Tank crashed and won't cycle...

[Willow]

Hi!

I'm new here. My name is Willow. My husband and I live in Lethbridge. My husband Michael and I have a 55 gal. tank with 7 goldfish in it. We started it a little over 3 months ago. It had cycled and so gradually we added 4 more fish over 3-4 weeks to the 3 we used to cycle the tank. Now it seems to be stuck in the high ammonia and high nitrite stage and I just can't get the levels down. I do daily water changes but don't touch the gravel. I have used Cycle and the Waste control to go with it. I've tried Stability too. Now I am adding Prime with every water change. We are using a Nitra-sorb bag in the filter and an ammonia catching bag also. We have a 110 gal. and a 60 gal. filter in the tank and air stones for airiation. We are now thinking about getting another tank to move some of the fish into so the tank has a chance to cycle properly.

Does anyone have any other suggestions. None of the pet stores have really been able to help. We've tried everything they have suggested. The fish seem fine healthwise but I know this is really hard on them.

Thanks,

Willow

[geleen]

:welcome:

I have 2 questions

1./ How old are the test kits, and

2./ Is there a measurable amount of Nitrates?

Some more thoughts. :thumbs: Good to have thoughts, but no expert here.

I would vacuuum the gravel really well, there may be too much food rotting in there, adding to the ammonia load.

While there are some good bacteria in the gravel, the bulk of the work is done in the filter media. What kind of biological media are you using and are you perhaps cleaning the filter material under tap water? If so, better to leave it alone till it is cycled.

The filter should eventually cycle, the high nitrite can last some weeks.

Can you get some media from a cycled tank to squeeze into yours?

Prime will give false readings of ammonia, and will render it non toxic. It is of course required if the water contains chlorine

I had good succes using stability daily.

I have no experience with the ammonia aborb material, is it perhaps interfering with the natural cycle?

John

Edited March 1, 2008 by degrassi

[Willow]

Thanks for the reply.

Test kits we just bought a few weeks ago but there are no exp. dates on the boxes. The test kits are used for the small tank also and give readings of a cycled tank. We do have a measurable amount of nitrates as well.

We were told not to touch the gravel by every pet store person in Lethbridge so we didn't. We have a small tank that is cycled but I think that the levels are too high for the amount of filter material that I have available from that small tank. We were also thinking about adding a bigger filter.

Tomorrow when my husband is home we'll vacuum the gravel to see if that helps.

Thanks again,

Willow

:welcome:

I have 2 questions

1./ How old are the test kits, and

2./ Is there a measurable amount of Nitrates?

Some more thoughts. :thumbs: Good to have thoughts, but no expert here.

I would vacuuum the gravel really well, there may be too much food rotting in there, adding to the ammonia load.

While there are some good bacteria in the gravel, the bulk of the work is done in the filter media. What kind of biological media are you using and are you perhaps cleaning the filter material under tap water? If so, better to leave it alone till it is cycled.

The filter should eventually cycle, the high nitrite can last some weeks.

Can you get some media from a cycled tank to squeeze into yours?

Prime will give false readings of ammonia, and will render it non toxic. It is of course required if the water contains chlorine

I had good succes using stability daily.

I have no experience with the ammonia aborb material, is it perhaps interfering with the natural cycle?

John

Hi!

I'm new here. My name is Willow. My husband and I live in Lethbridge. My husband Michael and I have a 55 gal. tank with 7 goldfish in it. We started it a little over 3 months ago. It had cycled and so gradually we added 4 more fish over 3-4 weeks to the 3 we used to cycle the tank. Now it seems to be stuck in the high ammonia and high nitrite stage and I just can't get the levels down. I do daily water changes but don't touch the gravel. I have used Cycle and the Waste control to go with it. I've tried Stability too. Now I am adding Prime with every water change. We are using a Nitra-sorb bag in the filter and an ammonia catching bag also. We have a 110 gal. and a 60 gal. filter in the tank and air stones for airiation. We are now thinking about getting another tank to move some of the fish into so the tank has a chance to cycle properly.

Does anyone have any other suggestions. None of the pet stores have really been able to help. We've tried everything they have suggested. The fish seem fine healthwise but I know this is really hard on them.

Thanks,

Willow

[geleen]

I would squeeze-out, the filter material from your small tank into the big tanks filter, it will add millions of bacteria immediately.

The filter(s) will cycle in time.

Adding another NON-cycled filter will not help.

While the gravel holds bacteria, too much rotting material (if there is any)would add to the ammonia load, so try for a balance here.

One other idea is to not feed for a few day's. As long as there is ammonia present the filter is building up bacteria.

J

We do have a measurable amount of nitrates as well.

The filter is cycling but not finished.

We were told not to touch the gravel by every pet store person in Lethbridge so we didn't. We have a small tank that is cycled but I think that the levels are too high for the amount of filter material that I have available from that small tank. We were also thinking about adding a bigger filter.

Tomorrow when my husband is home we'll vacuum the gravel to see if that helps.

[Qattarra]

While Prime is the right product to use, I recently found out it will give an ammonia reading.

How are the fish and their behavior?

If ammonia is too high, constantly removing manually (WCs) of mechanicly (chemicals), will keep delaying the cycle. As the ammonia is the food source for the bacteria, you need it present. This is why many people on here use a fishless cycle to not put the fish through that torture.

You can add some salt to the water to help the fish cope.

[Willow]

The fish seem to be acting normal. The tank had completely cycled prior to adding the other 4 fish one at a time over 3-4 weeks. I think we may have unknowingly cleaned the gravel a little too much after adding the new fish. We knew the more fish; the more waste. But that may have hurt us in the long run. We haven't cleaned the gravel in the last 2 weeks since this ammonia and nitrite spike happened because of the advice of the local pet stores. We will try adding the bacteria from our smaller tanks filter into one of our existing filters to see if that speeds up the process any. We may also add another filter to see if that helps to keep the waste under control. I didn't think we had too many fish but now I think I may have been wrong. I have read that with goldfish they need more than twice the filtration of tropical fish tanks.

Also I have added salt to help with the stress on the fish. I didn't know that Prime can give an ammonia reading. That's good to know.

Thanks,

Willow

While Prime is the right product to use, I recently found out it will give an ammonia reading.

How are the fish and their behavior?

If ammonia is too high, constantly removing manually (WCs) of mechanicly (chemicals), will keep delaying the cycle. As the ammonia is the food source for the bacteria, you need it present. This is why many people on here use a fishless cycle to not put the fish through that torture.

You can add some salt to the water to help the fish cope.

[Stacey]

Patience is you friend here..... and the Prime, and the bucket or hose.... How big are the goldfish? You may have a bit of time here before you have to re-home, but with 7 goldfish, I think you will eventually have to move some.

It sound like you are doing everything right, :thumbs: you just have to keep doing it. Plus there is a lot of great advice on this board! I concur with everything already said here.

I can see that you're new here. :welcome: This board is a great place to get some awsome deals with other members on equipment and fish..... (and if you can get to Calgary on March 9th, the Calgary Aquarium Society is having an auction!)

[Parachromis1]

everytime you do a wc, it adds more ammonia to the water.

i belive prime breaks the chloramine bonds down into ammonia and nitrogen.

AND DONT USE WASTE CONTROL.. it turns everything into ammonia and nitrite leading to fish death.

thats my 3 cents.

Quinn

[Nyasa]

It is quite possible you just had another spike of ammonia with the increased bioload. You've almost doubled the

number of fish you have in a fairly short period of time. Just continue with water changes and don't hesitate to

vacuum your gravel.