Cycling stalled please help!!

Mark602

Ive been given some mature filter media and gravel from a mate ive added this to my tank if this doesn't work i think it may be time to start from scratch, I have noticed some weird white fungus stuff growing on my ornament this morning is this good or bad?? should i take it out and clean it??

Jakiebabie

Hoping someone can jump in here regarding the white fungus as I have never experience it...(knock on wood). My sense is yes, pull the item and scrub it but it's likely on other items in the tank so it might come back again.
I'm glad you managed to get some seed material from a trusted source. Hoping you still have 1 or 2 fish left to feed the bacteria. The output from fish needs to balance/match the good bacteria... in other words if you increase the bio load with more fish (slowly 1-2-3 at a time) the good bacteria grow to support it. If you have too much good bacteria and no fish left to feed it with waste materia, then some of the good bacteria in the tank dies off.
Another point JICase,... rinsing any item in straight TAP water... the chlorine will kill any good bacteria on it. You did not rinse your seed material in tap water when you got it home did you? (just checking)
So having said that... whenever you eventually clean filter pads, or are rinsing items that have been removed from your tank and re-introducing them (gravel or filter substrate), you must use a bucket of either old tank water, or new De-chlorinated water. A full clean of your filter with TAP water with chlorine will kill your good bacteria causing a mini cycle in an established tank.

So depending on what others say about the fungus...and no tear down and scrub out is required, then I would say that later in the week you could get another 2 fish, then a week later another 2. That kind of thing. Take it slow and be alway consious of the chlorine factor, temperture matching, and proper fish introduction proceedures. Good luck.

Byron

There are many species of fungus that can appear in an aquarium. Some, such as what appears on uneaten fish food after a day or two, is relatively harmless on its own; some types are highly toxic to fish. Usually these occur on real wood, but they may be introduced from other sources. I would remove any fungus you see.

gallid

I have a 1.5 gallon desktop aquarium and it's been set up since December 27th. (It's that GloFish kit)

Anyway, I have one fish (Neon Tetra) and the tank hasn't completely cycled yet.

I used to have a saltwater tank and it was actually EASIER to cycle than this one! (Although, more expensive in the long-run)

Specs for my tank are as follows:

1.5 gallon (Filled, changed and topped with dechlorinated DISTILLED WATER)
Internal, air-driven carbon/fiber filter cartridge.
Heater (Temp at 80F)
Gravel, plastic plants

Water parameters (From API Freshwater Master Test Kit):
pH: 6.4 (even though I'm using "Proper pH 7.0")
Ammonia: 1.0ppm
Nitrite 0.0ppm
Nitrate 0.0ppm
Phosphate: 10.0ppm

I use the following products:
API Proper pH 7.0
Tetra SafeStart with Bio-Spira
Tetra AquaSafe Plus
Tetra EasyBalance Plus

On hand:
Seachem Stability, Clarity and Prime

Food: TetraMin Tropical Flakes (Fed sparingly to the one fish I have)

My next step is to try to find someone with a mature set up for some gravel, but I don't personally know anyone with this.

@Mark602: If I figure this out, I will let you know what I did. It sounds like we are having the EXACT same problem!

faronem

@gallid: Byron has a great article on the site about nitrifying bacteria here.

A blurb from it regarding your pH of 6.4 and rate of growth:
However, note that increasing the pH will likely make your ammonium/ammonia levels more toxic if you're measuring 1ppm.

gallid

I am aware of the pH factor. Unfortunately, I can't get the pH to get higher than 6.4. (Trying for 7.0) I'm trying to be careful not to "shock" the fish by raising the pH gradually, but seems it won't go any higher than 6.4. Any tips? I'm following the instructions to the letter for the API stuff. Mark602's pH is 7.0. What product are you using for pH balance?

faronem

By the way, gallid...welcome to the forum! New here myself.

I agree you should avoid quick pH changes, especially for 1.5 gallons. Also, FWIW, I could have definitely missed a post, but I think Mark602's mentioned his pH is 7.6?

Since you're starting with distilled water and presumably no hardness at all to buffer the pH, you might first try aerating the water to ensure you don't have a buildup of CO2 deflating your pH.

I typically I have more alkaline water-related issues, but I've used crushed coral in the past to help buffer and regulate pH--not sure this is a good idea for your situation.

gallid

Thanks! My tank has an internal filter using an air pump as power. (Air goes into the draw tube and propels water into the filter)

Are there any good CO2 tests on the market?

-Dave
Posted via Mobile Device

Byron

Back up here, you're jumping too far and too fast on this pH.

First, pH is related to the hardness, primarily the carbonate hardness (KH, or Alkalinity). Attempts to adjust the pH will fail if the KH is high enough to buffer the pH. So I don't go repeating everything, you can read how this works here:
Water Hardness and pH in the Freshwater Aquarium

Trying to adjust the pH when it is being naturally buffered will result in fluctuating pH, and if you should happen to pass the buffering capacity, the pH will very suddenly crash (drop) and this could kill the fish outright. The fluctuating pH stresses them considerably which weakens the immune system and this can lead to an early demise too.

The other point is the fish. There is no value in raising pH to 7 or higher for soft water fish that do best in (obviously) soft slightly acidic water. We can discuss this more when we know numbers for GH, KH and pH of the source (tap) water. You can test the pH (let the water sit overnight before testing), and get the GH and KH/Alkalinity from the water supply folks, they may even have a website.

On the cycling, what was mentioned previously is true. However, fish that live in very soft acidic water in nature, can do the same in the aquarium too, with no ammonia or nitrite issues. In acidic water ammonia automatically changes into ammonium which is basically harmless. The bacteria will still function though more slowly. Here's more info on this:
Bacteria in the Freshwater Aquarium

Another issue here is the Neon Tetra. This species is a shoaling fish that needs company; it will be highly stressed alone, and probably waste away. But there is insufficient space in a 1-2 gallon tank for this or any other tetra. This is a whole other problem which I will leave for the present, but I just wanted to caution you on this fish. But we do have fish profiles, second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top; if a name is used the same in posts, it will shade as it did here and you can click on that for the profile. Each profile includes data on numbers, minimum tank size, water parameters, etc.

Last, but certainly not least, welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.

Byron.

Mark602

Hi Gallid hope u are getting your tank sorted, When my tank was cycling my ph was 7.6 now it's cycled it has dropped to 7.2. After adding mature filter media to my tank it cycled within 5 days, That's the way to do it in future!!