nope they are not 'supposed' to be high, if you are managing a fishy cycle humanely.
over .25 ppm is very damaging to the fish. How you would lower = water change. Why = because you want to minimise damage to the fish.
Cycling with Danios
- Thread starter sm100378
- Start date
- Status
nope they are not 'supposed' to be high, if you are managing a fishy cycle humanely.
over .25 ppm is very damaging to the fish. How you would lower = water change. Why = because you want to minimise damage to the fish.
You are getting some good advice here; I hope it is helping you. The only thing I ask is, Don't return the Zebra's after the cycle is over.
I am not against fishy cycles done properly, but I am very against using fish to cycle and then returning them to the LFS because you really didn't want them, just used them for cycle. The best performed cycle does take some time off the fish's life, so once the cycle is complete I think the best you can do is at least give them a well kept home to live out their lives.
I hate the thought of some fish going through a cycle twice because the next person who buys the returned fish is for the exact same purpose.
I am not against fishy cycles done properly, but I am very against using fish to cycle and then returning them to the LFS because you really didn't want them, just used them for cycle. The best performed cycle does take some time off the fish's life, so once the cycle is complete I think the best you can do is at least give them a well kept home to live out their lives.
I hate the thought of some fish going through a cycle twice because the next person who buys the returned fish is for the exact same purpose.
It's amazing how many flames I got with this thread......
Anyways, I did a 50% WC and two hours later a 30% WC. Yes, i do plan on keeping the fish, I would not return them to a fish store.
The only inquiry I had about the nitrites being high is that is part of the cycle, the nitrites going up and then down followed by a jump in nitrates. If I did a 90% WC, there would still be nitrites, since they would be residing in my bio-wheel, no?
Thanks again,
SM
Anyways, I did a 50% WC and two hours later a 30% WC. Yes, i do plan on keeping the fish, I would not return them to a fish store.
The only inquiry I had about the nitrites being high is that is part of the cycle, the nitrites going up and then down followed by a jump in nitrates. If I did a 90% WC, there would still be nitrites, since they would be residing in my bio-wheel, no?
Thanks again,
SM
this is NOT an ethics thread. the OP is inquiring about the number of fish he is cycling with, and if adding more will help/hurt his cycle.. NOT asking about fishless cycling.
One more off-topic comment and this thread is done. don't test it.
One more off-topic comment and this thread is done. don't test it.
I can understand where your confusion comes in - I had a similar situation. In my case, I set up a 20 gallon long tank for my 4 White Clouds who were in a 3 gallon Eclipse at the time and added my fish after 2 days time. I knew that there were biological changes that took place in an aquarium, but the specifics of cycling were unknown to me and my husband. I found out about cycling after the tank was going and stumbling upon AC. To make a long story short, I ended up doing a fishy cycle unintentionally. My tank has been set up and running since the first week of September, and after many, many tests I have never had a spike in ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. My tank is heavily planted with java fern, java moss and hornwort. I tested my water 2 days ago, and I am still zero ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I do bi-weekly partial water changes of 10 to 15 percent. I'm happy that I never had any problems, but there are times that I wonder if my tank is fully cycled as well.
Water changes are your friend at this point... Your cycle will adjust itself for the number of fish you have in there now. So keep the number of fish you have now and keep ammonia and nitrites under .25ppm until they both goto 0ppm. Then you will only need to do water changes weekly to keep nitrate levels around 20ppm +/-.
Sorry if anything I said was considered flaming.... I was just trying to figure out what stage your cycle was in since from one of your other posts you had stated you had started your tank using ammonia instead of fish.
Nope the nitrites will be in the water; its the bacteria which adhere to the surfaces in your tank/filter.
So, like I said I did the 50% and 30% water change last night. This morning my nitrites were the same color in my test. Let's say they were at 4.0. A 50% in theory (according to posts in the forum), would reduce it to 2.0, and then a 30% would reduce it further to 1.4ppm. This would be my confusion, as the nitrites have not dropped, the fish are great and the water is fine. That being said, I have not cleaned the inside of the tank walls during this, and when I removed/filled water, I noticed pieces of waste (or whatever) mixed in the substrate (yes, the substrate was initially cleaned good). I since have left that to settle/filter through the filter to the bio-wheel, and cycle and cycle over again.
Any reason for the nitrites at the same level?
Thanks
Any reason for the nitrites at the same level?
Thanks
Same thing happened to me when cycling. I don't know if some type of exponential phenomena is taking place or what, but I developed new muscles hauling those buckets. I eventually resolved myself to 50% PWC daily until the magical day. I gave up on the 2x day, my numbers stayed fairly steady. I think I did daily PWC for a month (don't forget, I foolishly added platies!) following the first month of waiting for things to happen. Good luck. Hopefully you'll cycle sooner rather than later. It is like majic when it happens.
nitrites should drop if the test is not faulty.
however, the nitrites will slowly rise as waste is added almost continually.so if you changed water and tested immediatly after the change you should see a drop..if you wait even a few hours the nitrite numbers would increase.
btw, you should test for nitrates as this would be an indicator that nitrite consuming bacteria are getting established.
however, the nitrites will slowly rise as waste is added almost continually.so if you changed water and tested immediatly after the change you should see a drop..if you wait even a few hours the nitrite numbers would increase.
btw, you should test for nitrates as this would be an indicator that nitrite consuming bacteria are getting established.
- Status
