"Dumb" Cycle Question - Nitrates "0" but...

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snoozin

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Mar 29, 2004
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"Dumb" Cycle Question - Nitrites "0" but...

Here's the deal. I started my tank around March 14; I let it sit a couple days (I did treat the water first), then bought several "cheap" fish. All but the Pleco and my "tiny" (NOT) apple mystery snail have died. I checked the water today, and the numbers are listed below. It appears the nitrites are "0", the nitrites are around 20. So... does this mean I can start adding fish (slowly) back in? I have some baby Mickey Mouse Mollies and Guppies (sorry, I know they're not real high tech and not real fancy, but I love those things) that I could add -- they've been in a "baby tank" since they were born. There's nothing else in the tank to attack them, so they'd be fine in there at this point.

Specifically: Nitrite = 0ppm (although it could be .1 -- just barely tinged); and Nitrate is at 20ppm.

More info as well -- The Nitrates and Nitrites were in the danger/unsafe levels (according to the test strips) last week. I also have done several partial water changes, the last 3 days ago.

So... bottom line... can I start adding those little fishies back? Go spend some more money at the store?
 
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I highly doubt your tank is cycled. If your nitrates are at zero (and you haven't done a water change), that means the nitrification process is stalled at some point. What do you mean that your nitrites are "fine"? What are your ammonia levels?

-Richer
 
"It appears the nitrites are "0", the nitrites are around 20. "

What does that mean?
 
Ok.. disregard my last post, looks like you edited your first post.

Still, I highly doubt that your tank is cycled... in general, it takes at least a month for a tank to cycle from scratch. If your tank is cycled, then it is probably cycled on a very light load, add any substantial amount of fish, and your tank will cycle all over again.

-Richer
 
OK. That makes sense... it seemed a bit too soon for the cycle to be completed. I will not add any fish, although I might add a couple of the babies... can't imagine they'd add too much ammonia to the system -- the pleco I'm sure will appreciate someone else swimming around the tank, too.

I appreciate the help and information!
 
Your tank is definitely not cycled yet. You should see a spike in both nitrite and nitrate. I didn't do it, but you should consider a fishless cycle or like I did buy some BIO-Spira (best bacteria colony product available), BIO-Coat, and BIO-Safe. I use all three of these products in combination and it really cycled my tank very quickly.
 
I didn’t see any thing about ammonia being added after the fish died. If that is true than the cycle would have started to hibernate and will start to die off. You need something to release or add ammonia so you can finish your cycle. I know it’s tuff to keep an empty tank but it has to be done.
 
Hold on, the pleco has been in this tank the whole time.

I suspect the pleco has been fed and has contributed to the ammonia level daily. The nitrites are zero, the nitrates are 20 after several water changes.

I think the tank *is* cycled, certainly enough for some tiny guppies.

But, you might be wise to let those babies grow up and not add new fish from the store. Or, just consider that they might be sacrificed if the new fish bring in any disease.

I didn't see how big this tank is, you know guppies and mollies will grow up and fill that tank, no matter what the size! I added 5 guppies to a 30 gallon, a week later I have 10 guppies. It has been another week, I can't wait to see how many there are now.
 
An even cheaper and ,imo, a safer way of boosting your biological bed is to add gravel or even part of the filter pads from one of your other tanks to the filter or the main part of the tank (if you are adding gravel). Depending on the types of filter you use it can be very easy to add. Also will usually stop all the cycling fish deaths you experience from ammonia and then nitrite spikes.
When I do this I tend to not see the normal spike in ammonia since the bio bed is already set to withstand the load of fish from the originating tank. By taking only some gravel or part of the filter media/pad/sponge you won't cut the bio bed in the existing tank too much.
Just make sure you stock **less** fish in the new jump started tank than in the one you borrowed the filter pad or sponge from. Same goes with gravel. Always stock less in a jumpstarted tank than in the one you borrowed from atleast for the first month then add one or two fish each month until you are at the level that is appropriate for the tank.
 
Thanks, all, for help on this!

Thank you everyone for your assistance. Tank seems stable, the babies are happy as clams (or is it guppies)... growing like weeds (or is it guppies)... will keep y'all posted as we start to add "real" fish.
 
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