Ammo-lock Question

[Chuck & Veronica]

I bought Ammo-Lock for the first time last week, and I believe it's created a problem for me. After doing a large water change, I added Ammo-Lock for the first time. The next day, I had cloudy-white water. I thought, okay, I guess I threw my tank back into its cycle mode, even though I've done large water changes before and didn't have this problem. I didn't clean out the filter, so the filter media should have still been operating with functioning bio-bugs.

But then the cloudy water became a really deep cloudy white and the fish started dying. I have done two more water changes, and the fish seem to be okay now, but the water is still a little cloudy. The filter media also got some weird white slime on it that I've never seen before either, and the inside of the glass had some white slime on it too.

Could the Ammo-Lock have combined in a bad way with some of the liquid fertilizer (Leaf Zone) in the tank? I"ve had cloudy tanks before as they cycled, but this was a deep, thick whiteness that I haven't seen before nor have I experienced the white slime on my filter media or on the inside of the glass.

The only other change that I made to the tank previously was the addition of some new plants I bought from ebay.

Anyone have any ideas what caused this?

It's a 29g tank with some White Clouds and Danios. Definitely not overstocked.

Thanks!

Chuck

 

[guppymonkey]

As far as I can figure out Ammo-Lock and similar products are one of the worst products you can use for your tank. They say that they eliminate ammonia from tanks but thats just impossible to do. There is no way to make something just disappear they have to change it. In the cycling process nitrifying bacteria breaks ammonia down into nitrite which in turn gets broken down into nitrate. With Ammo-Lock I believe that it just changes the chemical makeup of ammonia. It doesn't get rid of the ammonia it just changes it slightly so that its supposed to be less toxic. But while it changes the ammonia it interupts the cycle (probably the cause of your cloudiness). After a matter of hours to maybe a few days the ammonia is changed back to its normal form and all of a sudden the fish are under a huge amount of stress. Basically your tank goes from no ammonia to huge amounts of ammonia overnight. Thats probably what killed your fish.

I never recommend Ammo-Lock or anything similar to it. Its all a waste of money and makes a mess out of most tanks.

 

[Chuck & Veronica]

As far as I can figure out Ammo-Lock and similar products are one of the worst products you can use for your tank. They say that they eliminate ammonia from tanks but thats just impossible to do. There is no way to make something just disappear they have to change it. In the cycling process nitrifying bacteria breaks ammonia down into nitrite which in turn gets broken down into nitrate. With Ammo-Lock I believe that it just changes the chemical makeup of ammonia. It doesn't get rid of the ammonia it just changes it slightly so that its supposed to be less toxic. But while it changes the ammonia it interupts the cycle (probably the cause of your cloudiness). After a matter of hours to maybe a few days the ammonia is changed back to its normal form and all of a sudden the fish are under a huge amount of stress. Basically your tank goes from no ammonia to huge amounts of ammonia overnight. Thats probably what killed your fish. I never recommend Ammo-Lock or anything similar to it. Its all a waste of money and makes a mess out of most tanks.

Thanks GuppyMonkey for your message. I'm never going to buy Ammo Lock again. In fact, I threw away what was left of the bottle. I still think it reacted in a weird way with something in my tank to cause the white slime. They say it "locks ammonia" away. Whatever it does, it wasn't healthy for my tank.

Chuck

 

[rdd1952]

Once a tank is cycled, there is no need for ammonia locking chemicals. The nitrifying bacteria will process any waste that the fish produce. Having said that, I am still inclined to think the ammo-loc isn't the problem. It should really have no effect on a cycled tank since the ammonia is being processed naturally. How long has the tank been set up?

 

[Chuck & Veronica]

The tank's been set up since sometime last year, I think. I've been keeping fish for years, and run five tanks continuosly. I know how to cycle tanks, and I know what a tank looks like that's been thrown back into its cycling phase. This was different. Really deeply opaque white fog and white slime on the filter media and inside the glass. I've never seen this before.

The only changes made prior to this happening: 50% water change, addition of Ammo Lock, addition of several new plants bought from ebay.

I had Leaf Zone fertilizer in there prior to adding the Ammo Lock.

If it was a cycling problem, then that still doesn't explain where the white slime came from.

Chuck

 

[rdd1952]

I think it was a bad bottle of ammo-loc or something like that. It really shouldn't have had any effect on the tank (cycling wise) since the tank was already cycled and there wouldn't have been any ammonia present. Even though it locks the ammonia, the ammonia can still be processed by the nitrifying bacteria so ammonia should have continued to be processed just like normal. I guess it could have been a reaction with the ferts but not sure. This may be one of those puzzling things that you never really find a good explaination for.

 

[Chuck & Veronica]

I think it was a bad bottle of ammo-loc or something like that. It really shouldn't have had any effect on the tank (cycling wise) since the tank was already cycled and there wouldn't have been any ammonia present. Even though it locks the ammonia, the ammonia can still be processed by the nitrifying bacteria so ammonia should have continued to be processed just like normal. I guess it could have been a reaction with the ferts but not sure. This may be one of those puzzling things that you never really find a good explaination for.

You're probably right. Thankfully, I only lost three or four fishes. Still, I hate to lose fish for any reason, particularly when I thought I was doing something good. I like to experiment and try new products, which is why I tried Ammo Lock. In the future, I should stick to what I know unless getting a recommendation to try something new from someone who's had experience with the product.

Thanks again!

Chuck

 

[rdd1952]

Still, I hate to lose fish for any reason, particularly when I thought I was doing something good.

I understand completely. Back about 3 or 4 months ago, I cleaned my tank (a little more stringently than normal) one evening only to wake up the next morning to find all 6 of my red-eye tetras dead or very near death (they did all die). Three of them had been in the tank from day one and the others came a couple weeks later (before I knew about fishless cycling). This was 6 months later though so it wasn't a problem with ammonia or nitrite. The tank was completely cycled. There were also 6 serpaes (these came at the same time as the red-eyes, 3 to start and 3 more later), 6 pristellas, 5 corys and 2 ghost shrimp in the tank. All of them were fine and showed no signs of problems. The water parameters were perfect too. I am still without an explaination for that one.