Cycle crash

[RandomIowan]

Recently I had to unplug the hob due to duckweed getting sucked in...it essentially became a cycle that clogged the filter over and over again. I plugged in a sponge filter to deal while I wait for supplies but I plan on keeping it in jic I need it for an emergency. I've been doing roughly 20% water changes every other day to ammonia down. Asides regular conditioner I've been adding stress coat. Picture is attached with where I was at before a water change this afternoon. I also tossed the old cartridge due to medicating tank after I thought a new fish was I'll (mistake I know) then realizing it was parameters shocking it. Deadly combo. 

Tank was newly cycled. Stuff for hob revamp should arrive Friday and I'm hoping plant divider arrives soon as my diy dividers did not work. 

I have some hardy danios and Cory cats in the tank along with various snails along with the plants. Am I on the right track or missing something? Been years since I've dealt with a crash like this 😁 I'll post an update on parameters this evening.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I would suggest doing a large water change with Prime, or another dechlorinator that detoxifies ammonia. Do this daily until ammonia reads 0.  I would also recommend adding bottled bacteria such as Fritz Zyme 7 to beef up your biological filtration again. (Use the dosage recommended for new tanks)

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Ouch! That really sucks! If I were in your shoes I'd treat this like a never cycled tank and look at it like a fish-in cycle. So, I would be doing more than 20% water changes every day until my numbers were stable again. With 1ppm Ammonia I'd probably do 50% as that goes down, at least 30-40% until it is back to zero. It's gonna be work but you shouldn't lose any stock. 

And the chemicals @Chick-In-Of-TheSea suggests are helpful, but if I remember correctly you have another tank? If you have a sponge or other filter from that tank you can use on this one, I'd do that. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

If you start to read nitrites after ammonia hits zero, continue with daily water changes w/ Prime until nitrites are consistently 0 also.

[RandomIowan]

On 11/30/2022 at 2:36 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I would suggest doing a large water change with Prime, or another dechlorinator that detoxifies ammonia. Do this daily until ammonia reads 0.  I would also recommend adding bottled bacteria such as Fritz Zyme 7 to beef up your biological filtration again. (Use the dosage recommended for new tanks)

I believe the local fish store carries Fritz. I'll see if they have their Zyme 7 tomorrow. I know for sure they have API's but I can't recall if it detoxifies the ammonia and such. API is what I used to do the initial cycle...except I pretty much just dumped it in since I started out fishless cycling.

 

On 11/30/2022 at 2:36 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Ouch! That really sucks! If I were in your shoes I'd treat this like a never cycled tank and look at it like a fish-in cycle. So, I would be doing more than 20% water changes every day until my numbers were stable again. With 1ppm Ammonia I'd probably do 50% as that goes down, at least 30-40% until it is back to zero. It's gonna be work but you shouldn't lose any stock. 

And the chemicals @Chick-In-Of-TheSea suggests are helpful, but if I remember correctly you have another tank? If you have a sponge or other filter from that tank you can use on this one, I'd do that. 

Will do. Hoping to keep deaths low. I think we've gotten lucky only having one of two glofish parish due to shock. Even the baby danio that snuck in is still growing about a month later. For now this is the only tank I have...more will be coming once the weather warms up next year (at least thats the plan, lol).

I'll be posting updates soon.

Thanks!

Edited November 30, 2022 by RandomIowan

[RandomIowan]

I can see nitrites seem to be coming into the image. Hopefully this one is fast. 

Edited December 1, 2022 by RandomIowan

[RandomIowan]

Another brief update: local fish store had API and Fluval (what I thought was Fritz). I went with the Fluval as the specs seem closer to Fritz over API. I did not test tonight due to life getting in the way (ah the joys of kids). I will check water after work tomorrow. I will say the fish seem to be acting pretty normal. I've cut back on food since the crash...when I got home the danios start looking at me while I was putting new supplies away begging for food like little aquatic cats.

[nabokovfan87]

They'll be fine for a few days without food. Honestly, it's better to cut them off for a few days just to lower waste. 

[RandomIowan]

On 12/1/2022 at 8:22 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

They'll be fine for a few days without food. Honestly, it's better to cut them off for a few days just to lower waste. 

Was slowly easing out of 2-3 times a day since the danios where babies when I got them. Down to once a day now. I've skipped a few days when levels where horrid.

Nitrites are finally showing about 24 hours after first dose of fluval cycle. 

[RandomIowan]

Bit more baffled now. Nitrites went down to zero, ammonia was around 1ppm last night and Nitrates nearing 40ppm. I changed out 50%. Still zero nitrites and ammonia showing about .25ppm if not a bit over. I did get HOB back up and going. Still adding Fluval cycle per their recommendations to keep the ammonia from being toxic.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Frustrating, but this is still a fish in cycle, usually 2 weeks of this stuff or more- if you're unlucky in water. Just keep going, sometimes the cycle will have a wobble. I'd also check for dead material, fish etc to make sure they're not adding to your ammonia issue. 

[RandomIowan]

On 12/8/2022 at 3:25 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Frustrating, but this is still a fish in cycle, usually 2 weeks of this stuff or more- if you're unlucky in water. Just keep going, sometimes the cycle will have a wobble. I'd also check for dead material, fish etc to make sure they're not adding to your ammonia issue. 

This tank has gone above and beyond on issues it seems. Made another post about Cory cat issue. Now my nitrites are a bit up again (under .25ppm) with ammonia at 0. Had to use the holy trinity to treat for parasite. After 25% change still having a bloom of some sort. This is getting interesting.