I killed my Nitrifying bacteria!!!!

[genetao]

I’m new to aquariums, but I’ve been doing lots of research on this forum. I recently setup a 15 gallon aquarium, using the fishless cycle technique, in preparation for an f8 puffer. During the middle of the cycle (at the point where nitrites were beginning to show), I started to slowly add marine salt and bring up the sg to about 1.0015 per week for two weeks. After the tank was completely cycled, I continued to add ammonia for another 10 days because I was waiting for a shipment of f8’s at the lfs. All my water parameters still looked great with amm -0, nitrite -0, nitrate being - trace .

When I purchased the f8, I did an 80% water change, (by this time my sg was 1.003), with fresh water. Why did I do a water change with fresh water and not brackish water? Because the f8 I purchased was in freshwater and I wanted to add in live plants, thus I wanted slowly acclimate (mostly for the live plants’ sake because I know f8’s can be acclimated in an afternoon). But I figured this wouldn’t be a problem since other ppl on this forum have said they’ve dropped their sg from 1.004 to 1.000 without hurting their nitrifying bacteria.

When I put Kirby in, (think Super Smash Brothers), his skin looked a little banged up. So I added Melafix, and a week later he’s healed quite nicely. But now when I just checked my water again, the nitrite were at 2.00 ppm! I immediately did a 75% water change, and brought the nitrite down to 0.50 which is better, but still dangerous as I understand it. He’s been eating like a horse, swimming along great, has a white, round belly, and already learning the art of begging for food quite well.

Having killed off most (or all) of the nitrite-eating bacteria, what do you recommend that I do at this point? I know I gotta get the nitrite-eating bacteria re-established.

My current parameters:
PH – 7.5
Amm – 0.0
Nitrite – 0.5 and climbing
Nitrate – 5.0
Sg – less than 1.001

Inhabitants – 1” f8 puffer (not including tail)
Tank size – 15 gallon

Things I’ve added:
Melafix
Tetra water conditioner (no amquel or amm-loc, etc)
Seachem Flourish fertilizer
Seachem Flourish Excel
Oceanic Natural Sea Salt
Fed Kirby: Pond Snails, frozen blood worms, shrimp

The aquarium has been setup for about 6 weeks, using ammonia from Ace Hardware for the fishless cycling technique

Thanks for your help!

[Agnate]

Go find some Prime. It's a slightly more expensive water conditioner that also detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, but allows your bacteria to continue using it (ie. finishing cycling). There are other options to go with, but considering you already have the F8 puffer in there and he still has a white belly and good appetite, doing anything else would be either expensive, stressful, or a lot of unneeded effort. Keeping up with the water changes is a good idea, as well.

Prime is one of the best water conditioners I've found (less is required for the same dechlorinating effect) and it detoxifies the tank during the unforeseeable occurrences when it requires a cycle and there's nothing you can really do about it.

[genetao]

Thanks! I'll get some Prime today. I looked on the seachem website, and it stated that I can add 5 times the recommended amount to detoxify nitrite in an emergency. So that's what I plan on doing. Should I do this just once? Or every few days?

I'm curious if nitrites will still show on the test kit even after treating with Prime. If so, I guess I'll just have to trust that its working.

Thanks again!

[Agnate]

It will probably still show up, but I find the Prime works fantastically, and you'll notice by your puffer's belly whether or not they're happy with the water quality. I don't think you'll need to do a 5-dose, so do a 50% water change and dose twice the tank's volume (so for a 15 gallon use 3 mL or a little more than half a cap-full) and test the water. If it's still showing up, then just assume it's working.

If their bellies are still nice and white, then don't worry too much, and just keep up with water changes every day or two until things settle down (the water change with Prime will help to ensure that things stay detoxified).

[Jase]

do you have another tank you could steal bacteria from?

[genetao]

Thanks Paul. But why only twice the amount vs. 5 times the amount that Seachem says?

Ever since I discovered the nitrites a few days ago, I've been doing a 50% water change ever other day. I went to Petno and Petdumb tonight and they both didn't have Prime (the lfs was closed by the time I got out of work).

Kirby is still looking healthy, with a white belly. I fed him some shrimp tonight, and he gobbled that down quick, and proceeded to beg for more food while having a nice round pot belly.

I could steal the filter floss from the 1.5 gallon tank with ghost shrimp and pond snails. I tested the water in that and it shows 0 nitrites. Thanks for the idea Jase!

You know I was thinking, I took the carbon out of the HOB Aquaclear filter from the f8 tank, because I was administering Melafix at the time I added Kirby to the tank. I wonder if bacteria also lived on the carbon.

Thanks guys!

[Jase]

Everything has some bacteria, but I believe carbon is for chemical filtration and may not have as much...? unless its old?

[Agnate]

I imagine it would still have some. For some reason I thought your SG was higher, so I was assuming that you didn't have any cycled media for a brackish setup. Using media from another tank is an equally good idea, and a lot cheaper on the wallet, haha!

[genetao]

Well originally the sg was higher, at around 1.003 - 1.0035. But that's how I got myself into this mess. I did a drastic water change from light brackish to fresh water, thinking that everything should be okay with the bacteria.

In any case, last night, I did a 40% water change, and the nitrite dropped from 1.0 to about 0.25 / 0.5. I'm guessing around 0.37??? I then took out the filter from the 1.5 gallon snail and ghost shrimp tank, and put that into the f8 HOB filter.

This morning I did a nitrite test and the reading showed about the same; somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.37. Maybe the bioload is just larger in the f8 tank than in the snail/shrimp tank. I'll have to wait it out a little longer and see if the nitrites go down in the f8 tank. Otherwise, I'll just be doing water changes every other day, and looking for Prime.

Thanks for your help!

[Nick]

IME, it is WAY easier to acclimate a fish than bacteria, so if I fish from a store is in FW and the tank I have is only .005 or less away, I just acclimate the fish in the bag and have never had any trouble.

[genetao]

I understand its easier to acclimate fish than it is bacteria. If you scroll to the top, In my first post, I wrote:

"Why did I do a water change with fresh water and not brackish water? Because the f8 I purchased was in freshwater and I wanted to add in live plants, thus I wanted slowly acclimate (mostly for the live plants’ sake because I know f8’s can be acclimated in an afternoon).

So what do you do if you're trying to acclimate a tankful of new plants? The plants will surely be shocked by the sudden sg change. Besides, somewhere here on this forum, someone wrote that they performed a water change from 1.004 to 1.000. Another person from 1.008 to 1.004.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12100&p=125097&hilit

I figured if other people did it and it worked out okay for them, that it should work for me. Thats why I did it. Would I do it again? Probably not. If I had a spare tank, this probably wouldn't have happened. But as I am new to this hobby, and I live in a tiny apartment, I've gotta work with what I've got. I'm learning as I go.

In any case, my nitrite is hovering around 0.25 and holding steady. Kirby is still sucking up food like a vacuum cleaner and has a white belly. He definitely has the art of begging down to a science.

Thanks for your advice!

[Nick]

I just had an idea... maybe acclimate them in a large bucket with a BIG plant light over it, and change the water out with tank vaccumings from a FW tank mixed with every so slowly larger amounts of SW mix.

[genetao]

You know, its funny because I had the same idea about the bucket and plant light.

But siphoning out brackish tank water and pouring it into the bucket is just genius!

I've gotta keep that one my bag of tricks.

Its just too bad that I didn't think of that one before.

Thanks.

[Nick]

Good luck with Kirby, he's adorable.

[genetao]

Thanks. Much appreciate it.