Bump in the Cycle process...need help!

[Pine Hurst South Farm]

Hey All!

Quick update...started a 38 gallon tank one month ago. Doing a fish in cycle and had been doing 10-20% water changes every couple days and only feeding once, every other day. My ammonia levels rose up to 1 and then dropped back down to zero. My nitrite levels rose to as high as 4-5 ppm and I couldn't seem to get those levels down. A friend suggested adding some live bacteria so I dosed my tank on week 3 with Fritz Zyme Turbo Start 700 for fresh water. With in 3 days of adding that bacteria, my Ammonia was zero, Nitrite was back to zero, and my Nitrate was also zero...PH has been steady at 7.5. I took those numbers as my cycle being complete. In some of the reading and advice from others, I should have been left with some level of Nitrate for the cycle to have been completed successfully...is that right?

As a beginner and thinking my cycle was complete and I'm good to go, I purchased some more fish. Here is how my week has gone, about week 4 of initial set up/cycle:
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I had parameters at Ammonia 0, Nitrite and -ate at Zero. I added new fish on Wednesday afternoon as well as 2 pieces of driftwood that I had soaking in a dechlorinated bucket of water for a few days. By Wednesday evening I had a spike in all three (Ammonia 1, Nitrite 1, Nitrate 10). Thursday afternoon I had Ammonia 2, Nitrites 4-5, and Nitrates around 80 or higher....I did an aggressive water change of 65-70% and added another dose of the live bacteria and dechlorinater. Now its Friday morning and my levels read (Ammonia .5-1 ppm, Nitrite 1-2 and my Nitrates around 20-40ppm). I am using API Master Test Kit for freshwater (sometimes its hard to determine the higher values).

This is what I am planning on doing unless advised otherwise. I'm going to purchase Seachem Prime and Stability. I will use the recommended dosage of Stability for 1 week as well as use the recommended dosage of Prime when I do 10-20% every other day water changes. Is there anything else I should be doing?
I am running a Penguin Bio wheel 200 filter with an intake sponge, but currently have 2 disposable cartridges in the filter. I plan to replace cartridges with sponge pad filters to "hot rod" the filter. I also have a separate sponge filter for up to a 40 gallon tank that I would also like to incorporate, but maybe will wait till I get my current situation under control.

Oh, and here's the icing on the cake. After the aggressive water change Thursday afternoon, I woke up Friday morning to my dwarf gourami having white spots on its fins and body...so now there is ick?! To deal with! I IMMEDIATELY removed him from main tank and put him in my smaller 10 gallon tank and dropped a fizzy tab of Ick clear. The package says to do daily 25% water changes as well. I guess I need to turn up the heater from 78 to 82 degress? This is becoming a discouraging hobby, but I know my lack of patience isn't helpful.

I currently have too many fish as well ( I know, made that beginners mistake too, and then added more when I though my cycle was done) Please don't comment on compatibility issues right now. I'm just trying to keep as my of my friends alive through this as possible! I can deal with tank mates ya or nay in the furture.
1 Cory Cat (original fish)
1 Bristle nose pleco (original fish)
3 Platy (2 original fish, 1 added Wednesday)
1 black balloon belly molly (original fish)
1 koi sword tail (added Wednesday)
1 small marble Angelfish (added Wednesday)
1 dwarf gourami (added Wednesday)
4 Cardinal tetra (added Wednesday)

PLEASE HELP! Thanks

 

[shabash]

For your fish with the “ick” if you’re sure it’s ich then do one or the other, NOT both. Since you’ve already “treated it” finish the treatment As per the instructions. In future, maybe consider using a treatment that doesn’t use chemicals rather use the heat option of raising the temp to kill off the ich parasite. Also of note, once You see the spots, the parasites are already present in the tank so isolation may not be enough Or even needed. The affected fish was just weakened by the move and or the water conditions thereby “comes down with ich.” If you use the heat method, you should add more surface movement so as to help with oxygenation.
You mention “hot rodding“ your filter. I would encourage this but for the time being, do NOT remove the cartridge until your tank is more established. Simply add any sponges you can fit without too tight a fit or collapsing the sponge as this is counterproductive to its function. The goal is to add more surface area for the growth of the beneficial bacteria. Removing the cartridge now would only stall whatever cycle you have.
Hope this helps.

 

[utahfish]

Take some lava rock and put it in your filter. Lava rock is inert and super porous which gives beneficial bacteria plenty of room to grow.
As for your compatibility issues youve asked for no comments but its really hard not to.
Ill say this with your current stock of fish the fish in your tank will be stressed, stress leads to disease which leads to death. Fix you water fix your compatibility issues and youll have less problems.

 

[Colin_T]

Remove the new driftwood and put it in a bucket of clean water. Test the ammonia levels in the bucket of water over a couple of weeks. The ammonia could be coming from the wood.

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Post a picture of the gourami with white spots so we can confirm it actually has whitespot.

If it does have Ichthyophthirius (whitespot), do a huge water change and complete gravel clean, then raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks. Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels in the water. The heat will kill the parasites and you won't need to use chemicals to treat it. The warmer water will also help speed up the cycling process.

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Don't waste your time doing 10-20% water changes. They are useless. If you are going to reduce ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or anything else in the water, do big (75%) water changes and gravel clean the substrate every day until the levels are back on 0
.
If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

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Don't replace filter pads/ cartridges because they hold beneficial filter bacteria that keep the ammonia and nitrite at 0. If they start to fall apart then you can replace them. Otherwise rinse them out in a bucket of tank water once a month and re-use them.

If you have to replace filter media/ materials, use sponges from another brand of filter and put them in the tank or filter for a month before removing the old media. This gives the new media a chance to develop some bacteria so the filter doesn't cycle again.

I use AquaClear sponges but there are other brands available. Just use scissors to cut them to the right size for your filter.

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Don't do anything else to the tank. Just let it run and in a couple of weeks it should have settled down.