bacterial ???

[LMOUTHBASS]

ok here goes i set my tank up back in early june, unfortunately for me i didnt know anything about "fishless cycling" i wish i did because i woulve have done this, instead i have my tank with some amazingly hardy 3 gouramis, and 2 platies, and 2 mollies, ok so i constantly perform water changes, for about 3 weeks now my amonia has been 0 but my nitrite for a while was at 2.0 so i was doing daily or every other day 10-25% water changes, then one day i did a big 75% water change as i was getting fustrated, a few days later i checked my water and my nitrites were down to .50 i also got a very cloudly tank for a while with what looked like a milky substance, so i assume this was the bacterial bloom ive heard tons about, my nitrite then went to .25 - almost gone it then went back to .50 so i did another 75% change then went back all the way to 2.0 after what appeared to me as a week where my fish were moving their bowels continually i'm not sure if this has something to do with it - i dont even feed my fish often, once every other day as i was adivised - so i have now done another 75% water change, hoping this will finally complete it's cycling cause it seems everytime i do a big vchange i come so close to being there n then lose it,??? woul it help if i got some water from a friends established tank and put it in my tank with my next water change hoping to get some of his good bacteria??? assuming his tank parameters are ok??? or am i almost throuhg with this??? what shoul be my next step??? by the way i have a 20 g

 

[blade929]

hi LMOUTHBASS unless your fish are showing signs of distress dont do any water changes until your cycle has completed, this will only prolong the cycle, as you are finding out

 

[LMOUTHBASS]

oh

the fish are thriving actually , so you think that al these changes are slowing this thing up a little??? i thought you had tokeep changing it to get the nitrites out, but what your saying is makin sense cause it isnt helping with me changing the water i suppose, so unless the fish look out of it i guess the best thing is to just lv it alone for a while??? thanks

 

[kveeti]

In the land of Humogville, one of the most prestigious jobs is that of the Watermog. When the need arises, his job is to fill all the standard-sized buckets with water. It is a laborious task, indeed, and at maximum capacity he can only fill 10 buckets per hour. He does this continuously and tirelessly but, still, only 10 whether there are 50 Bucketmogs in the line or 100.

The bacteria will eat and multiply as fast as they can as long as there is any nitrite reading. Letting the amount of nitrite increase will not make them multiply any faster. The only way water changes will prolong things is if they are done enough to bring your readings to zero.

Or, you can look at it another way, if you wish. Even if it was true that water changes make it take longer, so be it. Letting nitrites rise enough so your fish actually show stress just subjects them to a higher degree of damage. It’s not worth it. You should worry more about the comfort of the fish than the length of the cycle.

 

[LMOUTHBASS]

the fish seem

very healthy at the moment , then again i'm sure its because i constanly change the water to keep everything safe for them for this, but its getting to be a pain to change water every other day, shoul i let the tank sit for a week before my next change or keep changing water ev 24-48 hrs??? which way is the best to get the nitrite out while not harming the bacteria colony forming - also how much water shoul i be changing ???

 

[Sumpin'fishy]

Personally, I wouldn't do anything more than a 50% waterchange at any one time. I would monitor the nitrite/ammonia levels every day until it is finished cycling. Make sure it doesn't get above 1ppm (for sure!) at any time. Try to keep them as low as possible. Too large of water changes and you risk drying out the bacteria that are forming along the inside walls of the aquarium as it is drained out and dries. You can also stress your fish with water changing temperature too quickly. This is also more work for you to do massive water changes. I would try 25% to 30% daily, or every other day, and move up to 50% if necessary!

Also, doing water changes every day will not harm your bacterial colonies one bit! The bacteria sticks to the surfaces in the tank and doesn't have more than maybe .5% of it in the water at any time. The gravel, filter, and decorations/plants are where they will form. Another thing that may help a bit is to get the temp up to 80 or 82 degrees (most fish are fine with this) and get some good current (or airation) to provide plenty of good oxygen to the tank. This should maximize the potential growth of your bacterial colonies.