PermanentXHate has ammonia in their tap water. that is usually a pretty good indication chloramine is being used.
High Ammonia!
- Thread starter PermanentXHate
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OP
OP
PermanentXHate
Fish Fanatic
I found a tiny bottle that I had of stress coat in the back of my storage closet for my fish tank from when i set it up and was adding new fish. I did a 50% water change and added some and when I retested it was 1 ppm. That's way better than 8 ppm lol. But I'm out of stress coat so I will probably get some more and continue the daily water changes until it's gone.
OP
OP
PermanentXHate
Fish Fanatic
id get quite a large bottle as youl be doing quite a few changes, but your test results are looking much better now
keep up the good work and keep us informed
no prob will do!
OP
OP
PermanentXHate
Fish Fanatic
my angel fish started laying eggs this morning and now i cant do water changes for a few days :[
OP
OP
PermanentXHate
Fish Fanatic
that's what i figured but it wouldn't even be a 20% water change. she laid her eggs way towards the top of the tank on a roman column i have
OP
OP
PermanentXHate
Fish Fanatic
WOO HOO! I figured it out!
This saturday when I tested my water my ammonia in both of my tanks had spiked again to 8 ppm. I got fed up and went to my lfs in search of an answer.
She told me that it had never really cycled the right way. Provided me with some mature media from their tanks there and directed me to some stress zyme that produces bacteria.
She also told me that even though my ammonia was 8 ppm it hadn't phased my fish because I had added filtration and LOTS of bubbles so there was no oxygen taken away. Becuase the reason the ammonia is poison to them is because it takes away what they breathe but my bubbles gave back twice as much as it was taking so it didnt affect them.
But now I have extra bubbles, extra filtration, AND stuff to rid my tank of ammonia!
SAWEET!
Thanks for your help guys!
This saturday when I tested my water my ammonia in both of my tanks had spiked again to 8 ppm. I got fed up and went to my lfs in search of an answer.
She told me that it had never really cycled the right way. Provided me with some mature media from their tanks there and directed me to some stress zyme that produces bacteria.
She also told me that even though my ammonia was 8 ppm it hadn't phased my fish because I had added filtration and LOTS of bubbles so there was no oxygen taken away. Becuase the reason the ammonia is poison to them is because it takes away what they breathe but my bubbles gave back twice as much as it was taking so it didnt affect them.
But now I have extra bubbles, extra filtration, AND stuff to rid my tank of ammonia!
SAWEET!
Thanks for your help guys!
Lots of oxygen in the water does not stop ammonia from killing fish. High oxygen levels do help the beneficial bacteria to grow faster. It also gives the fish more oxygen to live on assuming the levels were low to begin with. But in an average aquarium it doesn't make much difference. Water can only hold so much oxygen and all the aeration in the world will only put a certain amount into the water.
Getting some mature media from their tanks might help but if it was out of the tank for more than an hour or two then it is probably not going to do much.
The beneficial bacteria is unable to process ammonia at extremely high levels. You might find because the level is 8 or there abouts, the bacteria won't do anything about it. Normally for filter development 5ppm is as high as you want it to get. Quite often when the level gets higher the cycling process stalls. If you have fish in the tank then you want to keep the ammonia as low as possible.
Bacterial supplements can help get things going a bit quicker.
What filter materials do you have in the filter?
Is there any small white granulated substance called ammonia remover in the filter? If so remove it because it will hinder the growth of the filter bacteria.
Ceramic beads, noodles, foam blocks and filter pads should all be fine to use.
Chances are the 3 zebra fish you lost when you changed the tank from brackish to freshwater were killed by osmotic shock. Basically the fish absorb salt from the brackish water and when you dumped them into freshwater all the salts leached out of their bodies and they filled up with freshwater and drowned.
You would have been better off doing 10% daily water changes for a couple of weeks and that would have diluted the salt slowly enough for the fish and filter bacteria to adapt to the freshwater. Then once the salt levels were gone you could start doing bigger water changes.
Try to keep the ammonia levels below 5ppm and make sure the filters are run continuously. Monitor them daily and see how the level goes. It should not take more than about 2 weeks for the ammonia eating bacteria to develop in a tropical tank. A couple more weeks and the nitrite eating bacteria should be sufficiently developed as well.
Getting some mature media from their tanks might help but if it was out of the tank for more than an hour or two then it is probably not going to do much.
The beneficial bacteria is unable to process ammonia at extremely high levels. You might find because the level is 8 or there abouts, the bacteria won't do anything about it. Normally for filter development 5ppm is as high as you want it to get. Quite often when the level gets higher the cycling process stalls. If you have fish in the tank then you want to keep the ammonia as low as possible.
Bacterial supplements can help get things going a bit quicker.
What filter materials do you have in the filter?
Is there any small white granulated substance called ammonia remover in the filter? If so remove it because it will hinder the growth of the filter bacteria.
Ceramic beads, noodles, foam blocks and filter pads should all be fine to use.
Chances are the 3 zebra fish you lost when you changed the tank from brackish to freshwater were killed by osmotic shock. Basically the fish absorb salt from the brackish water and when you dumped them into freshwater all the salts leached out of their bodies and they filled up with freshwater and drowned.
You would have been better off doing 10% daily water changes for a couple of weeks and that would have diluted the salt slowly enough for the fish and filter bacteria to adapt to the freshwater. Then once the salt levels were gone you could start doing bigger water changes.
Try to keep the ammonia levels below 5ppm and make sure the filters are run continuously. Monitor them daily and see how the level goes. It should not take more than about 2 weeks for the ammonia eating bacteria to develop in a tropical tank. A couple more weeks and the nitrite eating bacteria should be sufficiently developed as well.
OP
OP
PermanentXHate
Fish Fanatic
will dooo!
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