Ammonia off the chart

[tyslia]

Ongoing from my previous cry for help.....all stats seem to be okay, except for the ammonia, which is still very, very high. I have put in ammo lock and an ammonia ball. What can I do to bring this back down to the right level. I am not familiar with cycle and ammonia spike.
I am just a domestic hack, who obviously has been very lucky over the last couple of years not to have something wrong.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Do daily water changes until this clears up. I'm not positive, and maybe someone else can back me up here, but I'm pretty sure I was told ammo-lock takes the ammonia and turns it into a form that the beneficial bacteria can't use, delaying your cycling process.

You may also be able to do water changes several times a day, just don't go do too much at once, or it will shock your fish. Could you possibly re-home some of the fish durring the cycling process?

 

[fishwatcher]

According the package, AmmoLock just makes it safe... it is still useful in the cycling of the tank. I would definitely do some water changes... about 25-30% a day, or smaller ones more often. After this, the nitrites will probably spike too so it would be better if you can re-home the fish. Hopefully someone else will give you better ideas, though.
Good luck!!

 

[tttnjfttt]

My bad...I thougth I could trust this LFS, they looked pretty high quality to me...guess not.

 

[mlee0332]

yes, please rehome them, and the nitrite apike is when you'll start to see them drop like flies... Ammonia isn't quite as potent as NO2's are and those need to be kept low. If I were you i'd start adding NO2-lock if you can not rehome them...

I'm not sure that ammo-lock makes bacteria not be able to use it, but I do know that pH can. What is your pH. If it is lower than 6.8, it takes on a different form that is useless to the nitrifying bacteria...

 

[pica_nuttalli]

the ammonia locking products often produce false positives for high ammonia levels. have you been doing regular water changes to offset the problem? doing a 10~20% water change twice a day will do wonders for undesirable ammonia/nitrite levels.