mid cycle & death ???

[glowplug]

Ok guys looking for some suggestions, got a damsel mid cycle because the wife was whining,so as suspected he died last night after 2 weeks. So obviously I dont want to put another in there and now have an acceptable excuse.I have a 20g Long tank with about 9 or 10 pounds of cured LR. Just finished its 3rd week and my trites are still maxed, should I just ghost feed from this point, throw in a raw shrimp, somthine else? What would be the best option at this point? Thanks for all your help, I had a friend that suggested I tear it all down and start over.....have I not made any progress worth keeping?

 

[alyssia]

Don't tear it down! I would ghost feed at this point sinve your cycle has already started.

 

[deelucky]

Originally Posted by glowplug
Ok guys looking for some suggestions, got a damsel mid cycle because the wife was whining,so as suspected he died last night after 2 weeks. So obviously I dont want to put another in there and now have an acceptable excuse.I have a 20g Long tank with about 9 or 10 pounds of cured LR. Just finished its 3rd week and my trites are still maxed, should I just ghost feed from this point, throw in a raw shrimp, somthine else? What would be the best option at this point? Thanks for all your help, I had a friend that suggested I tear it all down and start over.....have I not made any progress worth keeping?
hey im still kind of new to the scene but i can say that when my trites did spike it took almost a week to drop right now its in between 0.5 and 0ppm but just give it a little time.i got to the point where i wanted to just quit but i went away for three days when i came back my ammonia which was at 2.0 suddenly became 0 ppm so i was
very pleased

so just hang in there.

 

[j-bird]

You do not need to do anything at this point, if your trites are currently maxed, that means that Am has already been introduced to the tank and it is in the process of cycling. Just let it sit and cycle, trites wil turn to trates, once levels stabilize you will be fine, give it a couple of weeks to be sure.

 

[glowplug]

so I shouldnt ghost feed? I figured I should keep at least something giving off ammo as it decomposes so I dont lose that bacteria when I introduce fish. Thanks for all the tips! I really didnt want to tear anything down!

[hr]
so final verdict----Leave it totally alone? or ghost feed?
or whatever else you think will work

 

[glowplug]

bump

 

[saltfan]

Originally Posted by glowplug
so I shouldnt ghost feed? I figured I should keep at least something giving off ammo as it decomposes so I dont lose that bacteria when I introduce fish. Thanks for all the tips! I really didnt want to tear anything down!

[hr]
so final verdict----Leave it totally alone? or ghost feed?
or whatever else you think will work
Throw a raw uncooked shrimp in there......You'll be ok, the numbers will stabilize, it takes some time.

 

[murph]

You don't need anymore dead stuff in the tank. With ammonia at zero your over half way there. Trites should come down in half the time it took the ammonia to. Wait for both to read zero and try another inexpensive fish.
Ammonia and nitrites are not the only things that can contribute to fish deaths in a new tank. Make sure you have a handle on temperature, proper acclimation procedure and salinity and chlorine content if you started the tank with tap water. Also make sure you purchase healthy live stock to begin with. For a tank like this I would suggest a small Blue Damsel. for economic reasons. No sense takeing a larger loss until you make sure tank will support fish Then research livestock appropriate for Nano tanks(click over to the nano tank part of the fourm), which is basically what you have with a tank this size, for a month or so. Don't let the wife get to attached to the Damsel,. Hermits and snails can be added during this time period also.
If the Damsel is still alive after that month remove him and take him back to the LFS. Hes to aggressive to fit into the scheme of things in the tank. While your there pick out a fish from the list of your nano tank appropriate fish and hope for the best. Don't trust the guy at the fish store to give you good advice on what fish to put in your tank. They are salesmen and there favorite answer to any question is usually, "sure that fish should be fine in your tank".

 

[glowplug]

temp and sg are good, using ro water, the ammo came and went in 4 days, the trites have been the same for weeks. what im really trying to figure out between everyones opinions, is whether or not I should be adding a source of ammonia. The ammo is at 0 because the bacteria is eating it, but if all of a sudden there is no more ammo, wouldnt that bacteria go away too? Dont I need ammo eating bacteria in my tank even when its cycled? That bacteria is part of our little ecosystems huh? Along with the nitrite eating bacteria. Essentially what we are doing in a cycle is getting the tank ready for a bio load(source of ammo) so if I stop ghost feeding and dont throw in a shrimp,then my ammo eating bacteria would go away, nitrite will go to zero and then when I add a fish the whole process will start over again? I KNOW you need ammo to start a cycle, but do you need it on a continual basis till the day we decide to stop keeping fish?!

 

[zanoshanox]

Everything will even out soon, its just part fot he cycle, keep doing what you're doing is my oppinion.