Ack, Ammonia.

[DarkSoul]

Well, sunday I did a massive cleaning of my tank, and still had no ammo, nitrites or nitrates. Wanting to test my cycle, I added some ammonium chloride, way to much, 8ppm in my ~25g of water (the fish was already in his cup for the night)

still had high ammo in the morning(sun) so I did 4 more water changes to bring it down, and get my fish back into the tank.

Got it down to about 0.25, maybe 0.50, and have been watching the fish closely, who seems to be ok.

anyway, I just tested my water this morning, and still have ammo, nothing has been consumed, not by my plants or filter, the ammo is still 0.50.

Why hasnt my tank cycled already? The ammo hasnt killed the bugs that were living in the tank, even as high as it was......it was the 11th of aug when I added the first bit of flake food to the filter, and the 18th when I added some plants, the fish came in on the 29th of aug, and I have never seen an ammo reading at all, or rites or rates, up until this point, when I actually added the ammonium chloride.

So now i must do a water change, but wont be able to do so for about 8 hours.

im lost.

 

[southpaw]

I am pretty sure the 8ppm probably killed off any good bacteria you had..not sure why it didnt effect the bugs you have.

But if it was my tank I would probably start it all over....drain it clean everything to get rid of the bugs and start fresh.

If I remember correctly from your other post you only had a betta in the tank. So starting fresh shouldnt be too hard to keep a good handle on the water parameters with such a small bioload but it will take longer to get a good cycle going. And being your ammonia is still showing .50 after all the water changes I would think the fish would be better off in fresh water dosed with some Prime until you can get it cycled. Plus the Prime would most likely take care of any ammonia that a small bioload would put out for awhile so that will help alot.

 

[DarkSoul]

I am pretty sure the 8ppm probably killed off any good bacteria you had..not sure why it didnt effect the bugs you have.

But if it was my tank I would probably start it all over....drain it clean everything to get rid of the bugs and start fresh.

If I remember correctly from your other post you only had a betta in the tank. So starting fresh shouldnt be too hard to keep a good handle on the water parameters with such a small bioload but it will take longer to get a good cycle going. And being your ammonia is still showing .50 after all the water changes I would think the fish would be better off in fresh water dosed with some Prime until you can get it cycled. Plus the Prime would most likely take care of any ammonia that a small bioload would put out for awhile so that will help alot.

ya I use prime, and only have a betta in the tank, the problem with starting over, is that the betta has no other home, and i dont want to put him back in his cup for a month or so until its all cycled.

also, I have a few plants, which i thought might take care of some of the ammonia, but hasn't seemed to at all. So if I ended up starting over what do I do with a betta to keep him in good health, and in a good home until the main tank is cycled again??
I also dont really have the money right now to purchase like a 3 gallon tank and filter for him to live in for a month.

Possibly a small 3 gallon and throw my hornwort in there with him until the main tank is all cycled?!?!?!?

like i said, im freakin lost.

 

[msjinkzd]

do you have another tank running at your home right now? also, i can't remember what size your beta tank is...but smaller tanks with such a light bioload are difficult to cycle. I would keep the beta in and do prolific waterchanges to keep your ammo down. If you have another tank (can't tell from your sig if that is an established one) why not clip some media from that tank to add to the filter on your beta tank.

 

[southpaw]

Basically what I am saying is what he is in now isnt cycled....so starting over would be the easiest method and just do a fishy cycle with him. The bioload of the one betta wont be alot and should be easy to keep a handle on with water changes. Since you are using Prime it will help in keeping the levels safe between water changes. And as mentioned above if you have another cycled tank transfer some media over to speed the process up.

Plus starting fresh should get rid of the bug issue you have been dealing with for awhile...and I think it would be worth it just for that reason.

 

[DarkSoul]

I dont have another tank setup, the one in my sig was put on hold to divert our funds towards some redecorating.

The tank the betta is in, is 35 gallon, with a decent number of plants. Since I have added the betta, I have NEVER seen an ammonia reading, or nitrite or nitrate..... well I seen nitrate once last week sometime, but im not even sure it was a true reading, it was only the ever so slightest change in the test colour.

I have had to change the filter pads out a couple of times, but the bio-wheel has always remained in the filter, or at the very least, wet in aquarium water, and isnt that the place where the bacteria are mostly growing?

I gotta keep checking for these bugs, as I just did a WC as soon as I got home, because the ammonia was still too high from the ammonium chloride I added.

gotta do another test to check the ammonia levels now, but the fish seems fine, he doesn't look or act as if the ammonia has caused him any harm.

I am concerned with his freakin fins, they always seem to heal up, or start to heal, and then they are frayed again.... there is also the matter of the clumps of fin growth, but that is to be solved when his fins are healed.

am I just worrying about nothing? do bettas all have pristine fins if they are in good health.

 

[DarkSoul]

ok, the bugs.... from what I can see, I have either 3 types, or two types with different forms.

the "larger" ones that I have seen, but dont currently see, look like 3 little white dots, connected together with tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny little string/leg things... or like, a body and legs/feet.

the second ones are worms, less than 1cm in length, they look just like a piece of root matter floating about until they move. just a little white strand.

the third ones, which might just be the baby "type ones" they look like sperm, plan and simple, they appear to have a body, with a tiny little tail, sperm/tadpole like, but smaller than a period . <-- yes that small or smaller.

Ive also just noticed that my fish seems to be eating them, I watched him eat a worm that was free floating, as well as one of the little tadpole things, and he even picked a couple off the glass.

he also seems to be extremely good at determining the bugs from tiny little air bubbles floating about in the tank... he eats the bugs, not the bubbles.

 

[CoreyMac]

Putting one fish that size in the 35G will be fine for a fishy cycle. It won't hurt the fish. Keep an eye on your parameters, but I would imagine you aren't going to get a whole lot of anything with one fish in there. I may be mistaken but I believe I have read that with a lot of water and such a small bio load you might not see much of anything while the tank is cycling. The key would be to add other fish, if you are planning on doing that, very slowly.

 

[southpaw]

Being it is a 35g then any ammonia would be diluted so much that it would take awhile for it to probably show on a test.

I still say break the tank down...get the bugs,worms ect. out and start fresh.... Then just put the betta back in and keep an eye on the water parameters. I think he will be fine especially with that big of a tank by himself for awhile as long as you do water changes and test the water pretty regular.

 

[CoreyMac]

Just for an example - I started a 55G with 5 juvie cichlids, 2 juvie striped raphaels, and 1 chocolate albino pleco. I never really showed anything on my tests. The cycle was slow but it went without a hitch. You should be fine doing a fishy cycle.