Stalled Cycle?

[rainbowcharmer]

Hi all.

I'm not exactly new to the hobby, but took a brief hiatus for a couple of years and now am back into it. This is the first time that I've run into an issue with my tank not cycling quite as I had expected.

I have a 46 gallon bowfront freshwater.

Currently housed (and apparently happy, despite the nasty nitrites) are 2 zebra danios, one male betta, one clown loach and one rubber lipped pleco.

I have a list of fish that I will be adding once things even out, but the last couple of weeks have been a little weird for me.

The cycle had been going extremely well til now, but all the sudden my nitrites are spiked big time and staying up there. The ammonia dropped off to 0 2 weeks ago, which was normal, and the nitrites spiked, which was normal as well. What isn't normal (at least not in my past experience), is that though the nitrates have gone up quite dramatically, the nitrites show no sign of diminishing.

I'm doing 25% water changes every 3 days or so, and no difference before/after the water changes at all?? This seems a little odd to me that the levels do not even change in the slightest right after a water change...

The tank is about 2 months old now, and no fish lost (other than one danio who didnt look so happy to begin with - he died the day after I put him in the tank, and was returned to the store within an hour of his death).

Anyway, the danios were added 1st. No ammonia showed up on the readings for a week or two, so I added the betta. Still no readings, added the clown loach and the rubber lipped pleco (I know, prolly should have waited, but was overly excited about the pretty tank). Anywho - all seem happy, but this is getting old - testing the water every afternoon and finding that the levels haven't changed a bit.

Right now the Ammonia is at 0 (has been for weeks)
Nitrites are at 2ppm
Nitrates are at 40ppm.

What do I do now? Just continue with the water changes every couple of days and hope it figures itself out?

Thanks for any advice... The only suggestion the LFS had was to stop feeding them every day. I am not so much on that, since I do not overfeed by any stretch of the imagination. And I have not followed that advice, since the ammonia levels are fine.

Emms

 

[znk]

I'm just going to throw a few ideas quickly.
-Not enough biological media?
-Too much food?
-Filtration not strong enough?

 

[rdd1952]

Long term exposure to nitrite is very bad. Over the long haul, it may be more toxic than ammonia. You should be doing water changes often enough to get the nitrites back below .25ppm until they finally go back to zero. I would suggest doing 2 50% WCs tomorrow (monring and evening) and 2 more the next day to get the nitrite down as soon as possible. Then do a 15 to 25 percent change any time the nitrite gets back above .25 to .5 ppm. I would also do as the LFS says and only feed eery other day. They can easily go for 7 days or more without food. Limiting the feeding will keep the nitrite from rising so fast.

Having said that, I woud almost think you have a faulty nitrite kit. You should definitely be seeing a drop. What kind of test kit is it (liquid or strips) and if liquid, what brand and manufacture date?

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Hi All,

Emms is sick and sleeping, but I figured I'd at least thank y'all for your inputs.

First, there's 4 live plants (or will be once the fourth one grows) in the tank already. Should she add more?
Second, she does the feeding, I tend to just go oooh and aaaah when necessary -)), so that one's up to her.
Third, I believe the filter is actually one for a slightly larger tank... the store didn't have one for our exact tank gallons, so we got the next one up.

The paperwork in the kit is copyrighted 2007, and we bought the kit after about 2 weeks of owning the tank. We had another kit originally, a strip one, but Emms used this one before with her previous tanks and liked it better. It's a liquid kit - by API (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals). I don't see the actual box anymore, just the instructions, which like I mentioned are from 2007.

Emms tested the house water for the levels, I guess wondering if maybe the house water was off, but it tested perfectly on the two tests she did.

I'll make sure she gets the info tomorrow when the cold medication wears off... lol.

Thanks all,

Tray.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Good morning.

After a heavy dose of tylenol cold, I'm feeling slightly human now. But could certainly be better.

To answer the questions from yesterday, as my spouse did well... though not familiar with the tank much -

I have a Marineland power filter for use for 50 gallon tanks w/ a biowheel, so slightly more than what I need. I also have two media cartridges in the filter, since it has slots for two. Technically it says it only needs one, but I am more comfortable with two. I think my filter should be sufficient, and it seems to be running without issue.

I did a 50% water change this morning, and did not feed the fish last night, as would normally be my ritual. After the 50% water change, my nitrites are at 2ppm still, and my nitrates are at 20ppm.

I tested my tap water, and the nitrites and nitrates are both at 0, so I imagine the test kit is still functioning??

It's brand new, and as Tray said - it is from 2007.

I'll do another 50% change tonight, and hope that the nitrites drop, and I will not feed them yet again today.

Any other suggestions welcome...

Thanks...

Emms

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Ok, directly before the 2nd 50% water change the levels tested at 2ppm Nitrites, 20ppm Nitrates.
After the 2nd 50% water change, the levels are at .50 ppm Nitrites, and 10 ppm Nitrates.

Should I do another 50% tomorrow, or do 25% daily from here on out until the cycle completes?

Or are there other suggestions?

Thanks...

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Now I'm completely stumped.

I just checked the levels, intending on doing another 25-50% water change today, after the two changes yesterday only made a small dent in the Nitrites.

Both Nitrites and Nitrates tested at 0ppm. How is this feasible???

AFTER the 2nd water change yesterday the Nitrites were at .5ppm and the Nitrates at 10ppm... How can both be down to 0? At the very least, shouldn't the nitrates be somewhere at 10ppm or above?? They don't diminish without a water change, or at least not as far as I'm aware.

I do think that it's feasible that the nitrites could drop off to 0 if the cycle is finished - but the nitrates

I'm so confused now...

 

[littlest]

Nitrate tests can be tricky. You need to follow it exactly, making sure you shake the bottle for the required time, and the vial. I suggest you do the nitrate test again, time your shaking if necessary. It's quite easy to get false results in my experience. Other than that, plants can absorb nitrates, but I don't know whether plants would make that much difference in such a short time.
I take it there wasn't a water change in between nitrates being 10 and nitrates being zero?

 

[rainbowcharmer]

No - no water change between the 10 and the 0. That's what made me very confused.

I'll do the test once more and see what happens.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Ok. I tested again, and still have 0 nitrates.

I do have 3 plants in there - quite healthy looking, and growing well - but I'm not positive that they could have eaten the nitrates that quickly...

What I'm really worried about now is whether or not I reset the entire cycle - is this possible, that two 50% water changes yesterday would restart the whole thing?

I did add salt with the 2nd water change, to help the fish deal with the stress of two major water changes in one day. Would that affect the nitrates at all??

What are the odds that I've started the cycle over???

I did a quick check of ammonia (0ppm) as well, so I am quite worried at this point...

 

[rdd1952]

Only 3 plants should not have used 10ppm of nitrte in that time frame. Do you have any type nitrate removal sponge or media(zeolite or nitrozorb) in your filter that could be using them? Also, are you running carbon in your filter?

Also, I would not add salt to the tank with the clown loach in it. They are "scaleless" fish and it is generally considered that salt can burn their skin. I have never had any experience with them and have never used salt in any of my tanks as I can't see any need for it in a freshwater tank. It could actally add more stress rather than reducing it.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

I do not have any nitrate removal sponges or anything.

The filter cartridges do have carbon in them, could that be the cause of the instant nitrate drop?

And I'm still worried about the cycle starting over. Is that possible?

I've used salt in the past (with past clown loaches as well) without issue, but will be careful about it in the future. I put very small amounts in - 3 TBS for 40 gallons of water at the most.

I guess my biggest concern at this point is whether or not I should worry about the cycle restarting...

 

[rdd1952]

If there are fish in the tank, you are feeding them (which means there is waste) and the ammonia and nitrite are 0 then I don't think you have to worry about the cycle. If the bacteria had died out and the cycle restarted, you would have high ammonia again.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Good. That makes me happy.

I have never had cycle issues like this in the past - I don't know if it's the water in this house (when we moved here in 2004, that is when I gave up the two tanks that I had - just too difficult to try to move them)... or what.

Anyhow, I will continue to test the water for the next week and perhaps next weekend will consider adding another fish or two from my list.

Thanks for the input.

 

[znk]

Just something I'm throwing out there....You dechlorinate your water right?