Cycling woes

[carbonxxkidd]

My ghost shrimp aren't too happy right now. They are hanging out on the top of the tank and not really moving around much. I did a water change this afternoon (when I noticed them acting weird), and the master test kit says my nitrite and ammonia were around 0.25 and nitrates are at 5.0. I don't know if I should do another water change now because they are still acting weird? Or if I should just wait for them to die? I feel bad putting them in there at all, I should have done a bit more research before adding them to an uncycled tank. :/

The fish are both acting normal.

[Hallyx]

Shrimp are very sensitive to water quality. Canaries in a coal mine.

Your nitrite is dangerously high again. I know it seems like a lot of water changes, but you have to keep that nitrite <0.25 while there's stock in the tank. Stir up the substrate, a bit also. Are you getting enough aeration from your filter or airstone? See about getting more live plants in there.

This is one reason I usually advocate a fishless cycle.

[carbonxxkidd]

I did a second water change last night and the shrimp are back to being normal. Looks like they are almost a better guide to water changes than actually testing the water, lol. I DID test last night, and my ammonia was between 0-0.25, nitrites were 0 and nitrates looked like they were close to 0 too...not sure what's going on. Plan on re-testing this morning though.

[carbonxxkidd]

Retest was the same. Except everything looks to be 0. Hoping my nitrates will start going up now...

[carbonxxkidd]

No idea what happened earlier, but everything has gone back up now. Nitrites and ammonia around 0.25 (about to do a water change) and nitrates are 0-5.0 again. Weird.

[Hallyx]

It's good to have Prime around for this kind of strangeness. At least the unpredictable ammonia will be turned to ammonium. It does something for the nitrite, too, but I don't understand what, exactly.

If you were wondering, ammonium is as good as ammonia for feeding nitrifying bacteria.

In the mean time, get more of your Mom's bacteria in there. If she can toss out entire filter's worth of media without a mini-cycle, she's got plenty

[carbonxxkidd]

Yeah, she only cleans her tank like every month or so, and it's overstocked. Her fish are all amazingly healthy - her angelfish have even spawned a couple times. She's never tested her water, so I told her I would do it for her sometime (not that it really matters).

I'll just keep up with water changes until I get can get some of her stuff. The fish and shrimp seem happy today, so all is well for now.