Any aquarium fans here?

[pparks1]

I've got a 6 gallon Marineland Eclipse freshwater fish tank that seems to refuse to cycle. It's been running about 4 months now, I've got 2 red platty's, and a little dwarf water frog. I thought things were going alright, until I noticed i was doing my ammonia test wrong. Well, turns out my ammonia was through the roof. Somewhere between 8 and 10.

So, I started changing out water and the ammonia wasn't dropping. A guy at one fish shop suggested these ammo chips to convert the ammonia into a non-toxic form. However, after a week or so of this, nothing was changing. Went to another store and they tested the water and said my ammonia was way high...but my nitrates and nitrites were non-existant. So...more or less...I had a brand new tank. They said the ammo chips were causing part of the problem because it would stave off my bacteria and they suggested that I remove it immediately and just power through the problem with water changes. They said, don't clean your gravel, don't change your filters....just leave it be so that the bio filter could establish itself.

Well, now nearly 3 weeks later and almost daily 1-2 gallon water changes....my ammonia levels are still at 4 and my nitrites and nitrates are non-existent. I'm happy the ammonia is going down...but seriously why is these non existent levels of everything else? My pH is running about 7.6...which is pretty normal at my house.

The only thing I am putting in the water (on a weekly basis is)....Microbe-Lift Special blend...which isn't a chemical..but rather just bacteria. 1 capful every weekend. It smells like raw sewage. Amazon.com: Microbe-Lift Special Blend for Home Aquariums: Kitchen & Dining

Anybody have any suggestions? I've had a tank in the past, and it was a 29 gallon tank which I had next to no problems with for 5+ years.

 

[Airbot]

Have any algae growth in the tank at all? Tried any live plants in it?

 

[pparks1]

Algae growth=yes

Live plants--had some but they were dying a bit---so we removed them since i read that they can cause spikes in ammonia and waste in the tank.

 

[Airbot]

Think you might be overfeeding? I have a 30 gallon, I use fine play sand filtered out as the substrate, and a couple volcanic rocks to keep it slighty acidic, but I keep a few cichlids. Don't ever have any problems running my setup.


Couple things I might try is dropping the feeding down if you might be feeding quite a bit. Try a different food brand. Add another bio filter and see how that pans out. Stop using that microbe lift. Try a different substrate - sand, etc. See what different results you get with that.

 

[pparks1]

Think you might be overfeeding?

I dont' think so. I've cut back to once per day or once per every other day. And with their being only 2 fish, we don't give them much.

Add another bio filter and see how that pans out.

The only issue I have is with this being a 6 gallon tank with a full hood and everything else integrated..I don't have the ability to really add anything else.

Try a different substrate - sand, etc. See what different results you get with that.

Well, it's my daughters tank and she love the pink and white rock that she picked out. It might be quite a sell to convince her to go in another direction.

Thanks for the suggestions, I do appreciate it.

 

[Airbot]

Yeah, the integrated hood is a pain for options. And it being a pretty small tank, the one filter should really be able to handle it but..

It sounds as if the major problems are slowly settling down anyways. I mean, are the fish dying left and right? If the fish are doing fine, I wouldn't get too concerned about it really. Try a different food brand or type, and stop using that microbe lift, and see how it turns out after a while.

 

[pparks1]

It sounds as if the major problems are slowly settling down anyways. I mean, are the fish dying left and right? If the fish are doing fine, I wouldn't get too concerned about it really.

No, in fact the only thing we lost was the algae eater. But when we replaced the algae eater with a new one, it died in less than 12 hours...so I knew something was really up with my water. So, we would like to add 1 algae eater and about 2 more fish...but I don't want to do this until the water is under control and safe.

I think I figured out something wrong that I was doing that probably didn't help. When I put the new water in, I poured in the dechlorinator into the tank directly...rather than into my replacement water and give it a few minutes to kill of the chlorine. I've got a strong feeling that my newly found bio filter keeps getting killed off in it's infancy with my frequent water changes.

 

[Airbot]

Yeah, shouldn't be changing the water very often. Pretty much just fill it up with any evaporation, but don't recycle all the water. that will definitely screw it up.

 

[pparks1]

Yeah, shouldn't be changing the water very often. Pretty much just fill it up with any evaporation, but don't recycle all the water. that will definitely screw it up.

Everything I have read mentioned that I have to get the ammonia out of the tank. I have been doing that with daily partial water changes. I'm taking out 1 gallon out of the 6 that are in there. I sometimes forget and it gets a change every other day...but i have been changing the water regularly. Once the tank evens out, I planned to more or less leave it be and do a 1 gallon change every 2-4 weeks.

 

[pparks1]

It's been over another week and my ammonia is at 4 and my nitrates and nitrites are virtually non-existent. I'm getting really tired of changing all of this water.

 

[Airbot]

Not sure why you're changing the water that much. Like I posted above, shouldn't change the water like that, only top it off from time to time from evaporation. You're not letting the bacteria from the bio filter establish itself in the water, and do it's job.

 

[pparks1]

Everything that I have read says that when ammonia is that high in the tank that you have to frequently change out some of the water....usually daily water changes are advised and I am trying to do them every other day. Obviously, i'm only taking out about 1/6 of the water in the tank...thus leaving behind a ton of old water with bacteria and such in it. Plus, there is still plenty of ammonia in the remaining water for the bacteria to feed upon.

So, are you saying from your experience then when cycling the tank and going through an ammonia spike that you believe it best to just leave it alone? While some do tend to agree with that thinking, it seems more believe that partial water changes during the cycling process in no way slows it down.

 

[Airbot]

Everything that I have read says that when ammonia is that high in the tank that you have to frequently change out some of the water....usually daily water changes are advised and I am trying to do them every other day. Obviously, i'm only taking out about 1/6 of the water in the tank...thus leaving behind a ton of old water with bacteria and such in it. Plus, there is still plenty of ammonia in the remaining water for the bacteria to feed upon.

So, are you saying from your experience then when cycling the tank and going through an ammonia spike that you believe it best to just leave it alone? While some do tend to agree with that thinking, it seems more believe that partial water changes during the cycling process in no way slows it down.

LOL, well, we're talking about a 6 gallon tank here right, which isn't that big at all. You've said your changing out the water everyday with at least a gallon or two. That's a lot of water changing in the amount of time for a 6 gallon tank if you ask me. So you're basically restarting the initial cycling stage over and over. I'm not an aquarium expert, but I'm going to say either -

A) Your water source is already way too high in ammonia and is just compounding it with your large scale water changing.

B) Your changing too much water for the capacity and time given. Essentially re-feeding your ammonia problem with your apparent high ammonia water, at the same time stressing and not giving the suitable amount of bacteria to grow and balance it out, time enough to flourish. Restarting the cycling process.

C) You killed or are starving your bio filter off somehow, again which is contributing to restart cycling process, or with chemicals. And/or bio boosters.

D) You're not giving it and waiting with enough time for it to balance. Like 4-8 weeks, with a little lower water changes than you're doing.

That's about as much opinion I can give you on it.

 

[pparks1]

A) Your water source is already way too high in ammonia and is just compounding it with your large scale water changing.

I did check my water for ammonia coming from my tap and it's clean. Registering exactly 0.

C) You killed or are starving your bio filter off somehow, again which is contributing to restart cycling process, or with chemicals. And/or bio boosters.

Yes...to me it seems the bio filter did die.

I think back when the problem started and I had 2 dead fish and cleaned the toys and walls and vacuumed the gravel that I did way too much for such a small tank. And then when the LFS told me to use the ammonia chips, I think they furthered the problem.

I haven't put any chemicals, bio boosters or anything else into the tank in the past 2 weeks. I haven't changed filters, I haven't cleaned anything, I've only changed out 15% of my water on a regular basis...and I am only using a water dechorinator in that water...which I now put into the new water 1 day before and let it come to room temp on it's own.

That's about as much opinion I can give you on it.

I've very much appreciated your insight. It's always good to get other opinions and thoughts onto the matter.

I'm just trying to get this cleared up so that we can add back an algae eater since our tank is turning green everywhere. The ammonia in the tank killed the other one we tried to add. And my daughter (who is 5) would like 1 or 2 more fish and she is patiently waiting (as best a 5 year old) for the water to come back into check. But with high ammonia, I know that I cannot simply toss in some more fish because 1) it will most likely just kill them or 2) it will just lead to more ammonia because it's more waste.

 

[bigmck]

I was going to ask you about chemicals. They are important. I have a 55 gallon with cichlids. I change a third of the tank every two weeks. If you are changing a third of yours every two days, that is too much. You need to buy some Stress Coat and Stress Zyme. The Stress Coat takes the chlorine out of the water and the Stress Zyme is live bacteria which looks pretty bad, but the fish need it. You might ask the guy at the fish store what you can do about the ammonia if it still is high. I would suggest changing a third of the water, putting in the chemicals, it tells you on the bottle how much to use and letting it go for two weeks before changing any more. Get back with us on how things are going.

PS -- If you have a light on your tank, limit it to ten hours a day. That will help reduce the algae. Buy a timer and it will take care if itself.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

A) Your water source is already way too high in ammonia and is just compounding it with your large scale water changing.

I did check my water for ammonia coming from my tap and it's clean. Registering exactly 0.

C) You killed or are starving your bio filter off somehow, again which is contributing to restart cycling process, or with chemicals. And/or bio boosters.

Yes...to me it seems the bio filter did die.

I think back when the problem started and I had 2 dead fish and cleaned the toys and walls and vacuumed the gravel that I did way too much for such a small tank. And then when the LFS told me to use the ammonia chips, I think they furthered the problem.

I haven't put any chemicals, bio boosters or anything else into the tank in the past 2 weeks. I haven't changed filters, I haven't cleaned anything, I've only changed out 15% of my water on a regular basis...and I am only using a water dechorinator in that water...which I now put into the new water 1 day before and let it come to room temp on it's own.

That's about as much opinion I can give you on it.

I've very much appreciated your insight. It's always good to get other opinions and thoughts onto the matter.

I'm just trying to get this cleared up so that we can add back an algae eater since our tank is turning green everywhere. The ammonia in the tank killed the other one we tried to add. And my daughter (who is 5) would like 1 or 2 more fish and she is patiently waiting (as best a 5 year old) for the water to come back into check. But with high ammonia, I know that I cannot simply toss in some more fish because 1) it will most likely just kill them or 2) it will just lead to more ammonia because it's more waste.

Have you taken a sample of the water to the Aquarium shop and have them test the water?
Maybe they can come up with some suggestions on how to get you up and running.
If it were me I would buy a small little Aquarium bowl with a few fish just so my daughter would be occupied while I got the big tank running. IMHO