Ammonia is not going down

[Shmeffrey23]

I’m new to the forum and I need your help and everyone has probably had to deal with this question. My ammonia levels are high and I’ve tried everything, water changes 35-50% water changes daily adding api conditioner, feeding every other day or every 2 days. This has been going on for a week. The ammonia levels will not go down and Im out of ideas. How long would it take before seeing ammonia levels drop. I have a 50 gal and have had it for about a month and added fish but then I had my 2 angelfish die plus my rio negro pleco which was about an inch and a half die. I’ve also checked my water that I’m adding to the tank for ammonia and that’s at 0. Currently in the tank is 3 gouramis 2 jumbo platys tire track eel which is about 4 inches 2 rainbow sharks and a rubber pleco which is 2 inches. Thanks in advance to any help

 

[Barry Tetra]

You need to cycling a tank to put ammonia to 0, You have to buy “bacteria in the bottle” put them in a tank (5 ml per 10 Gal of water) the bacteria (nitrosomonas) will turn ammonia to nitrite then another bacteria (nitrobacter) will turn nitrite to nitrate and you will dont have to worry about ammonia you can do water change to put nitrate to 0. It will take about 1 month to cycling the whole tank. Good luck

 

[Barry Tetra]

@Retired Viking can you explain more? I may type something wrong.

 

[Retired Viking]

You can buy Tetras SafeStart Plus, it has the good bacteria. I usually silent cycle my tanks but I used this to quick start my bother-in-laws 20 gallon tank and it worked. Here is Petco link: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/tetra-safestart-plus-water-treatment

 

[JxsPxxle]

I’m new to the forum and I need your help and everyone has probably had to deal with this question. My ammonia levels are high and I’ve tried everything, water changes 35-50% water changes daily adding api conditioner, feeding every other day or every 2 days. This has been going on for a week. The ammonia levels will not go down and Im out of ideas. How long would it take before seeing ammonia levels drop. I have a 50 gal and have had it for about a month and added fish but then I had my 2 angelfish die plus my rio negro pleco which was about an inch and a half die. I’ve also checked my water that I’m adding to the tank for ammonia and that’s at 0. Currently in the tank is 3 gouramis 2 jumbo platys tire track eel which is about 4 inches 2 rainbow sharks and a rubber pleco which is 2 inches. Thanks in advance to any help

You should try gravel cleaning your tank everyday. Keep up the water changes, but do 75% every day and gravel clean your tank thoroughly as kicking up a lot of waste from the substrate can cause a spike in ammonia.

 

[Shmeffrey23]

You can buy Tetras SafeStart Plus, it has the good bacteria. I usually silent cycle my tanks but I used this to quick start my bother-in-laws 20 gallon tank and it worked. Here is Petco link: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/tetra-safestart-plus-water-treatment

Thanks I’ll go buy a bottle today

 

[Shmeffrey23]

You should try gravel cleaning your tank everyday. Keep up the water changes, but do 75% every day and gravel clean your tank thoroughly as kicking up a lot of waste from the substrate can cause a spike in ammonia.

I have been sucking the gravel every time just because I’m using my vacuum to get the water out of my tabk