Please Help - Mini Cycle

So I successfully cycled and fully established my 27 litre tank over a month ago now using 6 zebra danios. Once this was complete, I added two guppies and three Molly fish with no problems whatsoever. I had very happy fish and I was a very happy fish keeper!

Then I made a really silly error when I was cleaning the tank filter and although I cleaned the sponge part with dirty fish water, for some reason unknown to me I ran tap water through the part that holds the sponge part of the filter (aaaaaargh!!! :sorry One guppy died which is how I knew something was wrong and I have been so upset.

So now I am really asking to check whether I am fixing this minI cycle that I started, correctly.

I am on the sixth day now.
For the first two days I stopped feeding, and from the third day I began feeding again being very careful not to overfeed to avoid a large ammonia spike, but still 'feed' the beneficial bacteria (is this correct?).
Every day (except today, I am yet to do today's), I have done 20 percent water change after using the API master test kit to test the water.
I have been using Seachem prime to detoxify the nitrites and ammonia to avoid losing another fish one of my molly fish has had the shimmies from time to time, but all my other fish look fine.
I have also been using API quick start, obviously to help keep the nitrites down.

My water readings have been generally similar. Ammonia has not gone above 0.50ppm and today reads at 0.25ppm. Nitrites sadly have been at roughly 1.0ppm for the past day or so, although I do find this colour hard to distinguish, I have attached a photo of today's readings. Nitrates have been decreasing over the past few days, today reading between 5.0 and 10ppm. (I think the colours possibly look a little slightly darker in the photo than in person in the daylight).

Am I doing this correctly? I really want my Ammonia and Nitrites to reach 0 before I go on holiday in a weeks time and for my tank and my fish to be healthy again My tank is consistently at 26 degrees, a good temperature for the beneficial bacteria to grow at, so I have read.

Thank you so much for reading all of this if you have.

 

I tried to take a better with more light and attach it here

 

Your cycle is definitely on its way but unfortunately your stocking is a very high bio load for this size tank. What filter are you running? The overstock could well have caused this problem in combination with the washing causing a new cycle.

 

How long after you added the guppies and mollies did you wash the filter and have your fish die? My gut tells me that washing the base with sink water didn't do any harm, and that the nitrite spike is due to adding 5 larger fish at once into a very small tank. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable with stocking than I can confirm that your fish tank is way overstocked. I think zebra danios need either 20 or 30 gallons iirc. Mollies need at least 10 I believe, and even then I think you'd only be able to have 2.

It's going to take time for your filter to catch up to your new bioload. You'll definitely need to keep up with the daily water changes to keep that nitrite around .5ppm, and keep using Prime to cover the whole tank each time.

 

Well I did not add five more fish all at once. I added two guppies after the tank was established, and two weeks after that I added two molly fish. A week after this I washed the filter and on the same day added one more molly. The guppy died the day after I washed the filter incorrectly with tap water so I have no doubts that the chlorine killed the bacteria. The stocking I have done I did as advised by the pet shop :/

Also

How long after you added the guppies and mollies did you wash the filter and have your fish die? My gut tells me that washing the base with sink water didn't do any harm, and that the nitrite spike is due to adding 5 larger fish at once into a very small tank. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable with stocking than I can confirm that your fish tank is way overstocked. I think zebra danios need either 20 or 30 gallons iirc. Mollies need at least 10 I believe, and even then I think you'd only be able to have 2.

It's going to take time for your filter to catch up to your new bioload. You'll definitely need to keep up with the daily water changes to keep that nitrite around .5ppm, and keep using Prime to cover the whole tank each time.

Also, thank you yes I will just keep doing that then. Fingers crossed

O

Your cycle is definitely on its way but unfortunately your stocking is a very high bio load for this size tank. What filter are you running? The overstock could well have caused this problem in combination with the washing causing a new cycle.

Oh no, I am upset if the tank is overstocked because I have this many fish because the pet shop told me it was okay (and it is actually a very good and established pet shop!) I think it is a mechanical filter? I never really asked... Am I going about fixing the cycle correctly though?

 

Is the piece you rinsed with chlorine water just a piece of plastic? It's the bottom part of a sponge filter right? I wouldn't beat yourself up over that, I'm pretty sure the fish dying is just a coincidence. Very little chlorine water would have been added back to the tank after rinsing a piece of plastic, and I assume you did it during a water change which would have added Prime back into the tank as well.

 

Is the piece you rinsed with chlorine water just a piece of plastic? It's the bottom part of a sponge filter right? I wouldn't beat yourself up over that, I'm pretty sure the fish dying is just a coincidence. Very little chlorine water would have been added back to the tank after rinsing a piece of plastic, and I assume you did it during a water change which would have added Prime back into the tank as well.

Yeah like the plastic part that the sponge part sits in with some other things that are like round pieces of rock, I do not know what they actually are. Gosh, I have been beating myself up about it! Oh right I see. I just assumed that as I cleaned it with tap water it might have killed the bacteria that was sat in it. I feel a little better that this might not be all my fault then... lol

 

Were both guppies male or both females? If you added 1 male and 1 female, it's entirely possible that he bullied her to death. You want to have all females, and 2 females for 1 male so that he splits his attention between two. Same rule applies to mollies.

And yes I just double checked and that tank is way overstocked, around double actually. Is there any way you could get a bigger tank? If not, the fish store may take some of them back if you ask.

You could stick with what you have, but you'll need to do a LOT of water changes, probably 50-70% weekly due to bioload of these fish, and they'll always be a bit stressed due to having no place to swim because of the tank size.

Don't beat yourself up over this, almost all of us have learned the hard way starting out. You made the right decision coming to a forum for help!

Yeah like the plastic part that the sponge part sits in with some other things that are like round pieces of rock, I do not know what they actually are. Gosh, I have been beating myself up about it! Oh right I see. I just assumed that as I cleaned it with tap water it might have killed the bacteria that was sat in it. I feel a little better that this might not be all my fault then... lol

Ok yeah I wouldn't worry even a bit about that. 99% of the bacteria in your tank lives in that sponge part, which you rinsed properly!

 

They were both male guppies, and one went lethargic and couldn't swim which I read online is a symptom of ammonia poisoning. I haven't ever seen bullying in my tank, thankfully. All my mollies are male as well, because I had a female and they had babies and it upset me too much when the babies were being attacked. I swapped the female for a male.

Oh no! I will definitely ask them, maybe return a couple of danios. And also think about whether I can have a bigger tank. I wasn't advised very well if that is the case

Ill do another water change now. Thank you

 

Yeah so after reading I don’t think the filter wash was really the problem. The fish shop has mis sold you fish that is overstocked your tank, caused an ammonia spike, and now your filter is struggling to deal with it. Other fighting factors could come into play but that’s the base problem.

A few things you could do to get you on the right track, Either:

1. Start from fresh with a fishless cycle

2. Improve your tank size and filter size. Use your current media plus extra to have a base amount of BB to do their best while more spreads and grows. This is your best bet.

3. reduce your fish stock as much as possible and hope the remaining fish make it through the cycle.

Your doing really well trying your best to fix the problem and that’s the first step towards success rectifying this!