Help!!! Ammonia stuck at same spot during cycle

[drizzy_052248]

Ask the LFS for the numbers, or watch them do it. Go ahead an test your tap water, doesn't need to be dechlorinated, but it should read a little ammonia after you dechlorinate it if you have chloramine in your tap water. That's why I suggested also testing a sample of bottled water, if you happen to have any.

Do you have any plants in your tank? I am wondering whether adding some biological matter to your tank in the form of hardy plants would help your cycle along. You would want something like java fern or hornwort or water sprite since those plants are hardy and can tolerate ammonia and nitrites present in the tank. It would not change the cycle type, but I'm wondering whether the plants might come with some beneficial bacteria attached to help seed your tank.

How much visible rotting fish food do your have in your tank? If it it more than a 2cm x 2 cm area for every 10 gallons of tank volume, it might be a little much and you may be interested in doing a vacuuming of the gravel to clean it up a bit and see what that does to your numbers.

I just want to make sure I am understanding this correctly:
- your ammonia has been reading 0.25 for months
- your nitrites go down to 0 after a water change, and then go back up to 0.5 when you test the next day
- your nitrites are always zero when you test.

Is that right?

Thanks again for the reply. I might go to the LFS soon if i dont figure it out within the next month because i don think i can hang on any more after that lol. As for plants i do not, only silk artificial plants. I do see some rotten food, my tank is 10 gallons by the way, not big but just to start it up get some expeirence for the future. But i am scared of actually vacuming it because it might take some BB from the tank so idk. As for the test results yes my ammonia is usually around 0.25-0.50 as u can see in the picture, its like in the middle. For nitrites yes it goes to 0 after a water change and then the next day 0.25 something along those lines because i can never really tell the colors sometimes, but yes usually around 0.25-0.50. It was 0.50-1 when i did the water change btw idk if i mentioned that. And for nitrates its not 0, its like a really light orange, in the middle of 0-5.0 so i would say 2.5 ppm. And for testing the tap water ill do it rn but just to be clear dont add any dechlorinator right?

 

[mcordelia]

Yeah do it without dechlorinator. Honestly, if you are seeing all three (and make sure your tap water doesn't have nitrates), it sounds like your cycle is practically done. I think what's going on is you have so much fish food in there that it's producing more bioload than your tank can handle. It could be other things too, but it's very reassuring that you're seeing all three.

What fish are you planning on adding?

 

[drizzy_052248]

Yeah do it without dechlorinator. Honestly, if you are seeing all three (and make sure your tap water doesn't have nitrates), it sounds like your cycle is practically done. I think what's going on is you have so much fish food in there that it's producing more bioload than your tank can handle. It could be other things too, but it's very reassuring that you're seeing all three.

What fish are you planning on adding?

so should i test for all 3 from the tap water, nitrite, ammonia, and nitrate. Also as of rn im in love with the dwarf gourami so one of those and then a couple of cory catfish, probably peppered ones cuz i like those lol. and oh wow that is so good to hear lol, so should i stop adding food?

 

[mcordelia]

Yeah go ahead and test all three from the tap.

Then, assuming your tap water results are reasonable (0,0,<10), this is what I would do:
1) do a gravel vacuum to get all the rotting stuff out of your tank
2) do a 100% water change, and test 30min later. Ammonia should read up to 0.25 due to chloramine in your water, but nitrites and nitrates should be the same as your tap water (both ideally 0). If they are not, repeat steps 1 and 2.
3) wait 24h, and test again. You should have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and some nitrate.
4) post your results here and let us know what things are looking like. I am not sure which of those fish to advise you to get first, preferably the hardier one that will make less bioload, so possibly starting with the dwarf gourami.
5) if forum members say that everything checks out, get your first fish and test all parameters daily until you have 3 days of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. If either are not zero, do a 50% water change and test again 30 minutes later. Ideally, you should have a water conditioner that detoxifies (not removes or neutralizes) ammonia and nitrites such as Seachem Prime, so that you can help alleviate any stress on the fish from a possible ammonia/nitrite spike.

 

[drizzy_052248]

Yeah go ahead and test all three from the tap.

Then, assuming your tap water results are reasonable (0,0,<10), this is what I would do:
1) do a gravel vacuum to get all the rotting stuff out of your tank
2) do a 100% water change, and test 30min later. Ammonia should read up to 0.25 due to chloramine in your water, but nitrites and nitrates should be the same as your tap water (both ideally 0). If they are not, repeat steps 1 and 2.
3) wait 24h, and test again. You should have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and some nitrate.
4) post your results here and let us know what things are looking like. I am not sure which of those fish to advise you to get first, preferably the hardier one that will make less bioload, so possibly starting with the dwarf gourami.
5) if forum members say that everything checks out, get your first fish and test all parameters daily until you have 3 days of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. If either are not zero, do a 50% water change and test again 30 minutes later. Ideally, you should have a water conditioner that detoxifies (not removes or neutralizes) ammonia and nitrites such as Seachem Prime, so that you can help alleviate any stress on the fish from a possible ammonia/nitrite spike.

Ok i will post my tap water results here so dont go anywhere lol, itll take maybe 5 mins, and yes ill do those things if it comes back good

 

[drizzy_052248]

Yeah go ahead and test all three from the tap.

Then, assuming your tap water results are reasonable (0,0,<10), this is what I would do:
1) do a gravel vacuum to get all the rotting stuff out of your tank
2) do a 100% water change, and test 30min later. Ammonia should read up to 0.25 due to chloramine in your water, but nitrites and nitrates should be the same as your tap water (both ideally 0). If they are not, repeat steps 1 and 2.
3) wait 24h, and test again. You should have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and some nitrate.
4) post your results here and let us know what things are looking like. I am not sure which of those fish to advise you to get first, preferably the hardier one that will make less bioload, so possibly starting with the dwarf gourami.
5) if forum members say that everything checks out, get your first fish and test all parameters daily until you have 3 days of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. If either are not zero, do a 50% water change and test again 30 minutes later. Ideally, you should have a water conditioner that detoxifies (not removes or neutralizes) ammonia and nitrites such as Seachem Prime, so that you can help alleviate any stress on the fish from a possible ammonia/nitrite spike.

Hey so surpisingly all my tests came back 0, i thought it would contain chloramime but i guess not lol. So now i should do a 100% water change? then test it 30mins later right? but im scared to do this because wouldnt it jus take most bb away and then restart the cycle?

 

[drizzy_052248]

Yeah go ahead and test all three from the tap.

Then, assuming your tap water results are reasonable (0,0,<10), this is what I would do:
1) do a gravel vacuum to get all the rotting stuff out of your tank
2) do a 100% water change, and test 30min later. Ammonia should read up to 0.25 due to chloramine in your water, but nitrites and nitrates should be the same as your tap water (both ideally 0). If they are not, repeat steps 1 and 2.
3) wait 24h, and test again. You should have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and some nitrate.
4) post your results here and let us know what things are looking like. I am not sure which of those fish to advise you to get first, preferably the hardier one that will make less bioload, so possibly starting with the dwarf gourami.
5) if forum members say that everything checks out, get your first fish and test all parameters daily until you have 3 days of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. If either are not zero, do a 50% water change and test again 30 minutes later. Ideally, you should have a water conditioner that detoxifies (not removes or neutralizes) ammonia and nitrites such as Seachem Prime, so that you can help alleviate any stress on the fish from a possible ammonia/nitrite spike.

I will do the water change tmrw since i will test it tmrw (cuz i stopped feeding for couple days) cuz the first person said to maybe try this out, ill update my results tmrw and if its the same ill do what u said and do a 100% water change and only vaccum a little amount cuz idon wanna risk the cycle back to the beggining. See you tmrw!

 

[mcordelia]

Hi, yeah sorry I needed to go to sleep ?

If you tested without using water conditioner, it is correct that you would have tested for 0 ammonia. Most tests will not read chloramine, so if you want to test to see if you have chloramine, you can test a tap water sample after dechlorinating it. I am glad you were able to measure all zeros, it helps verify your test kit is working correctly, and it also tells us that the nitrates you are seeing are due to the cycle, not because they were there to start with.

Doing a 100% water change will not remove the beneficial bacteria, since it does not live in the water predominantly. It mostly lives on your filter and your substrate. I would not advocate stirring the substrate but would advocate for a gentle gravel vac (hover above visibly obvious fish food bits) to get most of the rotting food out.

Yes, I'm curious to hear what your results are today, and it is good that you are being patient with this it sounds like you are on the right track!

 

[drizzy_052248]

Hi, yeah sorry I needed to go to sleep ?

If you tested without using water conditioner, it is correct that you would have tested for 0 ammonia. Most tests will not read chloramine, so if you want to test to see if you have chloramine, you can test a tap water sample after dechlorinating it. I am glad you were able to measure all zeros, it helps verify your test kit is working correctly, and it also tells us that the nitrates you are seeing are due to the cycle, not because they were there to start with.

Doing a 100% water change will not remove the beneficial bacteria, since it does not live in the water predominantly. It mostly lives on your filter and your substrate. I would not advocate stirring the substrate but would advocate for a gentle gravel vac (hover above visibly obvious fish food bits) to get most of the rotting food out.

Yes, I'm curious to hear what your results are today, and it is good that you are being patient with this it sounds like you are on the right track!

Thank you!!! I rlly appreciate ur help! here are the test results, I will attach a pic, sadly.. still the same results

 

[drizzy_052248]

Thank you!!! I rlly appreciate ur help! here are the test results, I will attach a pic, sadly.. still the same results

 

[mcordelia]

So yeah you have a choice based on what we have learned since yesterday. You can take a breather for a few days, do nothing, and re-test in three days, or you can clean the tank, do a water change and see where that puts you.

Looking at your pictures, I am personally inclined to "do nothing" for three days and then test again. There's no harm in that, whereas doing the water change now could set you back a bit if your cycle just needs a little more time. Nothing looks so high that your cycle would be stalled, so I think it's a safe bet testing again in 3 days. At that point, your nitrates should be higher and your ammonia and nitrites should be lower.

How do you feel about that kind of a plan?

 

[drizzy_052248]

So yeah you have a choice based on what we have learned since yesterday. You can take a breather for a few days, do nothing, and re-test in three days, or you can clean the tank, do a water change and see where that puts you.

Looking at your pictures, I am personally inclined to "do nothing" for three days and then test again. There's no harm in that, whereas doing the water change now could set you back a bit if your cycle just needs a little more time. Nothing looks so high that your cycle would be stalled, so I think it's a safe bet testing again in 3 days. At that point, your nitrates should be higher and your ammonia and nitrites should be lower.

How do you feel about that kind of a plan?

Honestly that works out perfect for me lol, ill be sumwhere else for the next couple days anyway probably sunday so it works out perfect.

 

[drizzy_052248]

So yeah you have a choice based on what we have learned since yesterday. You can take a breather for a few days, do nothing, and re-test in three days, or you can clean the tank, do a water change and see where that puts you.

Looking at your pictures, I am personally inclined to "do nothing" for three days and then test again. There's no harm in that, whereas doing the water change now could set you back a bit if your cycle just needs a little more time. Nothing looks so high that your cycle would be stalled, so I think it's a safe bet testing again in 3 days. At that point, your nitrates should be higher and your ammonia and nitrites should be lower.

How do you feel about that kind of a plan?

So i dont need to feed anything right? cuz idon want any more ammonia in there as of rn right?

 

[mcordelia]

Perfect! Literally walk away from the tank for the next 3 days. You can look, but not touch

 

[drizzy_052248]

Perfect! Literally walk away from the tank for the next 3 days. You can look, but not touch

Ok sounds good! thank you so much again!