mini cycle?

kwok · 03/20/2012, 01:26 PM

hello everyone,

i believe i am going through a mini cycle for my 20 gallon tank. i've had my tank for almost two months and i believe i've added too many fish. i had two small clowns a scooter blenny and a sixline wrasse and some hermit crabs and a snail. i have no one to blame but myself for adding too many fish at once even though i though i thought adding a new fish once a week would be ok. anyways all the fish have died in the last couple of days except for one clown. they were not swimming and breathing very heavily. there were no signs of infection. my parameters are:

salinity: 1.023
ph: 7.8-8.0 - i know it's a bit low for some reason
ammonia: ~0
nitrite: ~0
nitrate: ~0

it is spring time and a lot of the snow has melted where i'm from so i'm not exactly sure if the tap water is exactly good. i use seachem prime water conditioner for my water changes. is it possible to have a mini cycle when my parameters are fairly normal? also what else should to my tank? it's been 2-3 days so far and things haven't seem to improve. the hermit crabs don't seem to move much and eat very much.

thanks

Sugar Magnolia · 03/20/2012, 01:39 PM

How much live rock is in the tank? Adding livestock too quickly can cause an ammonia spike. The denitrifying bacteria in the live rock needs time to adjust to the new bioload. One week is too fast.

kwok · 03/20/2012, 01:50 PM

i have 30 lbs of live rock. i'm just confused because i don't see any spike in any of my parameters.

03/20/2012, 01:26 PM	#1
kwok Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 5	mini cycle? hello everyone, i believe i am going through a mini cycle for my 20 gallon tank. i've had my tank for almost two months and i believe i've added too many fish. i had two small clowns a scooter blenny and a sixline wrasse and some hermit crabs and a snail. i have no one to blame but myself for adding too many fish at once even though i though i thought adding a new fish once a week would be ok. anyways all the fish have died in the last couple of days except for one clown. they were not swimming and breathing very heavily. there were no signs of infection. my parameters are: salinity: 1.023 ph: 7.8-8.0 - i know it's a bit low for some reason ammonia: ~0 nitrite: ~0 nitrate: ~0 it is spring time and a lot of the snow has melted where i'm from so i'm not exactly sure if the tap water is exactly good. i use seachem prime water conditioner for my water changes. is it possible to have a mini cycle when my parameters are fairly normal? also what else should to my tank? it's been 2-3 days so far and things haven't seem to improve. the hermit crabs don't seem to move much and eat very much. thanks

03/20/2012, 01:39 PM	#2
Sugar Magnolia Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Northern VA Posts: 17,691	How much live rock is in the tank? Adding livestock too quickly can cause an ammonia spike. The denitrifying bacteria in the live rock needs time to adjust to the new bioload. One week is too fast. __________________ Adrienne The only thing to fear is fear itself....and spiders.

03/20/2012, 01:50 PM	#3
kwok Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 5	i have 30 lbs of live rock. i'm just confused because i don't see any spike in any of my parameters.