What happened to my cycle?

[newaquariumguy]

Hi everybody.  I am stuck for an answer here and hope somebody can enlighten me.  I have 2 tanks:

Tank #1

55 gallon, Fluval 305 and Aqua Clear 70 filter, Fluval E300 heater, air stone, and a mini submersible pump for added circulation.  In it are 2 angel fish, 7 neon tetra, 11 harlequin raspbora, 5 albino cory cats, 2 nerite snails, and 6 oto cats.  Gravel substrate, 2 pieces of Malaysian bog wood, and 5 or 6small pieces of slate.  2 amazon swords, several stems of moneywort, several stems of scarlet temple, 3 stems of ludwigia "rubin", and 4 small java ferns.  Tank has been cycled and running since last January.  Ph is always 7.4.  Ammonia (has always been 0)  nitrite 0, nitrate about 10.

Tank #2

50 gallon, Fluval 305 and 306 filter, Fluval E300 heater, air stone.  In it are 9 tiger barbs, 5 bronze cory cats, 9 zebra danio, and 3 nerite snails.  Gravel substrate, 3 pieces of Malaysian bogwood, and 5 or 6 small pieces of slate.  2 amazon swords, probably 24 stems of money wort, and about 10 stems of something I am not sure what it is (petsmart sold it to my wife as a floating plant).  This tank has been cycled and running since last December.  Ph is always 7.6.  Ammonia (has always been 0), nitrie 0, and nitrate about 15.

Both tanks religiously get a water change every Sunday, of about 25 to 30 %.  I use Prime and twice a week a capful of flourish excel.  There is only me and my wife here (no little kids).  I think root tabs come 10 to a pack and have used one pack for both tanks since the beginning.  

This past Sunday when I tested water before changing it, the 55 showed 1ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates.  The 50 showed 1.5 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrates.  I think we all understand the difference we see when checking the vial color against the card.  I immediately did about 60% water change on both tanks and overdosed Prime.  On the Monday test, the ammonia was slightly down, as was it Tuesday.  Wednesday (today) there was virtually no change.  Water changes have been done everyday since this problem has arisen.  I am the only person doing anything to these tanks, and as I have said there are no little kids that might have dumped something in.  I removed 2 little amazon swords from the 55 recently but other than that nothing has been added or subtracted from either tank.  I understand the nitrogen cycle, which brings me to my problem.  I have ammonia and nitrates but no nitrite.  Has anybody got an answer to why I lost my cycle?

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give as much detail as possible.

thanks in advance for any advice. 

 

[geleen]

I would suggest testing your source water to start.

 

[jvision]

How old is your ammonia test kit?  If you're sure you do in fact have ammonia, there is something not quite right.  What substrate do you have, and how deep is it? Could you have stirred something up when pulling the plants out?  Are you over populated with fish (though, that'd also lead to high nitrite - which you don't have).  After a WC, using Prime will give a false positive for ammonia, so maybe the mid-week doses of Prime are tricking your test kit?

[newaquariumguy]

I ran out of ammonia liquid in my test kit, so opened a brand new kit and used that ammonia test.  It says use before 2022.  I thought maybe it was faulty but it showed 0ppm on the source water.  I ran a sample from both tanks to petsmart in medicine hat yesterday and although they use strips which I am told are not as accurate, they claim they test free ammonia only.  Both tanks showed .25ppm ammonia,  0 nitrites, and 0 nitrates.  My API test still shows today,  1ppm ammonia , 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrates.  Yes, there is an overdose of Prime in both tanks. Water changes are happening everyday, and although I am not sure if it is going to help or not, Top Fin bacteria booster is added daily too.

I talked to a neighbor and was informed that one day last week when we were both gone from home, that the power was off for about 5 hours.  With battery back up in alarm clocks and such, we were unaware the power was off.  I am guessing when the power came back on, dead beneficial bacteria spewed into the tanks.  I guess what I need to know now, am I dealing with 2 uncycled tanks, or with the small nitrate reading, do I have some what of a cycle still?  

[geleen]

I agree with Jason,  prime will give a false ammonia reading for as long as 3 days. 

Perhaps do no wc for 4 days then test. If you are very concerned do not feed for the duration. The fish will be fine.

Edited October 1, 2018 by geleen

[newaquariumguy]

Ok--thanks.  I see on you tube that one sign of ammonia stress on fish is that they will go to the top as if to get air.  What else should I be looking for?   I think it was on Seachem's website that I read Prime will only bind the ammonia for 24 hours.  I did not realize it would trick the test kit for more than that time.

[jvision]

Watch for black marks on the edges of the fins (ammonia burn), and very red gills

[newaquariumguy]

Just a quick update.  For 2 days in a row now, things are looking better.  Both tanks test 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 20 nitrates again.  At one point there was a small amount of nitrite in both tanks but all seems to be good now.  All the fish seem to be happy with no visible signs of harm.  Thanks guys, for your help.