First Aquarium!

[mcdaney]

The green stuff on the rock, if you zoom in to the picture I attached above looks to be "hair-like" but then again I think everything growing in the tank appears to be hair-like, including the moss ball and macroalgae.

Sorry I meant, *long* hair-like strands a.k.a Angel Hair Algae. Shrimps might get entangled in them and die.

[minishrimps]

it was already on the rock! i can't tell if its growing any

Where did you get the rock? There are certain nuisance algae and flora you don't really want to establish in your tank. IMO, if I was you, I would do this

...remove it, brush it and sun dry.

get a wire brush, scrub the crap out of it, or rather, off of it, then boil it, then sun dry, then replace. Your early enough in your cycle that it won't matter much. If it is something bad then you may save yourself hassles down the road, better safe than sorry you spent a bunch of money of aquatic life that subsequently dies...

[Rikatix]

Ok folks you have convinced me, I will remove the rock, scrub, boil and dry.

One other thing that has occurred this morning; everything has been fine so far, the snails have been very active and climbing over rocks, substrate and on the walls some time.

This morning I wake up to find a milky haze at the bottom of the tank, it seemed to be congregating from the macro algae as that is where the haziness is most present.

The snails had moved around quite a bit over the night and one has even travelled above the water line, which I have read from here might indicate toxicity of water.

Ill go ahead and remove the suspect rock just in case, run some tests and get back... here is a picture of what I am seeing this morning.


edit:
Holy crap!! Surely this is what people mean when they say Ammonia spike!! Heres a picture! Ive removed the rock. Is this a normal indicator on an "ammonia spike" or higher? I try to take the pictures of the test consistently in the same spot at the same time and under sunlight but its cloudy out this morning and had to use kitchen light, but this is a deeper green than I had seen the other 3x I've ran the ammonia test.

[Rikatix]

For a comparison, here is ammonia reading from Tuesday 3/22

[JennyPenny]

It sounds to me like your tank is still cycling and the rise in ammonia is normal. To provide relief for your snails, purchase some SeaChem Prime, which will help neutralize the ammonia. It will not remove ammonia, so your test will still read positive. But it binds the ammonia in a nontoxic form. This works for 1-2 days, so you will have to repeat it. I believe it also works on nitrite and nitrate. Have you tested those recently? And good job on the master test kit.
The second option is to do a water change. I think using prime is better, but if you can't get prime then a water change will help until you can get it.
I don't have advice about the water haze, as my eyesight sucks and I can't really see what you are taking about in your picture. Maybe someone else will be able to help. I think I remember reading that hazy water can be due to a bacteria bloom?

[Varanus]

The snails also sometimes go above the water line looking for food, if its only one or two I doubt they are doing it due to not liking the water. They are very tough so ammonia spikes are unlikely to harm them (I've read of people trying to kill them off with all kinds of toxins and not succeeding), but as minishrimps noted Prime can help ease any effect it may have on them.

And yeah, the haze could be a bacterial bloom, which is a common part of the cycling process. Basically some bacteria have their populations explode as they consume nutrients in the water, causing a visible haze, but over time they die off/get eaten/replaced by other bacteria as the mini ecosystem stabilizes itself and the water clears.

[Mech]

put the snails in ammonia free water, its killing them. you can do water changes to reduce the ammonia, it wont slow down the tank cycle.

[Rikatix]

Returned home today after being away for a while. Just tested the water and included a picture for reference.

It appears to me to read... (sorry it was too dark out to get any sunlight)

Ammonia: 4ppm
Nitrite: 0.5-1ppm
Nitrate: 0-5 ppm

I wish now that I had the patience to test for nitrite and nitrate earlier. The only time I have tested for them was when the package first came. But I'm reminded that really wasn't very long ago at all.

It appears to me as if this tank has reached the part of the nitrogen cycle in which bacteria is chomping away at the ammonia and putting out a nitrite waste.

The nitrate test was a little difficult to read under that particular light, but, as noted, the sun had already gone down by the time I got home. It might have even shown as a 0 reading... but I think it may have had a hint of color to it.

Hopefully this is on a good pace, I wanna get these shrimps a new home!

[erica]

If there are any creatures still in that tank, I would do a water change or get them out. Nitrites SOAR quickly during a cycle. Congrats on your tank cycling!

[Rikatix]

Earlier in this thread Varanus implied the snails would be fine during the nitrogen cycle. A couple of people have also said to remove the snails ( I suppose for the remaining length of the cycle?).

Where should I put the snails?
Is plain of distilled water fine?
Should I make it brackish?
Should I add food?
Maybe a couple strands of their macro algae?
Can I just leave them in their tank for the duration of the cycle?

In an earlier post I said I noticed one above the water line. Since then I have only seen one other hover up near the water line and actually that one ended up just gliding around, sticking to the surface tension of the waters surface. It was cool to watch. But I have observed no other snails trying to leave since then, and they are all very active. They like the single red lava rock a lot, it has lots of snail sized holes. Ive mostly been able to track all 11 entire time.

edit: I've also decided to leave their tank light on for the duration of the cycle to hopefully speed things up. That is unless someone tells me its bad for the snails and their biorhythms.

[Varanus]

I can only speak from personal experience (and the fact that Mustafa's site recommends keeping the snails in the tank during cycling) in that my Mustafa snails were in the tank during the entire cycling process and not a single one died or got sick. Perhaps I simply got lucky.

One thing you can do rather than remove the snails though is simply add a bit of Prime or other water conditioner that is made to detoxify the ammonia, nitrite, etc. The cycle should continue as normal and it shouldn't effect your water tests, but the conditioner will ease any strain the snails may be under.

<><><>

Yeah, surface tension gliding is normal, it means there is a layer of algae/bacteria there for them to eat. Back when the surface film in my tank was actually green (it has since gone clear presumably from the snails eating the algae) the snails would leave visible trails along the surface as they grazed their way through.

[Rikatix]

This is awesome, Varanus, and makes me feel a ton better. I must have missed the part where mustafa recommends leaving them in there or I wouldn't have worried about it at all. Great knowledge, thanks a bunch. Cant wait for the tank to get good and nasty and clean again.

[Mech]

they may survive the ammonia but it isnt healthy for them and should be avoided at all costs.

[Rikatix]

Been a while since an update. Sorry for the weird lighting in this one, but to my eyes it reads somewhere between 2-4ppm ammonia, 0.25 nitrite and 0 nitrates.

So I started this tank on March 7th, it is currently April 13. I know to expect it might take 2 months. The ambient temperature around the house has been averaging probably 65F for the past month, perhaps as it warms up the tank cycling process will speed up? Should I just continue to be patient?

edit: ordered a bottle of seachem prime http://www.amazon.com/Seachem-67104330- ... ge_o00_s00

[Varanus]

So I started this tank on March 7th, it is currently April 13. I know to expect it might take 2 months. The ambient temperature around the house has been averaging probably 65F for the past month, perhaps as it warms up the tank cycling process will speed up?

Possibly, I know my tank took around a month to cycle and it was at the tail end of summer, probably around 80F a lot of the time in the tank (I tend to use the air conditioner in the room sparingly).

Should I just continue to be patient?

Yes, and you'll likely find that once the tank does cycle it happens quite rapidly.