FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Due to a number of problems I lost all my fish apart from my Peppered Catfish (x4). So I have started again. I thought I'd start a blog or thread of my progress.

The filter has new 'noodles', carbon, filter pads, the works. No fish to begin with - peppered catfish are in a small previously set up tank for the time being.

Day One
33 ml Stresscoat added
30 ml Stability
Day Two
Added 17.5 stability
Day Three
NH3 = 1.0
PH = 6.0
NO2 = 0.0
KH = 71.6
GH = 89.5
27 Celsius
Added 17.5 ml stability
Day Four
27 Celsius
33 ml plant gro NPK
17.5ml stability
Day Five
PH = 6.0
NH3 = 1.5
Added 20ml stability
Day six
Added 20ml
Bought two Bolivian Ram - large (added to the tank)

Will update when something changes etc
Marc

Where'd the ammonia come from? Is it still present? What about nitrites? They are derived from ammonia and would not yet be present in a new tank. pH also seems to be kind of low. I would not have added fish to such a set-up, and I'm hoping your fish do fine.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

gotta ask. noodles?

The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we dont know what to do.

Noodles are those hard white round things that are inside the filter. They called them 'noodles' in the lfs and I don't know what else they are called.

Um..brand new set up, I assumed the ammonia naturally increases so I've read anyway and then it changes into nitrite and then nitrate. That's what I read on the internet.

Hi,
Ammonia does not just suddenly appear. It either comes
from the fish (urea) or from raw ammonia being added to
the tank ( http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html )

All you have done is transfer the nitrifying bacteria,
you have to feed that bacteria with ammonia for the
tank to cycle and the fledgling colonies to grow and
thrive.

Frank


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

So what am I missing? I've done all that I know about. I'm adding biological (stability) liquid to encourage the cycle to start. I've started to gently up the PH. And the filter bits and pieces are all replaced and ready to breed their bacteria.

I washed all the gravel - a lot of it too. Before starting the new tank. I didn't want to risk a transfer of whatever problem I had last time. I rinsed it throughly with a collander.
What extra do you suggest? I didn't add any ammonia unless it's come with the gravel and driftwood. Marc

Hi,
Now, you add the ammonia....

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html

Frank


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

You have a pretty good understanding of the cycle. However, knowing that your tank contains ammonia, a toxic substance, why would you add fish? Yes, many people do cycles with fish, but what confused me was that it seemed you were doing a fishless cycle as ammonia was already in the tank prior to you adding any fish. As Frank mentions, ammonia doesn't come out of nowhere, and not only do you have ammonia when you started out your tank, it continued to increase. Do you have plants? Have you noticed die off of the plants? This could be a source of ammonia.

Now that you have fish, you definitely don't want to add ammonia. Ammonia's use is in fishless cycling and that is all. What you need to do now is to keep track of the ammonia and the health of your fish, and do a water change if ammonia gets too high.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Id have chosen something a little hardier as first introductions than rams...bolivian or not..

I'm really starting to regret it now

Someone said that having a few fish in a new tank will help with the cycle. I guess that's why I bought them, coz they were so big and beautiful and I'd been admiring them for a long time. They seem to be happy so far, I hope they will be okay in the long run.

Anything wrong can be prevented by keeping track of the ammonia and nitrites, as well as keeping an eye on your fish's behavior. If the fish start to appear stressed, do a water change. If your ammonia or nitrites get too high, do a water change. If you haven't done a water change in a week, do a water change. Your fish should be able to make it out of this situation if you keep the stress as low as possible. The water change itself shouldn't be stressful, unless you do something like have the temperature of the new water vastly different from the water in your tank, or some other shock.

For the cycle, the only thing necessary is an ammonia source, which is why it can be done without fish. While fish do produce ammonia, ammonia itself is toxic to fish, so ammonia levels cannot get too high. On the other hand, without fish in the tank, you can add more ammonia so that a stronger bacteria colony can develop. In actuality, you can do a better cycle without fish; I have done this in the past and was able to add something around 30 to 40 schooling fish to a 55 gallon immediately after the cycle because of the strength of the colony. I'll concede, though, that doing the cycle with fish is the traditional method; the fishless cycle is pretty new as far as the hobby goes. The fish themselves won't help the cycle, your Stability is taking care of that, actually, as it adds bacteria directly to the tank so that they can colonize. Because you're adding Stability as often as you are, I am hoping that your ammonia and nitrites will be brought down soon enough; I have no experience with these biological filtration additives but if Stability is as great as they say it is you should be fine. Once again, in this delicate time I suggest checking your ammonia and nitrites daily and be prepared to do a water change.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Thanks,
It's the eighth day today so I figured I would do that partial water change. I'm assuming a 25% water change will be okay?
I'm keeping a diary on any addings, behaviours, test results, etc so that I don't have to rely on just my memory.
Appreciate the feedback.

25% would be okay. It comes down to your water quality and maintaining good conditions. If things start going downhill, do a water change to help clear the water of high levels of toxins until the biological filtration/beneficial bacteria is able to handle the ammonia load.

One last thing: once the ammonia and nitrites are gone, do not add too many more fish at once as this may cause an ammonia spike and you'll have to do it all over again; adding fish should be gradual so that the bacteria can cope with the change in ammonia levels.

Good luck, you appear to be on the right track.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.