Aqueon ammonia neutralizer

Tdiggy74 said:

Any ideas as to what is causing the spike?, I did watch my angel swim towards the bottom of the tank and her gills were red and irritated, once I turned the filter back on she perked up and seems to be okay.
I am worried that the ammonia is killing the three that survived.

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Tdiggy74 said:

Will adding drift wood help at all?

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Byron said:

This is not easy to answer. First, if this is the ammonia spike (I assume), what are the test numbers for ammonia in the tank water? And what is the pH now (of the tank water)? Also, test the tap water on its own for ammonia jut to be certain.

Do you have any live plants in the tank?

There are other issues here that may well be part of the fish deaths. But let's deal with issues one at a time.



No, so far as water chemistry is concerned.

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Tdiggy74 said:

My tap water is fine,

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Byron said:

Never use any chemical substance or additive that is aimed at adjusting the pH. This can be deadly to fish. The pH is part of the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) of the water, and depending what the GH and KH level is, adjusting the pH is likely to be impossible permanently. Fluctuating pH is far worse on fish than a stable pH eveen ifd it is outside the preferred range for the species.

To explain the ammonia spike...as I just wrote in my previous post, ammonia in acidic water is harmless in the form ammonium; in basic water (pH above 7.0) it is toxic ammonia. If ammonia/ammonium is present in the water at a pH of 6 it is harmless. But if the pH should be raised somehow to be above 7.0 the ammonium changes into toxic ammonia. This was likely the reasoning behind whatever you read. Another reason never to mess with pH.

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Tdiggy74 said:

I did a 75/80 % water change, cleaned off the ornaments. Checked my ammonia levels as I filled the tank. Hopefully this is a good color. I can't tell anymore.
Thanks
Tdiggy

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Rocky998 said:

Seems to be ok but we need a white background on them... it does still look a bit green

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Rocky998 said:

thats at about 0.25-0.50... still pretty toxic

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Tdiggy74 said:

I don't know what else to do.Do you think It requires a removal of some of the gravel and replace it with new?

Tdiggy

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Tdiggy74 said:

I don't know what else to do.Do you think It requires a removal of some of the gravel and replace it with new?

Tdiggy

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Byron said:

Without evidence the gravel is causing the ammonia, this would not benefit. Assuming you do dig into the gravel during water changes, this would remove much of the organic matter which as it decomposes does create ammonia and CO2. But that brings up another issue...what is the substrate material? Is it inert gravel, or calcareous gravel, or a plant gravel?

And yes, the more water changes the better, change 70% of the tank at each to get this ammonia down. Assuming the test is accurate.

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