Please help!! Tank cycle

HI everyone,

Tank been cycling for about a month, was getting nothing but ammonia readings up until this week. My tank all of a sudden went cloudy for around 48 hours. Bacterial bloom?? I checked my readings and I was showing high ammonia, nitrites 0.25 but no nitrates. 2 days later, high ammonia again 8ppm! Nitrites 5ppm and nitrates 1ppm. Checked again tonight and still ammonia 8ppm, nitrites now 0ppm and nitrates 0ppm.
I have been using ammo lock about 3 days ago and been doing 20% water changes most days for the last 4/5 days. Can anyone explain this??

 

HI and welcome

Your cycle will stall if your ammonia is higher than 4PPM so I would continue to do a few back to back large water changes to bring that back down. Can I ask why you're using Ammo lock?

 

A few questions. Is this a fish-in or fishless cycle? What's your pH? And can you test everything out of your tap? Are you using a bacteria supplement? What's the tank size?

I agree that too high of an ammonia will cause the cycle stall. It's recommended to keep ammonia at 1-2ppm. You could go up to 4ppm depending on your tank size and what/how many fish you're planning to add.

 

My ammonia was at 8ppm and I finally got it down to 2ppm I have been trying to cycle my 40 gallon breeder tank for a month....with fish in.

 

Fish in, 5 minnows. 20lt tank. Yes using a bacteria supplement- Fluval cycle. My ph is 7.4.
I've tested my tap water, contains no ammonia. I think my cycle has stalled due to ammonia being to high.

 

Not sure how your fish are alive at such a high ammonia level. What test kit are you using? What's the temp? Are you overfeeding? I'd move the fish temporarily to a bucket and do a 100% water change, vacuum the substrate, rinse the media in old tank water, re-fill with treated tap water and then put the fish back in and re-test.

I also want to mention that minnows really are not suitable in that tank size. They need a 20g. You may want to consider returning them and getting a betta instead.

 

I'm aware of the tank size but at the time of purchase I was given the wrong information. I know better now and in the process of getting a bigger tank.
Temp is around 21/22 c feeding just once a day and I'm using the ApI master test kit.
I will do a big Wc tomorrow morning and let you know the results. Thanks

 

Maybe your ammonia turned Into a none toxic for ammonium. I believe that's what mine did there is no way fish could live with 8ppm of ammonia.

 

Maybe your ammonia turned Into a none toxic for ammonium. I believe that's what mine did there is no way fish could live with 8ppm of ammonia.

At his pH of 7.4 and temp at 21/22, it becomes toxic at about 2ppm. I believe your pH was in the 6's, right? Possibly why it was non-toxic in your situation. The lower the pH, the less toxic the ammonia becomes.

 

You can always ask the store you bought the minnows from if you can relinquish them. Or post an ad on a website similar to craigslist (maybe you have gumtree or freecycle?). A local fish store might take them as well.

 

Right I've done another water change.
Ammonia around 4ppm
Nitrites and nitrates 0ppm and ph still around 7. 4

 

What % did you do? I'd get it down as close to zero as possible.

 

I did a 50% water change but just done another 50%. Now down at 1ppm ammonia. Will this now hopefully help my cycle to start again?? When would I expect to start to see nitrites / nitrates ??

 

You'll need to keep it as low as possible or else your cycle will stall again. I'd do another 50% to get that ammonia down closer to zero, then pick up a bacteria supplement like Tetra SafeStart Plus to help you cycle in about 2 weeks. You'll want to add the entire bottle 24 hours after the use of a water conditioner and then do no water changes for the next 2 weeks. Be careful not to overfeed, I'd even cut it down to once every other day until the tank cycles.

 

I I could just add that after doing the large water changes, yes as many as you possibly can keeping in mind to maintain as close as possible the temp of the replaced water to the water in the tank. Another great bacteria source I will swear by is Seachem Stability. With that you can use it straight away with Prime as the bacteria in stability does not get killed back by the prime conditioner. But I absolutely agree that those water changes need to occur to get that ammonia and then nitrite down. I too am surprised that the fish aren't dead or seriously ill by those high readings. They may show signs of ammonia burns at some point so keep a look out for dark spots markings on them.

 

Ok guys, bit of a update.
Yesterday afternoon I checked my water readings and got
Ammonia - 1ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate- 5ppm
Ph- 7.8
Fish seem happy enough, I did add some more fluval cycle though.
Today's results just now
Ammonia 1/2ppm
Nitrites- 0 ppm
Nitrates - 10/20ppm.
Ph- 8
Any idea why my nitrites are 0ppm and I still have ammonia?? Has the tank nearly cycled? Shall I add more fluval cycle?? Shall I just leave it and see what happens over the next day or so?
Fish seem ok and eating well.

 

The ammonia is very toxic at those levels. Keep doing larger water changes to keep them under 1. The reason why your nitrites may be zero is because there is probably more of that bacteria that's processing them than the ammonia processing bacteria. Not unheard of but just keep doing the water changes to bring the ammonia down.