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I have a 29 gallon that is fully cycled and pretty well stocked. i have 6 cardinal tetras, 6 harlequin rasboras, 6 corydoras trilineatus, and 2 male swordtails. The most recent fish I added were the corys and I probably added them at the very least 3 weeks ago with no ammonia problems. actually, no problems at all. this morning i woke up and my dad says "oh by the way your tank is looking cloudy" and my JAW DROPPED. I went downstairs and tested it, and of course, the water WAS in fact cloudy and tested at ammonia 1.5 and Nitrite 0.3! I have not seen a reading like this since the tank was cycling! Last night I did a 20% water change and I did not do anything different from usual, I used the same tap, the same hose, added stress coat as usual etc. the only thing I did differently was move some plants around, and most of the plants havent stayed in the same spot for more than a couple weeks anyway since I am still not satisfied with their placement. there was nothing dead or decaying in the tank, no casualties, I have no clue how the ammonia could have risen so fast? what the heck is going on??

so what should I do? for now I am going to add some amquel and hope that it reduces the ammonia.

New tanks will cloud up after a few weeks...

It seems to be like a right of passage before a tank finally clears and begins to properly cycle.

Stress Coat, as far as I'm concerned, is rather useless as is most ammonia-diluting preparations.

The idea behind ammonia-eating is bacteria which can be accomplished by dosing the New Improved Cycle and following bottle directions.

NIC will start you out on the right track and make life easier for you and your trops and create a good cycling event.

--garyroland.





Last edited by garyroland at 05-Nov-2004 19:22

hmmm yeah but this tank has been running with fish in it since august! so weird...

I will try some NIC if I can get my hands on it, I have never actually seen it in the store before but I suppose I havent really looked for it very hard, either.

Hi,
"Random Spikes" are generally the result of something
that has happened within the tank. Something died,
someone "helped" with the feeding, too vigorous a
cleaning, the addition of a new filtering system.

In essence, something has happened to the bacterial
colonies that change the ammonia to nitrites to nitrates.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--