Ammonia Is Too High!

[deano1978]

hi

i have had my tank running now for 4 weeks and have one common plec, 4 cory's, 2 dwarf gourami's and 4 neons in it.

i have just done a water test and the ammonis has shot up to 8.0ppm, nitrite is 0.1ppm and nitrate is 20ppm.

i have been to the aquatic centre and they have told me not to do any water changes as it will stop the tank finishing its cycle. they said to just continue using ammovec and nitrovec, is that right ???

i dont want o poison the fish and i can't believe i shouldn't do something to reduce the ammonia.

Please Help!!!!

 

[dane261]

what filter have you got in the tank and if you say it has been up and running for 4 weeks it will have cycled by now and i would do a 50% water change to try and bring the amonia down

cheers dane

 

[martyn21uk]

Do a water change!! The ammonia will definately harm the fish unless you dilute it. I've had the advice about not doing a water change whilst cycling but I think the ammonia will do more harm than it taking slightly longer to cycle. Do 30% twice a day if you can.
How comes your tanks not cycled though? Did you cycle before adding fish or has something gone wrong?

 

[deano1978]

The filter is a fluval 3 plus as far as i was aware it had cycled i did the cycle using fish but also added ammovec and nitrovec as i was told from day one. i was from the centre that it was new tank syndrome and that the ammonia spiking was normal and just to leave it. so 2 30% water changes daily until it goes or a 50% once a day?

and what does ammovec do any ideas does it make the ammonia harmless to the fish like ammo-lock?

 

[martyn21uk]

I recommended 30% twice a day because a sudden change in water conditions can stress your fish. Equally you want to dilute it as much as you can. Its a balance if you see what I mean? As far as I am aware ammovec and nitrovec are just producets to speed up the cycling process. They don't lock the ammonia or anything like that as far as I know. You don't really want to lock your ammonia as it will stop your tank from cycling.

So is this the first time you have tested your water? Have you always had ammonia or had it been at 0 and just gone up recently?

 

[deano1978]

the ammonia was at 0 and 0.2 but never 8.0ppm ut has gone up over 2 days normally test every other day. doing a water change now just hope it brings it down. the woman in the pet shop said to leave it as the fish would be used to it.

 

[martyn21uk]

Fish don't get used to ammonia!! Otherwise we wouldn't have filters!!

Whats your cleaning procedure for your tank when you do water changes? Have you cleaned or changed any of the media in your filter?

 

[deano1978]

i do a 10% water change 3 times a week and once a week i clean the filter sponges in the water i take out of the tank i do gravel cleans as part of the water changes.

i have just tested the water from the tap and the ammonia in that is showing as 0.50ppm.

have just done a 30% water change and the test is still about 7.0ppm but is defo not as dark as before, have the other test next to it.

have added aqua safe to get rid of the chlorine before i put the water in the tank.

anything else you think i should do?

 

[martyn21uk]

There shouldn't be a problem if thats what you're doing. But reading back on your other posts, make sure that it is as your stats and routines have changed a couple of times this evening. The only reason your ammonia would have spiked like this if it had cycled previously would be if something had happened to wipe out your bacteria colony in your filter. Be it replacing all the media in one go, cleaning in tap water, letting it dry out completely or using water that wasn't treated during a water change.

Keep up the water changes and testing and hopefully you wont lose too many fish as you re-cycle.

 

[rdd1952]

From the search I did on Ammovec, it appears that it is for marine tanks, not freshwater. Is your tank freshwater or saltwater? That could be a major problem.

 

[Christine1014]

How big is your tank? It can easily take 4+ weeks for a tank to cycle with fish, and the products sold to "speed up" cycling are, for the most part, in effective.

Definitely use the ammo lock. It will NOT inhibit the cycling process. To "lock up" the ammonia, it converts it to ammonium. It's not toxic to the fish, but it's still consumed by the beneficial bacteria. Also keep up with the water changes. The person at the fish store told you not to do water changes because she's under the very common misconception that the beneficial bacteria can live IN the water. They don't- they have to live ON something -- your filter media your gravel, etc. The fact that there's ammonia in your tapwater though is somewhat problematic. It could just be a temporary problem with the water company, or a constant thing. Either way, add the Ammo Lock when you do your water changes, and I'd check the tap water again in a day or two to see if the ammonia is still present. You can do multiple water changes a day, (just try to keep the water temp constant, or pretty close), one big change every day... whatever you need to do to keep the ammonia levels down. And keep testing for nitrite, too. As your ammonia levels decrease, you're going to have a nitrite spike. Water changes, water changes, water changes...

Good luck!