Ammonia crisisn

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Daniiiixo

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so Iā€™ve had my tank for about a year now, so Iā€™m still pretty new to all this so I donā€™t understand what Iā€™m doing wrong. I set the tank up correctly introduced fish slowly and ever since Iā€™ve lost count of how many fish Iā€™ve lost from illnesses which Iā€™ve then medicated (following advice Iā€™ve read on here) to fish just randomly dying or getting stuck in the filter. I make sure I add fish slowly without adding shop water. I use to prime conditioner to rid chlorine when I do water changes which I do weekly, I also use fluval enhancer after water changes and when I add new fish and fluval cleaner when waste starts to build up. I recently bought a water test kit and found my ammonia and nitrate where high so started using ammo lock every 2 days for a week and have since done a water change and yet Iā€™ve still got high ammonia in my tank ( as in itā€™s between 1.5 and 2) what on earth am I doing wrong coz I canā€™t see what it is :( please help Iā€™m feeling very disheartened with it all at the moment both my grandad and my brother have tanks and they both look fab and Iā€™ve done nothing different to them :(
 
Welcome to TFF. :hi:

We are going to need more data in order to sort out your issue. Can you provide the tank volume and dimensions, the fish species and numbers, if you have live plants.

Also need a couple more stats for the water...what is the pH in the aquarium? And the GH (general or total hardness) of your source (tap) water will help. This latter you can probably find out from your water supply people, check their website; no need for a test kit (unless you already have it) for GH once we know the source water GH.

While waiting for the above, I will suggest you not use so many additives. A conditioner (to dechlorinate) is essential, but there is no benefit to the two Fluval products at this stage; Cycle won't hurt, but it is not necessary and the fewer additives the better (I'll come back to this) and the so-called biological aquarium cleaner may do more harm than good and this should never be needed anyway if water changes are adequate (once a week, preferably around 50%) and fish stocking is not beyond the capacity of the tank's biological system.

On the excess additives...every substance we put into the tank water will get inside fish. Fish "drink" by taking in water through every cell via osmosis, and also the gills. This water then enters the bloodstream so any additives are carried to the internal organs. Some additives may be relatively harmless, some anything but; but limiting these is always better for the fish. Same holds for any medications; unless the problem is known with a reasonable degree of certainty, and the additive/medication is the best and most effective, don't use them. All of these additives getting in the fish do cause stress, and possibly worse depending. Stress weakens fish, including the immune system, so they become even more susceptible to disease.

The AmmoLock may or may not be helpful; the pH will help in determining this, but we also need to find the source and correct the problem rather than using treatment, same reason as above.
 
Thanks for the reply my tank dimensions are length 63cm height 40cm and depth 32cm the tanks curved at the front so itā€™s not the easiest thing to measure sorry.
I barely have any fish left in the tank (I lost another adult platy tonight) so I only have one adult platy, one baby platy, 2 baby guppies and 2 bronze corys and around 10 trumpet snails and I have 5 live plants in the tank.
Iā€™ve looked on my water companyā€™s website and canā€™t find what youā€™re looking for sorry and I get confused with the ph levels last I tested 2 days ago the low ph test came out as 7.6 but the high ph was 7.4.
Is there anything you can recommend for now I really donā€™t want to lose anymore fish :(
 
This is the results I got when I looked up the water hardness (sorry donā€™t really understand it)
F05C00FA-ABA7-4CCC-A63C-756638ADA380.jpeg
 
First on the water...the numbers on that chart that are most commonly used in the hobby are degrees German (dGH or dH) and parts per million (ppm, which as they tell you is the same as mg/l). So you can use either 330 ppm, or 18 dGH. I myself like the degrees unit because the numbers are smaller and easier for me to remember. But whichever, this is indeed fairly hard water. Not a problem, but worth knowing because fish have preferences and will always be in better shape (health) if the water is suitable. So livebearers like hardish water, and platy and guppies are livebearers, so that should not be part of the problem. The pH in mid 7's is OK too. No problems with GH or pH. BTW, use one of the pH kits to maintain a better base for your test results; the normal and high kits do read differently, and either kit seems OK here, but use up one and then move to the other just to avoid confusion.

To the ammonia. Something I should have asked previously is, have you tested your tap water on its own for ammonia and nitrate? Either can be present, and we need to eliminate this first. You can test the tap water normally for ammonia and nitrate; for pH, always out-gas the CO2 as this can affect the reading. Let a glass of water sit 24 hours for the pH test; not needed for other tests. And not needed for aquarium water.

Aside from the tap possibly having ammonia and/or nitrate, when you do water changes, vacuum into the open substrate (not around plants). The more organics you remove, the less ammonia and nitrate. Keep the filter cleaned, rinse the media regularly. The brown gunk is organic matter, and this is what you want to remove regularly as organics are part of the ammonia/nitrate issue. Water change, do half the tank once a week. The fish load is certainly not an issue now, but I don't know how many fish there originally were, but substantial water changes will never hurt and they do benefit.

Do you have any water softeners/filters on your tap water? Another factor to be eliminated.

Is there any wood or rock in the tank? Sometimes toxins can leech from these slowly. Or other dƩcor that may not be aquarium safe?

I've mentioned several things just to put them on record. It's like getting sick and asking doctors to diagnose...they cannot without all the possible and relevant data.
 
Thank you for your reply Iā€™ll check my tap water and get back to you with the results for them.
I vacuum into the middle of the tank when I do water changes so I avoid the plants and I do try to clean my filter weekly is this okay or should I try doing it more often for the time being? And thereā€™s been a selection of fish mostly guppies and platys but never more than 20 (including babies) Iā€™ll make sure I do 50% water changes from now on coz I was originally only doing about 30% is it best to do the water changes all in one go or are gradual water changes throughout the week best? Coz Iā€™ve heard different opinions on water changes.
All I have in the tank is gravel, live plants and 2 aquarium ornaments.
Thank you for all your ideas
 
Thank you for your reply Iā€™ll check my tap water and get back to you with the results for them.
I vacuum into the middle of the tank when I do water changes so I avoid the plants and I do try to clean my filter weekly is this okay or should I try doing it more often for the time being? And thereā€™s been a selection of fish mostly guppies and platys but never more than 20 (including babies) Iā€™ll make sure I do 50% water changes from now on coz I was originally only doing about 30% is it best to do the water changes all in one go or are gradual water changes throughout the week best? Coz Iā€™ve heard different opinions on water changes.
All I have in the tank is gravel, live plants and 2 aquarium ornaments.
Thank you for all your ideas

A water change once a week, and rinsing the filter at the same time, is fine. Just increase the volume of water changed to 50-60%. One large change is actually better than two smaller changes generally speaking. And for most of us, setting aside the same time once every week works out better than trying to find two times every week that are the same weekly.
 
as Byron suggested, check the tap water for ammonia, nitrate and pH.

not sure about your water company saying fluoride is a naturally occurring chemical in the water. cough cough bullsit.

If your tap water has no ammonia or nitrate then simply do bigger water changes and gravel clean to dilute the stuff in the tank. You can do a 75% water change every day without any issues as long as the new water has no chlorine/ chloramine in. And if your tap water is clean (has no ammonia or nitrate) then I would do a 75% water change each day for a week simply to dilute everything in the tank.

The same thing if you ever lose a fish, do a 75% water change and gravel clean to dilute anything in the water.
Just make sure any new water going into the tank is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
If possible use a clean fish only bucket that does not get used for anything else. Fill the bucket with tap water, add the required amount of dechlorinating agent, you can add a bit more than stated without any issues. Then aerate the bucket of water for 30 minutes or longer before adding to the tank.
If you are having problems with the tank, then make up a new bucket of water after each water change, add dechlorinator and aerate until it gets used the following day.

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If the aquarium is kept in your bedroom, make sure you don't use any hair spray, perfume, deodorant, or anything else that creates fumes. These can all get into the tank and stress or kill fish.

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if you get any more sick or dead fish, get a photograph to post on here, do water test and post results on here with the picture of the fish, and do a big water change and gravel clean :)
 
I agree with everything posted on here. I will add that I donā€™t clean my filters until the flow starts to decrease. If during a weekly water change the flow isnā€™t as strong, I save a bucket of tank water, take the filter apart and rinse out everything in the tank water not replacing anything. I donā€™t think it hurts to do this weekly provided you donā€™t rinse with tap water. Only use tank water when cleaning the filter and donā€™t replace anything. Using tap water and replacing the media will kill of the bacteria.
 
I also agree with what's been said. Important points are:
Daily water changes (50-75%) until your ammonia and nitrite is under control. Weekly is fine once you have them down to 0 but is not enough until then.
Don't replace filter media until it actually falls apart - and then don't replace it all at once.
If you can swap your carbon cartridge with sponge - you don't need carbon and it doesn't work for very long anyway.

Something that hasn't been mentioned is plants. If you can get some watersprite or frogbit just put it in the top of the tank after rinsing. Floating plants will actually work better in this case.
 
Thank you for everyone elseā€™s replies Iā€™ll make sure that I do daily water changes for the time being then.
So far today I have done a 50% water change and cleaned my filter, I noticed both the carbon and other foam were quite slimy and brown, Iā€™ve cleaned them the best I can (using tank water) will they be okay like that as you say donā€™t change them?
Iā€™ve also done a tap water test for ammonia and nitrate, ammonia came back between 0 and 0.25 and nitrate came back as 10, is this all okay?
And i did have floating plants in my tank but they just kept getting stuck in the filter so I gave up with them.
As Iā€™ve done a water change today when should I do another water check to see how itā€™s getting on, my fish seem a lot happier in themselves today so hopefully itā€™s getting better. Thank you again everyone.
 
Thank you for everyone elseā€™s replies Iā€™ll make sure that I do daily water changes for the time being then.
So far today I have done a 50% water change and cleaned my filter, I noticed both the carbon and other foam were quite slimy and brown, Iā€™ve cleaned them the best I can (using tank water) will they be okay like that as you say donā€™t change them?
Iā€™ve also done a tap water test for ammonia and nitrate, ammonia came back between 0 and 0.25 and nitrate came back as 10, is this all okay?
And i did have floating plants in my tank but they just kept getting stuck in the filter so I gave up with them.
As Iā€™ve done a water change today when should I do another water check to see how itā€™s getting on, my fish seem a lot happier in themselves today so hopefully itā€™s getting better. Thank you again everyone.

Filter media will be fine if it still looks a little dirty after rinsing (in fact you donā€™t want it to look too clean.) And it has been said but you can take out the carbon but leave the floss. All this does is remove chemicals from the water and is only effective for a month or so depending on how much is in there. I havenā€™t used carbon in years. It also reduces the efffectiveness if medication and plant fertilizer because it will absorb it. Tap water tests were good. You will never get nitrates in your tank below 10 ppm with it and thatā€™s ok. Fish are more than capable of handling that. Go ahead and test a couple hours after the change, the new water will have had time to dilute by then. As far as floating plants go there is a devise that they sell for reef tanks. Itā€™s a circular piece of plastic I think that floats on the top and keeps the water inside still. You could put the plants in there so the current doesnā€™t push them around. I have never done this but I think it could work.
 
just do daily water changes for the next week or two weeks if you like. It won't hurt the fish as long as the water is free of chlorine/ chloramine.

10ppm of nitrate is fine. You will always have at least 10ppm of nitrate in your tank because it is coming from your tap water.

The ammonia in your tap water is probably from chloramine used to disinfect the water and allegedly make it safe for human consumption. Make sure you use a dechlorinator designed for chloramine, not just chlorine.

Filter sponges are fine and change color as they get older. It is simply staining from the gunk they collect. Just squeeze the sponge out in a bucket of tank water until it is clean, Then do it again in another bucket of tank water. When it no longer releases much if any brown colour into the water, then put it back in the filter.

Next time you go to the shop pick up another sponge to go in the filter. Then remove the carbon and put the sponge in its place so you have 2 sponges in the filter.

Forgot about floating plants. Get a piece of airline and a joiner, and 1 or 2 suction cups. Make the airline into a circle and join the two ends so it is a closed loop. Use the suction cups to hold the airline to the glass at one end of the tank and put floating plants in the loop.
If airline doesn't hold the plants in you can do the same thing with clear plastic hose from a hardware and use a black poly pipe joiner to make the loop.
 
Forgot about floating plants. Get a piece of airline and a joiner, and 1 or 2 suction cups.
That's a good idea. If you are able to get water sprite it will be less of a problem for getting stuck in the filter. What also works well is to tie a few plants together and wrap a weight around them. It makes it look sorth of like a tree but you don't actually have to plant it.

I notice in your first post you use Seachem Prime. That is absolutely fine for chloramine - and the only thing I would use.
 
Hi everyone, once again thank you all for your help, the ammonia levels in my tank are now back to normal and I havenā€™t lost anymore fish they all seem back to their normal happy selves and I also know now how to ensure this doesnā€™t happen again so thank you everyone
 

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