Ammonia And Nitrates Throw The Roof!

[LouieLovell]

Hi,

Just went out and bought a mater test kit and im horrified to find that my ammonia is a 4.0 ppm and my nitrates are at 80ppm! i don't know how to drop them quickly with out stressing the fish! My Nitrites are at 0 and the PH is at 7.4 which is normal.

Can some please help me out im distraught!

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Teacher Martyn]

If your nitrates are through the roof and ammonia's not looking good the first thing you should do is a large water change.

More knowledgable people than me will advise in detail but I'd change at least 50 per cent of the water straight away.

Also, test your tap water. It could be high in nitrates already.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

As Martyn said above, do an IMMEDIATE large (90% or more if possible) water change.
Out of interest, how old is your tank?
What size is it?
What fish do you have?
did you 'cycle' your filter at all?

Terry.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I've never experienced such high ammonia readings (nitrate reading of 80ppm is nothing to worry about for most common hobby fish, its when they reach ~300 that nitrate becomes toxic for many species), but what I would do (to try and prevent fatal "old tank syndrome") is...

• Remove some of the tank water into a fish safe bucket, somewhere between 25% and 50%, then net all the fish into the bucket. Put a cover on the bucket to calm them down a little.
• After ensuring the heater has cooled down and turning off the filter, I would then empty the tank of water.
• I would then refill the tank with similar temp dechlorinated water, before turning the filter back on.
• This next step is the crutial bit to prevent "old tank syndrome" causing fatalities, the fish need to be slowly acclimitised to this new clean water, ideally using the airline drip method. I would probably go as far as to remove half the bucket water once it gets full the first time, before letting it refill a second time.
• Net the fish back into the tank.
• Refill the tank with some more similar temp dechlorinated water.
• Turn the heater back on.

 

[LouieLovell]

As Martyn said above, do an IMMEDIATE large (90% or more if possible) water change.
Out of interest, how old is your tank?
What size is it?
What fish do you have?
did you 'cycle' your filter at all?

Terry.

My tank is about 6 years old, and its 125 litres.

in the tank i have
2 pearl gouramis
7 wood shrimp
1 platie
1 female betta
1 glass catfish
4 blue tetra
3 leapord danios
1 red tail shark
4 diamod tetra
and a BGK

a few have died recently hence the odd numbers of fish......so i went and bought a master test kit.
my tank is heavily planted aswell.
my tank was cycled when i first set it up

 

[HAMBONE]

Hi,

Just went out and bought a mater test kit and im horrified to find that my ammonia is a 4.0 ppm and my nitrates are at 80ppm! i don't know how to drop them quickly with out stressing the fish! My Nitrites are at 0 and the PH is at 7.4 which is normal.

Can some please help me out im distraught!

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

is your equipment calibrated?? if not, your numbers mean nothing..

 

[LouieLovell]

[/quote]


is your equipment calibrated?? if not, your numbers mean nothing..
[/quote]



sorry???

 

[Teacher Martyn]

Yeah, I had no idea either.

 

[LouieLovell]

Right after a few hectic hours i have done a 90% water change! and removed any plants that are not 100% tip top.
I moved all the fish into huge bucket i have with the existing water, i also put some stress coat in with them and threw a towel over it, to relax them.


i churned up all the substrate in the tank to cloud the water with all the dirt and filth, after i did that i had the hose suck out all the dirty water...
So when that was done 90% of the tank was filled with clean water with all the appropriate chemicals added.

But i did something i have never done before. Today i when i bought the test kit i also bought aquarium salt, which i added to the new water.
this may have been a mistake maybe someone can clarify that.
My reasons for doing this for the first time was, i read that high ammonia can can fish gills to falter and make breathing difficult. But i also read that salt helps with breathing etc, and also helps poorly fish to get better.
I do not know how long the water was that bad for or how long the fish were suffering so i thought it was a well calculated risk.

Please advise me if i have any mistakes.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

How much aquarium salt per litre did you add to the tank?

Are the fish still in the bucket, or are they now back in the tank?

If they are back in the tank, are they behaving normally?

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi,

Just went out and bought a mater test kit and im horrified to find that my ammonia is a 4.0 ppm and my nitrates are at 80ppm! i don't know how to drop them quickly with out stressing the fish! My Nitrites are at 0 and the PH is at 7.4 which is normal.

Can some please help me out im distraught!

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

is your equipment calibrated?? if not, your numbers mean nothing..

Hambone, please don't bring your beefs with other members into threads for newbies with problems, it really isn't helpful

 

[Nancy6]

much appreciated

 

[LouieLovell]

How much aquarium salt per litre did you add to the tank?

Are the fish still in the bucket, or are they now back in the tank?

If they are back in the tank, are they behaving normally?

I put in one table spoon per 5 gallons.
No they are all back in the tank, and seem to very happy, they are all more active!And never seen the water soo crystal clear, which odd because do 20-30percent every 4-5 days!!!

 

[sadguppy]

Always, when you get a test result like that, do repeat the test to make sure. 4ppm is very high and I would be surprised if your fish weren't showing visible signs of distress at that level.

I have been victim to a dirty test tube which lead to an entirely unnecessary huge late night water change... Only to have my husband repeat the test on the dirty tank water and it was fine. Boy did I get in trouble!

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Hi,

Just went out and bought a mater test kit and im horrified to find that my ammonia is a 4.0 ppm and my nitrates are at 80ppm! i don't know how to drop them quickly with out stressing the fish! My Nitrites are at 0 and the PH is at 7.4 which is normal.

Can some please help me out im distraught!

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

is your equipment calibrated?? if not, your numbers mean nothing..

As I said in a previous thread: so you're using calibrated equipment. Liquid test kits on the market now (such as the API ones) wouldn't be widely used if they were that inaccurate. Stop being such a tool and move on. Just because you and I had an issue when you joined up doesn't mean you have to introduce your trolling into other peoples' threads. It's getting very boring so please, move one.