, finished off with clean water, and added a Bb suppliment everyday for the bext week. My tank was cycled within 2 weeks. As long as the bio-load is small to moderate and you don't have many spikes, than I would think you should be fine.

I agree that prime would definitely help keep levels managable, but I wouldn't say its the end of your tank if you don't use it.

 

you need to be using prime every day while u cycle or ur fish will die

I think this is being a bit dramatic and is in fact untrue. Prime is a good product but isn't a necessity.

Ok, I’ve posted before about transferred fish from 10 and 20 gallon to a 35 gallon tank. 5th day of new cycle and nitrites and ammonia are coming down but Nitrates are now up. Been doing small water changes, added Special Blend bacteria 15mm to Filter every other day and adding Easy Balance when Nitrates soar. One dead fish tonight and I’m concerned they are stressed from the cycle. If nitrites and ammonia coming down and Nitrates up is that a good sign or bad sign?

Nitrates up is a good sign that your cycle is progressing as it should. Instead of adding more bacteria I would be keeping up with water changes to keep the nitrates from climbing too high. Since you just moved your fish and your cycle from 2 tanks to this one it really shouldn't take much longer to complete this minI cycle.

 

Sorry for changing my rating a few times. my mouse went wonky!!

back on topic. I agree that you are in a good place having moved your filter media with the fish.

I noticed that there are some questions above but I would also like to ask how fast where these changes from tank to tank? if they are being done in rapid succession the fish may be getting stressed out also.

 

In a tank that is finished cycling, ammonia and nitrite will both read 0, and nitrate will be between 10 and 20 ppm. Nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle, so a cycled tank shouldn't have harmful levels of ammonia or nitrite, but harmful levels of nitrate are indeed possible, and weekly water changes are used to keep the nitrate in check.

To touch a bit on what Prime does - it temporarily detoxifies ammonia and nitrate, for up to 48 hours. It DOES NOT REMOVE them from the water, it just makes them non toxic for a short while. After 48 hours, they become toxic again. Prime is best used when your source water (tap) has ammonia or nitrite in it. It can make new source water safe for the aquarium long enough for your filter's bacteria colony to deal with ammonia or nitrite. Also, in a tank that is still cycling, Prime can be used to keep the water safe for fish while the nitrogen cycle does it's thing. When a tank is cycling, there will be spikes of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. That's just part of the process. If you do water changes every 48 hours or less, and use Prime to treat the new water at each water change, then you are keeping the water detoxified as these spikes happen.

Yes, your fish are probably stressed from the cycle. It sounds like the water parameters changed very rapidly, as this tank appears to have cycled very quickly, and fish are not very tolerant of rapid changes in water chemistry. It also sounds like you've moved these fish a lot. You mentioned moving fish from a 10 gallon to a 20 gallon to this 35 gallon. Did you fish-in cycle all 3 of these? How long were the fish in each tank? If they've been moved around a lot, that in itself will cause a lot of stress. But if you're moving them from uncycled tank to uncycled tank to uncycled tank, that could very well be what's killing them, because they've been put through the stress of changing water chemistry 3 times in a row. Whatever you do to solve this, please try to avoid moving the fish again for some time.

 

To touch a bit on what Prime does - it temporarily detoxifies ammonia and nitrate, for up to 48 hours. It DOES NOT REMOVE them from the water, it just makes them non toxic for a short while. After 48 hours, they become toxic again.

I do not think this is the case. I think Prime works in the water for 24 hours. So say for example you have .25ppm ammonia in your water a 10:00am, and you add a dose of Prime. The Prime will detox that .25ppm of ammonia (and it will stay detoxed). Then through out the next 24 hours, the fish released another .5ppm of ammonia into the water. That additional .5ppm would be detoxed (and stay detoxed). Now it is 10:01am the next morning and the fish start releasing more ammonia. That additional ammonia would not be detoxed because the effective time that Prime can detox ammonia for is 24 hours.

 

In a tank that is finished cycling, ammonia and nitrite will both read 0, and nitrate will be between 10 and 20 ppm. Nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle, so a cycled tank shouldn't have harmful levels of ammonia or nitrite, but harmful levels of nitrate are indeed possible, and weekly water changes are used to keep the nitrate in check.

To touch a bit on what Prime does - it temporarily detoxifies ammonia and nitrate, for up to 48 hours. It DOES NOT REMOVE them from the water, it just makes them non toxic for a short while. After 48 hours, they become toxic again. Prime is best used when your source water (tap) has ammonia or nitrite in it. It can make new source water safe for the aquarium long enough for your filter's bacteria colony to deal with ammonia or nitrite. Also, in a tank that is still cycling, Prime can be used to keep the water safe for fish while the nitrogen cycle does it's thing. When a tank is cycling, there will be spikes of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. That's just part of the process. If you do water changes every 48 hours or less, and use Prime to treat the new water at each water change, then you are keeping the water detoxified as these spikes happen.

Yes, your fish are probably stressed from the cycle. It sounds like the water parameters changed very rapidly, as this tank appears to have cycled very quickly, and fish are not very tolerant of rapid changes in water chemistry. It also sounds like you've moved these fish a lot. You mentioned moving fish from a 10 gallon to a 20 gallon to this 35 gallon. Did you fish-in cycle all 3 of these? How long were the fish in each tank? If they've been moved around a lot, that in itself will cause a lot of stress. But if you're moving them from uncycled tank to uncycled tank to uncycled tank, that could very well be what's killing them, because they've been put through the stress of changing water chemistry 3 times in a row. Whatever you do to solve this, please try to avoid moving the fish again for some time.

These fish were moved one time. She consolidated 2 tanks down to one. She moved everyone and everything from both the 10 gallon and the 20 gallon over to the 35 gallon at the same time. She is going through a minI cycle. I would have expected an instant cycle but apparently some bacteria died in the move and it is having to catch up now.

 

That clears up my confusion, thank you.

 

These fish were moved one time. She consolidated 2 tanks down to one. She moved everyone and everything from both the 10 gallon and the 20 gallon over to the 35 gallon at the same time. She is going through a minI cycle. I would have expected an instant cycle but apparently some bacteria died in the move and it is having to catch up now.

Ok, Nitrate 10ppm, Nitrite about 10ppm, ammonia 1.0ppm. I have about 27 half grown female guppies, 2 albino Cory cats, 2 , 2 snails 1 Otto cat all in 35 gallon hex. Should I rehouse some of the guppies ....say 10.

 

Ok, Nitrate 10ppm, Nitrite about 10ppm, ammonia 1.0ppm. I have about 27 half grown female guppies, 2 albino Cory cats, 2 , 2 snails 1 Otto cat all in 35 gallon hex. Should I rehouse some of the guppies ....say 10.

That would probably be a good idea if you can find them a good home. Right now you need to concentrate on getting those numbers down.

If it were me I would stop adding anything other than Prime (if you have it) during water changes or another water conditioner if you don't have prime and I would be doing daily water changes of at least 30%. More is better but if you are doing it with buckets 30% shouldn't be too much work.

I am wondering how you have determined that your nitrites are up to 10. The chart that came with my test kit doesn't go up that high. I am also wondering if some of these readings are coming from the additives you are using. I have often noticed folks getting strange readings when using some of those products.

Did you find a way to add more media to the tank? As we discussed before it is possible that the one filter housing can't hold enough media for the bacteria to grow on. Adding a sponge filter will help. They are very good at growing and holding bacteria and an added plus is your fry will enjoy eating the infusoria that grows on them.

 

That would probably be a good idea if you can find them a good home. Right now you need to concentrate on getting those numbers down.

If it were me I would stop adding anything other than Prime (if you have it) during water changes or another water conditioner if you don't have prime and I would be doing daily water changes of at least 30%. More is better but if you are doing it with buckets 30% shouldn't be too much work.

I am wondering how you have determined that your nitrites are up to 10. The chart that came with my test kit doesn't go up that high. I am also wondering if some of these readings are coming from the additives you are using. I have often noticed folks getting strange readings when using some of those products.

Did you find a way to add more media to the tank? As we discussed before it is possible that the one filter housing can't hold enough media for the bacteria to grow on. Adding a sponge filter will help. They are very good at growing and holding bacteria and an added plus is your fry will enjoy eating the infusoria that grows on them.

First of all, I want to thank you and everyone else that has taken their time to help me. I’m going to add Prime right now. I rehomed 10 of my fish ( broke my heart because I watched these little girls being born) but my local fish store took them for me. I know exactly where I went wrong, it was adding the fish from both tanks all at once....live and learn. I used 10pmm for Nitrites because it wasn’t as dark as .25pmm and more on the blue then purple. I love my guppies and all I have now is two tanks with males in one and females in the other. Will keep you posted, Thank you!

 

I know how hard it is to re-home some of our fish but we have to think of their well being first. I know it broke my heart when I had to re-home Jethro, my common pleco. I knew when I got him I would have to do it at some point so was preparing myself for the day. I got to enjoy him for almost a year before I took him to his forever home and I loved the time I had with him. Knowing he is able to grow as big as he is able to makes me happy.