Cycling Confusion

[tennis4you]

I am having trouble with my 125 gallon tank. It has been perfectly fine for a year. It started stinking really bad a week ago, I pulled out the huge new castle (hoping it was the problem) and then did a ton of cleaning. Probably too much cleaning because now my ammonia is up at 2.0. I have been doing some water changes (no cleaning) for 5-6 days now trying to get through the cycling process. BUT...
Well, I am trying to figure out how I am doing int he cycle process but this one has fried my brain.

Ammonia is at 2.0 which is crazy but OK... Nitrites are at Zero. I thought I needed Nitrites to get the cycle underway. What is going on here? And my tank still stinks too. This is starting to really bum me out. Are my fish going to suck on this Ammonia forever without Nitrites?

Not only that but the tank still stinks some, not as bad as it did though. I am at a 100% loss...

 

[rdd1952]

It sounds as if you have had a fish die and the decomposing is causing the high ammonia and the smell. Are all fish present and accounted for? A major cleaning can sometimes cause a mini-cycle but it shouldn't be huge. The fact that you aren't seeing nitrite probably means that the NOB are able to process the nitrite as soon as it is produced. Are your nitrates rising?

Just continue the water changes and it should end soon.

 

[tennis4you]

All fish are accounted for, that was the first thing I looked for when the foul smell started. I put a huge new fishie castle in the tank a week ago, I took it out, soaked it in salt water for 3 days then ran it through the dish washer (no soap) on the rinse cycle 4 times and put it back in. I am not sure if it is an issue or not.

I have turned over every rock and then some. I even took out semi-dying leaves off of any plants.

Once I took out the castle for the few days and started water changes it got better, but not 100%. The smell was very bad before, now it is much better but you hits you when you open a lid.

As far as the Nitrates, they are at 5.0 - 10.0. So why the Ammonia? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[rdd1952]

Do you have sand or gravel for a substrate? If sand, it's possible that you ended up with a build up of gas in the sand and it somehow was released. Here is a thread that explains it a bit (see post #2). I'm not certain how that may effect the beneficial bacteria though and why you would end up with a ini cycle.

 

[tennis4you]

Using gravel, I have never ventured into sand.

 

[tennis4you]

I don't think this has anything to do with it, but I thought I should throw this out there.

I had recently thrown a piece of blanched broccoli in the tank for the snail and the pleco. Usually I leave it in the tank for 2-3 day and then throw it away. The last two times I did this I never found the broccoli. I do have rope fish now, but the chunks of broccoli were decent size and not easily swallowed. I have turned over every rock and everything in the tank, I do not see it in there, but I figured it was worth the mention.

 

[rdd1952]

I guess it's possible that it could have decayed and caused the higher ammonia but doubtful. The bacteria should have been able to keep up with the increasing level. It's not like it just suddenly decomposes overnight. Maybe someone else can shed some light as I am at a loss right now.

 

[billy0510]

sorry ive talk to a few of my fish buddies and they r just as lost as i am. Sorry and good luck

 

[tennis4you]

Well, one of my reliables at another fishie forum told me this (and it sounds good to me for now, just thought I would share):

You have ammonia because the tank became unstable and the fish in the tank produce more ammonia than the bacteria in the tank can currently manage.

You have nitrates because, while the tank did become unstable, there was still some productive bacteria in there, continuing to break down some of the ammonia being produced.

You probably don't have nitrites yet because you haven't hit that part of the cycle yet.

So basically, you have a new cycle, building on top of your old cycle. There are happy bacteria that have continued their normal lives, while a new suburbia is being built around them. You can expect all the normal parts of the cycling process, but you will still show nitrates the entire time.

The bottom line always boils down to patience.

 

[rdd1952]

While I don't have an answer for the problem, I'm not certain I agree with his assessment. First, you noticed the odor and did some cleaning. Since you didn't mention anything other than removing the new decoration and doins some cleaning, I'm assuming you didn't check the ammonia then. It could have been high before all that.

Also something I didn't notice in your original post is you asked about nitrite and needing nitrite to get the cycle underway. Nitrite is actually produced when ammonia is processed. Most likely the nitrite processing bacteria are keeping up with the ammonia that is being processed, thus a rise in nitrate.

 

[tennis4you]

Thanks!

One other thing I thought I should mention. 3 weeks ago I put (3) fertilizer sticks in the tank under 3 of the plants that were hurting. For any reason would these make the tank stink? This is the ones I bought and I am using: http/www.amazon.com/Nutrafin-Plant-Gro-F...s/dp/B00025K1IE

 

[rdd1952]

I wouldn't think they would be a problem. I used something similar without any problems (they didn't help my plants though).