Hi all!! I need some help.

[Nikkideanna2012]

This May be long so bare with me.
2 months ago we got a 10 gallon tank. We had it mostly cycled.
.25 ammonia
0 nitrite
5 nitrates

We upgraded tanks because we were overstocked and because we needed to move our tank so we just decided to get a bigger one. Well while we upgraded we accidently added tap water in with our tank water and my boyfriend accidently started the filter with our 10 gallon BB in it!!! I noticed almost right away and took it out but we aren’t sure if that killed our colony or not. Anyways, I think we may need to start over.

Our levels right now are
1.0 ammonia
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

We are using prime.
My question is what do we do? I’m not entirely sure if we lost our cycle or not. Monday we did a 50% water change and used prime and stability.
I would like to also add frequent water changes in our 10 gallon stalled our cycle.

3 mollies
2 fry
1 snail


Any help is appreciated!

 

[mikey11]

my boyfriend accidently started the filter with our 10 gallon BB in it!!!

what do you mean by this?

are you using the same filter on the new tank?

 

[Nikkideanna2012]

what do you mean by this?

are you using the same filter on the new tank?

Yes! we have the 20 gallon filter and the 10 on the 20.

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF.

Re the tap water and filter bacteria...if you have just chlorine in your tap water, it is unlikely to kill off the bacteria. It rather depends upon the levels of chlorine, exposure, etc, but nitrifying bacteria can usually survive. If you have chloramine as well in the tap water, it may be more effective, I'm not exactly sure.

I am confused about the numbers and tanks. I assume the fish listed are now in the 10g? Is there a filter in this tank now? Are the test readings for this tank?

 

[Nikkideanna2012]

Welcome to TFF.

Re the tap water and filter bacteria...if you have just chlorine in your tap water, it is unlikely to kill off the bacteria. It rather depends upon the levels of chlorine, exposure, etc, but nitrifying bacteria can usually survive. If you have chloramine as well in the tap water, it may be more effective, I'm not exactly sure.

I am confused about the numbers and tanks. I assume the fish listed are now in the 10g? Is there a filter in this tank now? Are the test readings for this tank?

Sorry I am bad at explaining! 10 gallon tank is gone. They are in the 20 gallon. We have 2 filters on it. The one that we bought for the 20 and the one from the 10 gallon. Because we needed that to transfer our media over from the 10 gallon.

 

[Byron]

Sorry I am bad at explaining! 10 gallon tank is gone. They are in the 20 gallon. We have 2 filters on it. The one that we bought for the 20 and the one from the 10 gallon. Because we needed that to transfer our media over from the 10 gallon.

OK. I would think you are OK here. The Stability does help (I've used it), and Prime added to water changes will detoxify ammonia, nitrite and nitrate though this is temporary. And these will still show in water tests even though detoxified. Prime is effective for 24-36 hours, after which the detoxified ammonia/nitrite/nitrate will revert to the toxic form if still present.

So, do daily tests of ammonia and nitrite (no point in testing nitrate regularly, just periodically for now), do a partial water change using Prime if these are detected.

 

[Nikkideanna2012]

We do have 1.0 of ammonia right now but our tap has 1ppm of ammonia too. We had .50 of ammonia on Monday and then we did a 50% water change and it went up to 1.0. I was told by someone to just dose prime and keep testing and not do a water change until it reaches 2.

 

[Byron]

We do have 1.0 of ammonia right now but our tap has 1ppm of ammonia too. We had .50 of ammonia on Monday and then we did a 50% water change and it went up to 1.0. I was told by someone to just dose prime and keep testing and not do a water change until it reaches 2.

When you have ammonia in the source water (tap water), you should use a conditioner that binds ammonia (like Prime) at water changes. This will detoxify the ammonia instantly, and by the time Prime wears off the bacteria and/or live plants in the tank will easily be able to take it up.

During cycling it is a bit more tricky obviously.

 

[seangee]

If your tap water is treated with chloramine it confuses the issue as it creates an ammonia reading on most test kits. I have also seen prime itself create an elevated reading if the dose is exceeded. As Byron says tap water is unlikely to kill off your BB and moving the entire filter from the 10G was the smart thing to do.

Keep monitoring and if the ammonia ever goes up treat it as a bad thing. Any plants you have in the tank will help - especially if they are fast growers.

 

[Nikkideanna2012]

When you have ammonia in the source water (tap water), you should use a conditioner that binds ammonia (like Prime) at water changes. This will detoxify the ammonia instantly, and by the time Prime wears off the bacteria and/or live plants in the tank will easily be able to take it up.

During cycling it is a bit more tricky obviously.

I use prime and have been since the 10 gallon!

 

[Nikkideanna2012]

If your tap water is treated with chloramine it confuses the issue as it creates an ammonia reading on most test kits. I have also seen prime itself create an elevated reading if the dose is exceeded. As Byron says tap water is unlikely to kill off your BB and moving the entire filter from the 10G was the smart thing to do.

Keep monitoring and if the ammonia ever goes up treat it as a bad thing. Any plants you have in the tank will help - especially if they are fast growers.

We don’t exceed the dose. We have been just doing 2 threads which is enough for a 20 gallon tank. What do you mean keep monitoring and if the ammonia goes up treat it like it’s a bad thing? We’ve had high ammonia before in the 10 gallon and did tons of water changes with prime. But I think our ammonia is pretty high now. (1.0) but our fish aren’t showing any signs of ammonia stress.
We do not have any plants.
I have heard tons of people say our bb was most likely killed off in the few seconds the tap water was in our tank with the filter running but it was mixed in with old tank water that was treated with prime the day before so I am confused why it would make us have to start over.

 

[Nikkideanna2012]

So if our BB wasn’t killed off shouldn’t it of taken care of the ammonia by now? It’s still 1.0 and has been for 2 days since our last water change on Monday.

 

[Byron]

So if our BB wasn’t killed off shouldn’t it of taken care of the ammonia by now? It’s still 1.0 and has been for 2 days since our last water change on Monday.

Water chemistry is not easy sometimes, and I try to be careful not to mislead anyone. There are a couple things here...first, do you have chloramine added to your water or just chlorine? This relates to both the filter bacteria being killed or not, and the ammonia appearing. Second, using bacterial products like Stability can affect readings of tests, from what other members have noted in older threads.

 

[Nikkideanna2012]

I have no idea how to find out what is in our tap. How do you find out?
And we’ve only used stability once since we upgraded tanks.

 

[Byron]

If you are on municipal water, your supplier/city/region may have a website, check there. Or you can call them and ask.