Cycling Gone Back To Beginning ?

[kateyoup]

Hello from Scotland everyone, I only joined the forum todayy and already have become a complete addict.

I got a 56 litre Jewel Rekord aquarium in mid November, filled the tank with water, added conditioner, got to the correct temp etc, and then waited until 2nd December and added some fish, after reading a book on tropical fish (which never even mentioned cycling)! At this time I was unaware of fishless cycling, and unfortunately took the advice of my LFS and added 3 zebra danios and 7 neon tetras. Fortunately, shortly after adding the fish I discovered a fish forum and immediately went out and bought a master liquid testing kit. To keep ammonia and Nitrite levels down, I was doing a 50 percent water change every couple of days, and nitrite levels started to show so I knew that the tank was beginning to cycle.

However, last week when I tested the tankwater, the nitrite was at zero, and has been at that level ever since. Ammonia levels continue to rise as normal and I am continuing with the water changes, but I don't understand why the cycle has returned to square one. All fish are very healthy, and now I have a bucket load of danio fry.

The only thing I have done was to remove some of the gravel as it was a bit deep, and clean the tank decorations as algae was forming on them. Can anyone shed any light as to why this may have happened - I would be very grateful as it's very frustrating and I don't want my fish to suffer. Thank you

Kate Shocked

P.S. I also have 17 ten day old zebra danios which I found when cleaning the gravel - I am keeping them in a nursery net inside the tank.

 

[WILDER]

Never touch the gravel or ornaments till the tank has cycled, if you have to preform a water change as fish are looking stressed, smaller one's as large one's dalay the cycle.

 

[kateyoup]

Well, it's been another week, and I still don't have any nitrite or nitrate reading. I've had fish in the tank now for over two months. I added some stress zyme last week, but it's not made any difference. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why the tank isn't cycling?

 

[glolite]

The tank will have started to cycle, don't worry unduly, just keep testing for ammonia and nitrites and do small water changes as Wilder said if any nitrites or ammonia are present. It's a lot more work to cycle with fish but it is possible with careful monitoring. If your LFS (local fish store) will give you some gravel from one of their tanks, then put it in a thin sock or one leg from a pair of tights and float this in your tank as the good bacteria will help to build up in your tank and speed up the cycle.

 

[pokagon55]

here try this sight:http/faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html Let the water ride for a bit and let the tank age a bit. Depending on the ph level you can have ammonia in your tank with no problems during the cycle. What is your ph reading?

And I agree with Wilder on the cleaning...not a good idea....change just the water small one's not large one's. The water change during the cycle is only for the stress reduction of the fish because of to much ammonia or nitrites. Other than that let the water in the tank age.

You could google the NITROGEN CYCLE it will help you

 

[kateyoup]

Thanks for that. The pH reading is 7.5. Oops - I did a 50 percent water change last night as the ammonia was at 0.6. Still no nitrite reading though.

My tank is 56 litres - how much water would you recommend that I change, and how often? I think perhaps I have been overdoing the water changes a little