From 10 Gallon To A 37 Gallon

[Andrea12]

hello,well im sad just got back from my son getting his tonsils out and i lost a neon fish,all my levels are still showing oppm and nitrate 5ppm,and i've been dealing with this cloudiness for like a week it just won't go away,I 've done water changes gravel clean nothing is working,i am getting worried expecially now that i lost a neon if anyone has any suggestions that would be great.Thanks

Andrea12

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Andrea,

I've lost track of how many days you've been fish-in cycling but it nearly always takes more than a month and sometimes two months to complete a fish-in cycle and no longer see spikes in ammonia or nitrite levels. So what is happening to you is normal and the bacterial bloom is just a further sign that you are still within the cycling period.

Fish-In cycles are fairly boring and frustrating. You just keep going and going with lots of water changes and finally, eventually, you find that you can go two whole days with no traces of ammonia or nitrite and you haven't changed water. Then if you can go a whole seven days like that it's pretty safe to feel you are cycled.

You neon problem may be partially unrelated. Neon tetras are best introduced to a tank only after it is 6 months (not a typo) old. It's just an observation that experienced aquarists have made over the years, the reason behind it is not understood. Neons also have a very difficult time with transport and are sensitive to cycling situations but the 6 month thing seems more significant than those. Anyway, losing a neon in a new tank does not necessarily mean you are doing a bad job with your fish-in cycling.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Andrea12]

Hi Andrea,

I've lost track of how many days you've been fish-in cycling but it nearly always takes more than a month and sometimes two months to complete a fish-in cycle and no longer see spikes in ammonia or nitrite levels. So what is happening to you is normal and the bacterial bloom is just a further sign that you are still within the cycling period.

Fish-In cycles are fairly boring and frustrating. You just keep going and going with lots of water changes and finally, eventually, you find that you can go two whole days with no traces of ammonia or nitrite and you haven't changed water. Then if you can go a whole seven days like that it's pretty safe to feel you are cycled.

You neon problem may be partially unrelated. Neon tetras are best introduced to a tank only after it is 6 months (not a typo) old. It's just an observation that experienced aquarists have made over the years, the reason behind it is not understood. Neons also have a very difficult time with transport and are sensitive to cycling situations but the 6 month thing seems more significant than those. Anyway, losing a neon in a new tank does not necessarily mean you are doing a bad job with your fish-in cycling.
hey there thanks for info,i have been cycling since dec.20 butihave had no ammonia or nitrite for a week,as for my neons 1 dyed so my husband took himoutand im missing the other 3 cant find them at all.So how long will this cloudiness go on,im doing water change only because of cloudiness,should i maybe change the spunge in filter>Thanks

Andrea12
~~waterdrop~~

 

[waterdrop]

You are probably nearing the end of your fish-in cycle. Bacterial blooms are usually not helped by water changes. They just eventually go away on their own, once the organics are used up by the heterotrophic bacteria that are blooming. So you just have to ignore the bacterial bloom and proceed based on other things.

Unless you are seeing a reduction in flow through the filter, I would probably give it another week before a very gentle, light rinse of the sponge in tank water. If you are getting reduced flow you could go ahead and do that now, but it may set your cycle back a bit. Make sure that your gravel cleans are deep when you do a water change, that will help ensure that there is less debris and nitrate present in the tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Andrea12]

You are probably nearing the end of your fish-in cycle. Bacterial blooms are usually not helped by water changes. They just eventually go away on their own, once the organics are used up by the heterotrophic bacteria that are blooming. So you just have to ignore the bacterial bloom and proceed based on other things.

Unless you are seeing a reduction in flow through the filter, I would probably give it another week before a very gentle, light rinse of the sponge in tank water. If you are getting reduced flow you could go ahead and do that now, but it may set your cycle back a bit. Make sure that your gravel cleans are deep when you do a water change, that will help ensure that there is less debris and nitrate present in the tank.

~~waterdrop~~

Ok,that would be nice if i was near the end.The flow is still really good,the spunge gets really gunked,so i have just lightly sqeezeed it off in pail of fish water.So maybe i should have not squeezed the spunge yet.And yes i do a deep gravol change.Thanks so much.Have a good night,


Andrea12

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds like you did the right thing. If the sponge gets a lot of debris then it's probably better to free it of some of that like you did. Any setback is very minor: you can picture the majority of autotrophic bacteria being tightly attached to the actual biomedia (the sponge typically) like a brown stain. Some of them will be attached to the debris itself and be lost but they are very much in the minority and de-gunking makes the flow better, giving the bacteria access to more oxygen, so the whole process goes better.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Andrea12]

Sounds like you did the right thing. If the sponge gets a lot of debris then it's probably better to free it of some of that like you did. Any setback is very minor: you can picture the majority of autotrophic bacteria being tightly attached to the actual biomedia (the sponge typically) like a brown stain. Some of them will be attached to the debris itself and be lost but they are very much in the minority and de-gunking makes the flow better, giving the bacteria access to more oxygen, so the whole process goes better.

~~waterdrop~~

hey there just wondering if u could help,i came home todasy and found my favorite black puffer molly floating,he seemed to have a little hole on side of him and when i took him out all this creamy color stuff came oozing out,he was perfectly fine in am had know signs of stress or disease,do u know what it could have been and if i should treat the tank if it is disease,I do regular water changes and all my levels have been good.Thanks

Andrea12

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Andrea, It sounds like it could have been an internal infection. Even though you did a really good job, given your situation, you have to remember that it was a fish-in cycling situation with a large bioload and as such it would have caused a lot of the kind of stress that leads to disease situations in tropicals. My own reaction would be to do a sequence of two large water changes, one after another.

It may be that someone over in the emergencies section could look at the symptoms you describe and at your thread here to get the history and do a better job of helping you understand the "why" of your particular disease situation. That depends on whether we've got anyone working that section.

~~waterdrop~~