Ammonia Issues In 3 Tanks

[abbly]

Hi, I need some help with controlling the ammonia in 3 tanks. I recently noticed that the ammonia was high.. after much trouble with trying to diagnose what was happening with my fish. I thought at first that it was a parasite or septecemia because i first realized there was a problem when 1 of the guppies gill looked like it was bleeding and then i noticed a red dot on another one. I treated with a salt bath because i thought that it was something else.
It improved over the next few days. After a while i caught on and checked the ammonia after doing some research. The levels were sky high. On friday oct 14th- the levels in the upstairs 20 gallon tank were 3.0-5.0. In this tank are male guppies , 2 babies, 3 baby swordtails and a large, med size pleco and an algae eater.
On Sat Oct 15th I did a partial water change and the levels went down to 1.5 and the PH was 6.0. I treated the water with the fizzing tablets for both ammonia and PH. The next morning on Sun Oct 16 the ammonia was still at 0.25, I did a 50% water change and then the ammonia dropped to 0 ) and i thought i had a handle on things. Today Oct 17th i tested the ammonia again and its back to 0.25.
The other tanks are doing the same things!! I have a 45 Gallon downstairs with about 30 pregnant guppies in it.
Also a 10 gallon with 3 cichilds and an algae eater in it.
Ive been following the same procedure pretty much more or less. I did a 50% water change on all tanks on SUN and then it dropped to 0.. so why is it climbing back up so soon and how do i get this under control. These tanks have been established for a few months.
the ammonia eliminators dont seem to be helping that much.. today in the 20 gallon i used the waste control (which i know will increase the ammonia) then i also used the biological supplements to counteract that as it suggested.... waiting to test tomorrow to see what that does...

We set up a 10 gallon hospital tank when we first ran into these sick fish. Its been cycling a few days and is 0.25 ammonia as of today.
Ive reduced feeding the fish to once a day just a tiny bit, as i do admit i was over feeding them before... not sure if i should stop feeding all together until the ammonia controls itself.


How can i control the proper ph? those tablets didnt seem to help anything or the ammonia ones either? and how long until the ammonia will drop? is it normal to see it go back up after it drops to 0 after a 505 water change.
Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Tolak]

What are you using to treat the replacement water for chlorine/chloramine? What sort of test are you using to test the water?

Forget adjusting the pH on tap water, generally there is no reason for that, and it's a loosing battle unless you have a good handle on how hardness & TDS work along with pH.

 

[CezzaXV]

How did you originally cycle these tanks?

 

[abbly]

im using nutrifin aqua plus tap water conditioner. Orginally they were cycled with fish in them. They were given to me by someone who had very high ammonia levels and the male guppies that im most concerned about already had most of the damagae to their scales/ fins.

 

[CezzaXV]

Can you describe the process you actually used to cycle the tank?

Quite often that people think they're cycled, when they've just had a bad explanation of what cycling actually involves from the LFS.

 

[Tolak]

50% to 75% water changes daily. Get Seachem Prime or Tetra Aquasafe for treating the replacement water, double dose it. This will convert the ammonia to ammonium, which will be used the same as ammonia by your bio filtration, but will be harmless to fish at those levels. Still wondering on the type of test being used.

 

[abbly]

I guess i didnt really cycle it at all. I just added the tap water conditioner and added the fish originally.
I am using Nutrafin Test for PH and Tetra Test NH3+Nh4 for ammonia.

 

[Tolak]

Sounds like a traditional fish in cycle to me. Read up on fish in cycling, found here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

You're not the first to be in this situation by a long shot, as long as you're willing to do the water changes things will work out. I was wondering on the test, many start with the test strips, which are horribly inaccurate, good to see you have a liquid reagent test kit.

Swings in pH are to be expected in a cycling tank, I wouldn't be worrying about that at all. If there is any way you can get some mature filter media from another tank do just that, add it to your filter media. This will speed up the cycling process. As far as the filter media, don't clean it unless it is to the point that it is affecting filter function severely, as long as some water is moving it's all good. If you do find it slowing that badly do not replace the media, rinse it in old tank or other dechlorinated water.

You'll need a test for nitrite next, as before the liquid reagent tests are much better than the strips.