Unusual changes to the water-first phase of cycling

**Watergirl** · 02-25-2011, 11:57 PM

Some strange things have happened to my tank during fishless cycling. I have a very small tank--maybe 5 gallons?--with a running filter/oxygenating pump. I've been trying to cycle it for about a week. I couldn't find pure ammonia without surfactants, so I filled a piece of pantyhose with fish food, tied it shut, and dropped it in the tank.

This worked pretty well, as the ammonia levels rose to 2.0 ppm in a few days, but then, the tank developed an overpowering stench like stagnant pond water that just about made me sick, and the water became very murky and gross. The strange part is, two days later, the ammonia level has risen to 4 ppm, and the stench has dramatically decreased while the water is perfectly clear again. (Nitrite and nitrate tests both read zero, btw.)

Can anyone tell me what has taken place in my tank? Specifically, is this normal, and is my tank cycling?

**Lady Hobbs** · 02-26-2011, 12:02 AM

The flakes simply rotted which is why you have ammonia levels now. You may want to throw a towel over the tank or a piece of foil to keep the smell down. If you had used a piece of raw shrimp or fish, you'd have had the same stench.

Keep those flakes on the bottom of the tank with a rock or something. Under water it won't smell so bad.

BTW.....my cycling ammonia has surfactants. What it does not have is scents or detergents.

**Watergirl** · 02-26-2011, 04:04 AM

Thanks for the info. I am glad to know this isn't unusual.

And I will probably go out soon and get some ammonia, even if it has surfactants, because at least then I would know precisely how much ammonia is in the tank. I hadn't realized how quickly a large amount of fish flakes would decay.

Again, thanks!