OK, I admit I screwed up!

maxthedog123

maxthedog123

Can't have too many Tiger Barbs...
Jun 6, 2007
604
0
16
Cincinnati, OH
Since I am an expert after my 55g has been running without a hitch for 8 months, I made decisions about my new 30g that weren't the brightest.

I set up the decor - rocks, driftwood, lots of plants. Most of the plants came from my 55g. I took a little bit of gravel and put bio balls from my 55g in the HOB in the 30g. I borrowed a couple of guppies to generate some bioload for a couple of days. Since there was no ammonia or nitrite, I figured I was smart enough to get the bio filter establish, so I threw in the glowlight tetras and the rainbows....

2 days later the fished looked stressed and I measured .5 ammonia, .25 nitrite and 10 nitrate. I think I was correct that I had bacteria in the tank, but I obviously crashed the bio filter. I changed 50% of the water and my girlfriend said, "why don't you put the filter media from the 20g like you did the last time?" DUH! So I did. The next morning (yesterday), ammonia was 0 but nitrite was .5, so I did another significant water change. Checked again later afternoon and saw nitrites of .25 (ammonia still 0). I did a water change and came up with 0 nitrites. Recall that the API liquid nitrite test has 0 and .25 as the first 2 values, so it may not really be zero.

I think things are settling down, but this afternoon I noticed a couple of the glowlights have a little bit of a raggy look to their tails and dorsal fins. Most likely finrot? I know it's caused by stress (and I caused it).

QUESTION: Planning on some regular small changes 10-20% each day or two as long as the nitrites seem under control. Anything else I should do? I think with the filter media I've got the bio filter going in the right direction. Should I just keep an eye on the glowlight fins? At what point do you medicate? I concerned if I medicate I will kill what bio filter I have and I'm worried about the plants.

I was meticulous about following the "rules" when I set up my 55g. I am hoping I haven't injured the fish in the 30g. The lower 30g has rocks and wood in it. I've borried up a couple of guppies for that tank and I PROMISE I won't stock it until I'm sure the biofilter is working. When I do stock, it will be SLOWLY!
 
sounds about right, You didn't crash the bio-filter, it was just playing catchup, Since there was no bacteria in your tank, and the bio-balls may not have had enough bacteria on them to handle the extra load. Your on the right track.

Same thing happened when I tore down the tank and started over (greenwater), pot scrubbie had bacteria, just not enough to handle the tank mates, because I had bacteria in the sand bed and the floss. So there was a slight mini-cycle, but its over.

EDIT: Also, if you do need to medicate, you may want to put them in a quaritene tank.
 
yup sounds like there just was not enough bacteria, but you're on top of it. The bacteria reproduce exponentially so you are likely through the worst - and you already know to stock slowly. Don't add more than the current bioload every week to ten days, monitor carefully and you should be good as gold.

Its unlikely that you've done any significant & lasting harm to the fish.
 
First, when establishing a new tank I don't try to fight bacterial ecology and let the buggers establish where they want to. For all we know the bio-balls had only a couple hundred bacterium on them - which is another reason I detest why those type of products are marketed. We know that gravel has bacteria in it, so a couple handfulls of that insures a good seeding.

Next, while the water changes diffused ammonia/nitrite, this only prolongs the cycle process by starving bacteria colonies.

What I would have done is moved a 'junk' fish from your current tanks into the new one for a few weeks and had them cycle it for you. Your sig says you have giant danios, and a couple of them would be perfect to start the new tank given they eat like pigs and are pretty hardy.

Tetras of any sort aren't a good idea to start a new tank, but if they are healthy they'll tolerate the move.
 
Thanks for the confirmation all - I felt like I was taking the right steps, but you always feel better when you make sure.

Blasterman - the "bio balls" were from my canister filter on my 55g. I sure HOPE they had bacteria on them!!

Should I just take a wait and see approach to how the glowlight fins look? Again, it's 2 of the fish.
 
no prob :)

keep an eye on them - its probably not full blown fin rot, but stress related, and they may have been doing a bit of nipping as they sort themselves out in the new tank. a dose of melafix is great for speeding up that recovery. as long as you are on top of the water paramters they are fine.

you could also dose some Seachem Prime if you have a spike and can't do a water change; it detoxifies ammonia and at higher concentrations as per bottle, nitrite.
 
blasterman_ said:
First, when establishing a new tank I don't try to fight bacterial ecology and let the buggers establish where they want to. For all we know the bio-balls had only a couple hundred bacterium on them - which is another reason I detest why those type of products are marketed. We know that gravel has bacteria in it, so a couple handfulls of that insures a good seeding.
Click to expand...

:eek3:

::sighs:: firstly, your bio-media is your most important media in a filter, Doesn't matter what you use. However, say you have a filter with no bio-media, need to tear down your tank and do a real good cleaning (for various reasons), as well as possibly, change out your filter bad (where the majority of your bacteria resides). Now you have little to know bacteria, and your looking at 2 week re-cylce, at least.

In fact, you can call me an idiot and all that for wasting my money on these bio-balls, but I plan on making a second canister for my DIY filter, and will include nothing BUT bio-balls (nano-balls). 1 day mini-cylce in the event of a complete tear down, beat that.
 
UPDATE:

This morning the 30g nitrite test is between the 0 and .25 colors on the API test. No time to change water before work. I'll test again tonight. It has been about 18 hours since last water change, so I think things are settling down. WHEW!

Nitrate is another intersting topic. I am showing a reading of 5. In my heavily planted 55g I rarely show a reading of anything but 5 or 10. Checked my local water company website and they say my area has nitrate readings of 1.17-2.69ppm over the past year.
 
maxthedog, glad to see things are settling down for you.
you may find the nitrite gone when you get to do the water change. but by all means test the water and change as needed.

blasterman, bio balls are generally used in filters as bio media,,,they have a large surface area on them for bacteria to establish. as mentioned by another poster..most of the beneficial bacteria will establish in the filter..primarily due to the high amount of water passing thru the filter providing the bacteria with what it needs to survive.
water changes will not significantly slow the cycling process.
 
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