Cycling Question

diana888

diana888

New Member
Hi, I am confused about my cycling test results. I have 2 fish in the tank right now plus a shrimp and a crab. The fish are a clown and a yellow tang. Here are my test results:
Aug. 6th
ph - 8.4
nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0.05
ammonia - between 0.5 and 1.0
(did 20% water change Aug7th)
Aug 8th
ph - 8.4
nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0.1
ammonia - .05
Aug 10th
ph - 8.4
nitrate - 2.5
nitrite - 0.15
ammonia - 1.0
Can anyone tell me if this is normal for the cycling process? It seems odd to me, with what little info I know.
Thank you for your help!
 
keebler

keebler

Member
WHOA!!! you need to get that livestock out right now and return it. Sorry to bust your hump, but you can't cycle a tank with livestock in it. The point of cycling is to build up bacteria to prepare the tank for livestock so that they aren't harmed. Ammonia and nitrites are detrimental to fish! Read up on fishless cycling. For future reference, when cycling a tank, to introduce an ammonia source, use only nonliving sources. These sources can be a dead shrimp from the supermarket, some fish food, or even your own urine (this way is harder to do and may require a stepladder), do not use live fish. What size is the tank?
 
jpkboca

jpkboca

Member
Originally Posted by Keebler
http:///forum/post/2717836
WHOA!!! you need to get that livestock out right now and return it. Sorry to bust your hump, but you can't cycle a tank with livestock in it. The point of cycling is to build up bacteria to prepare the tank for livestock so that they aren't harmed. Ammonia and nitrites are detrimental to fish! Read up on fishless cycling. For future reference, when cycling a tank, to introduce an ammonia source, use only nonliving sources. These sources can be a dead shrimp from the supermarket, some fish food, or even your own urine (this way is harder to do and may require a stepladder), do not use live fish. What size is the tank?
Hahaha, sorry had to laugh at the urine comment, yes I know it's ammonia but picturing someone urinating in their tank is very humorous.
 
invertcrazy

invertcrazy

Member
It appears your tank is not done cycling yet. Ammonia and nitrites should be at 0 before you add any livestock. IMO you should ask your local fish shop to hold these fish and inverts for a couple of weeks until your tank finishes cycling. Ammonia and nitrites are lethal to fish and inverts. Ammonia burns the gills of fish, that is why it is not recommended to use fish to cycle a tank. See if your lfs will test your water for you to see if they get the same readings you do. What size tank is it? Good luck
And welcome to the boards
 
aztec reef

aztec reef

Active Member
As mentioned above You should NEVER cycle with livestock...
Whats done is done, so you have two choices:
1. take back all the fish or have your lfs hold them for u before is too late..
2. Keep cycling tank and keep testing ammonia and do water changes whenever ammonia wants to creep up higher than 1.0 (u can even take the ammonia down to .5)..Let the cycling process take care of the rest. And hope for the best and pray that they make it through, but odds are meek in your case . No pun intended.
As Invertcrazy stated your tank will be cycle when trites and ammo are at 0 at the same token you'll have an abundance of NItrates.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Welcome to the boards!! Bottled products will not help. Please have your LFS hold all of your live stock until the cycle is over. They will not make it. If they do, it will be with severe ammonia burns on the gills, which will dramatically reduce their lifespan. Did your LFS tell you to put them in without cycling the tank first? If so, do you have a reputable LFS near you that will hold your fish? Take the animals out and let the tank finish cycling. Do you have any live rock in there?
 
diana888

diana888

New Member
Thanks for all the help everyone. Unfortunately, I live in a small town and there is only one fish store (*****). We bought one small piece of live rock from them and 3 days later one clown is dead and the other is almost gone. The tang looks and acts great so I think that rock had clown fish disease. They told us the rock was already cured. Needless to say I will be buying the rest of our fish online.
I know you all want to murder me for not cycling first but honestly, this is our THIRD tank and we never cycled before and never had a fish die (well, a Flame Angel but that was years later). The difference I see now is that we had live rock one of the times and the other I guess God smiled on our fish.
So removing the fish to a fish store is impossible since they have diseased tanks there. There is a new store opening in 3 weeks but I should be cycled by then.
If anyone has any ideas on this, my ammonia is down slightly and my nitrates and nitrites are up quite a bit. I assume this is good. Question is, do we do a water change?
Any ideas on the clowns are appreciated too.
One day I will be good at this and maybe be able to help you guys but for now, thank you so much for sharing your expertise!
I WILL NEVER NOT CYCLE AGAIN!
 
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