oh no help! please

S

salty girl

salty girl
Nov 3, 2006
9
0
0
nm.
I am still cycling my tank with 50 pounds of live rock and 60 pounds of live sand. Have 3 damsels [yellow tail] and a bubble head that came with the rock and has been doing very well even though we were told that it might not survive. All was going great until had an accident happen. I had some brim shrimp defrosted and rinsed and loaded into an turkey baster and and and what can I say in my defense but next thing the whole aquarium looked like it had a Christmas snow falling. ooooh. Every body had a ball, but now what do I do? Isnt this going to shot-up my ammonia again? I will have to start over with cycling again? i am really distrought over this. My perameters just that morning was 0 ammonia and 0.05 nitrite. Thought I was on my way. I am sorry for this being soo long but please help.
 
This might be a silly question but when you say your tank looked like Christmas snow falling, what exactly do you mean? Was the white stuff from food dispersing everywhere or did the water turn cloudy in general?

How big is your tank? How far along are you into the cycle? i.e. how long have you had it up and running?

If the ammonia had already spiked, and now come back down to 0, your little incident may or may not cause another spike. If there aren't enough bacteria yet, it might cause a spike. If there are enough bacteria, they might be able to break it down to nitrITES. By the same token, you may or may not see another spike in your nitrITES. Lastly, if both ammonia and nitrATE bacteria are plentiful to break down the food, you probably will see a nitrATE spike. You probably will need to do a water change if it gets too high.

As Niko pointed out, give us the most recent water parameters (tested after the incident) and we might be able to get a better idea on what exactly might be happening/might happen.

But, calm down, its not THAT horrible of a situation since you're still cycling ... it might end up setting your cycle back a wee bit if that.

Cheers!
Yash
 
Thank-you for your concern. Yes, the snow I was refering to was all the little shrimp pieces fallen down. 100's oooh. I just now went to get another reading and I dont know why but the peramenters are still the same-ammonia 0.25 nitrite 0.05. Just wonder if maybe it will take a few days for a spike to happen? My tank is an 36 gal. bowfront with rena #2 and 1200 maxi-jet power head running. Will use a skimmer later if it really is nesesary with small tank. Do feel a bit better. Will keep posting. Don't want to throw in the towel just yet but not doing such a good job here and I did buy [and am reading] a book. I do have experience with 20 gal freshwater but is nothing like this. Thank-you again. :)
 
I would probaly say that you are still going through your cycling process if you only set the tank up on the 23rd as your ammonia and nitRITE are still up some what..I dont know the Rena filter you have, but if it contains media, just wash the filter media out in tank water every few days untill the shrimp storm has passed..

Glad you not ready to throw in the towel, the tank just needs time to settle down and for the eco-system to get properly established..

I cant see running a skimmer at this moment will make any difference unless it has a particle collection bag or sponge on it..If it has, then yes, set it running as any method you yank has of filtering out the shrimp particles, the quicker it will all be gone..

Hope this helps, and keep us all posted please of how its getting on..

Niko
 
IF you don't have enough bacteria to break down the ammonia, yes you should see a spike. But that might take a couple of days before the food decays, creating the ammonia. Though, you do have plenty of LR and live sand so you might not even see a spike. My advice would be to keep testing and watch the parameters. You didn't mention what your nitrATE levels were. If anything, you'll need to keep a close eye on that since they probably will shoot up if the NH3 and NO2 get broken down quickly. What are your nitrATE reading currently at?

Do keep us posted on the progress.

Cheers!
Yash
 
Good morning from the land of enchantment, So far things look good, :look: water is crystal clear and did just now take a reading for the nitrate and it came to a 10. Will keep an eye on it and will clean-out the canisters filters. Thank-you again soo much.
 
That is excellent news saltygirl! Just keep doing to water checks daily and you should be on your way real soon :) Let us know if any of the tests come out abnormal.

Cheers!
Yash
 
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