Fishless Cycling

no clue about the jelly stuff. But most of the bacteria is in the filter not the decor. Although yes the decor and tank surface does have some bacteria. Dose your ammonia everyday to 2 ppm, until both the nitrite and ammonia are at 0.
I would say good thinking on the fishless cycle. I did a fishy cycle with my first fish. All but one died. That one has had several illnesses, and now has a mark on his lip from what may be an ammonia burn. I would never recommend a fishy cycle for anyone that is not using seeded material or bio spira.
 
Ah ha! After doing a lot of searching on the web, I found the following:

"Q: I have 4 pieces of lace rock in the freshwater tank which just finished cycling. We have started to notice a white filmy substance gorwing along the edges of one piece of lace rock. It is very filmy, but it is progressively getting worse. What is this?

"A: Lace rock is dug out of soil and usually has quite a bit of organic material on it. It is not unusual to see lichen and mossgrowing on lace rock in aquarium stores. The white stuff you see is bacteria and/or fungus growing on the rock. Removing it and giving it a good scrub down with a stiff bristle brush should take care of the problem. "


I have lace rock, and it does have lichen on it. I washed them off (I thought), but the clerk told me the lichen will not harm the fish and it makes the rock rather pretty. However, I'm guessing my clear jelly is what's mentioned above. I've been taking the rocks out and trying to scrub them off one by one (there's a lot of rocks in there LOL). Will this stuff travel I wonder? If I only take one out at a time, maybe it will move back to "clean" rocks. Eh.
 
I've found when each of my 3 tanks were cycling they all got a clear slimy film over just about everything (heater, plastic plants etc). Once the cycle was well and truly finished (about 6 weeks) it just went away. I'm guessing it's harmless cause the fish ate it. I have no idea what it is but I'm guessing it's related to ammonia/nitrite levels and the beneficial bacteria colonising everything.
 
I think they are different tanks. In this post, she is talking about a 55 gallon that she wants to use for Malawi Cichlids. In the other post, she is dealing with a 46 gallon with a mix of fish.
 
If different, why not just transfer media and start the new tank?
 
Thanks enrique; yes they are indeed different tanks. I feel pretty irresponsible right now due to my fish deaths in the 46-gal, but at least I know enough not to throw a bunch of fish in a tank with added ammonia. ;-)
 
Hmm, seems not everything I put in my posts gets read, Bob. ;-) LOL

I did transfer media and decor from my other tank to the new one. :-)
 
Sorry, I missed it...you would be surprised at what we see sometimes..:rolleyes:

What are your readings this morning and last dose?
 
My readings today were ammonia 0 (wow, yesterday it was pretty high; I added to equal 4.0), nitrites still off the charts at 5-10 (my test kit doesn't go over 5 lol), and very little nitrates.
 
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