Ammonia Level

[tibby25731]

HI

My tank has been set up with fish in for about a month. I had an outbreak of whitespot a week and a half ago and have treated it with a specialist treatment, fish all seem much better now. I've been doing about 10% water change every other day, turned the temp up to 80 and add more whitespot med each time I have added new water.

Last week I bought a master test kit after realising I really should check my water. I did tests and pH came back at 7.2 all other levels were 0. So i thought, great!

I have done another test today, did a water change yesterday. pH has remained at 7.2. Nitrites and nitrates are both 0. But the ammonia test has come back at around 3-4. Now when I did this test it seemed a little strange, following the instructions, and I suspect I may have done it wrong last time! So it is possible I had problems last week!

What i need to know is, is this reading a problem? And if so, what should I do to fix this?

Laura

 

[st24rsap]

i prosume you didnt do a fishless cycle when you set up the tank first of all which means you are now doing a fish-in cycle, you need to search this forum and read up all the info on it. It will require daily water changes to ensure the ammonia and nitrite levels dont go above 0.25, anything above this is dangerous and could kill your fish. the process could take upto 2 months of constant wate changes and water testing twice a day.

what size is the tank?
what fish is it stocked with?
what pump/filtration are you using?

id imagine the problem has been there for a while, you need to do a 50% water change now to get the ammonia down to around 2, then later tonight do another 50% change to reduce it even more. More water changes tomorrow will be needed to get the ammonia down below 0.25.

remember when you change the water to use water with a similar temp to the tank, and make sure it is declorinated and lastly do not clean your filter at the moment untill the tank is cycled

 

[tibby25731]

argh ok, thanks! Yeah I started the tank with some tetras. At the moment I have 3 tetras, 6 guppies, 2 kribs and a plec. Tank is 60 litres and filter came with it, dunno what one it is. Do i need to clean the gravel every water change is I am doing it every day? Also, i did rinse the filter media yesterday in old tank water as it was brown and sludgy... could this have made things worse??

 

[seangee]

argh ok, thanks! Yeah I started the tank with some tetras. At the moment I have 3 tetras, 6 guppies, 2 kribs and a plec. Tank is 60 litres and filter came with it, dunno what one it is. Do i need to clean the gravel every water change is I am doing it every day? Also, i did rinse the filter media yesterday in old tank water as it was brown and sludgy... could this have made things worse??

No need to clean the gravel every change, when you do just siphon it (I mean don't take it out to wash). Try to avoid cleaning the filter too much until your nitrite drops back to zero. There are loads of good topics on here but what ou can expect is that (hopefully soon) your ammonia will start dropping and then get to zero fast. At the same time your nitrite will start climbing so you need to keep testing and changing water until that gets to zero as well.

Also cut down on your feeding. Once or twice a week is probably all you want at this stage.

 

[dzsigmond217]

Agreed! You're tank is in cycle..you'll have to monitor the levels very closely and do larger water changes as needed.

 

[st24rsap]

personally i would not clean the gravel at all untill the cycle is complete as a certain amount of good bacteria live in it, just use a gravel vac to remove any excess food or fish waste thats sat on the gravel surface.

You have done the right thing with the filter, if the flow is reduced due to it clogging then give it a quick clean in some old tank water but only do this if the flow is really low, othewise do not touch the filter there is no need to during the cycle process

basically you need to test the water stats twice a day and do water changes as required to bring the ammonia and nitrite below 0.25, as seangee says you may well see a ammonia and nitrite spike so keep an eye out for these, dont be worried about the frequency and quantity of the water changes, it will be much less stressfull on them than swimming around in poison which is basically what ammonia at 4ppm is

 

[tibby25731]

Oh my god i actually was stupid enough to think my tank had cycled.... I have done a 50% water change and the ammonia has definitely dropped, I am finding it hard to read but I think it is about 1.5 now... I am going to do another water change in about an hours time. So, when the ammonia level is almost zero, I then need to be testing for nitrites until they drop to zero, right? Do I need to test for anything else in this time? Oh, I feel so bad for my fish, no wonder they all got white spot... it was my stupid fault Also, am I overstocker or not? Anyone?

 

[tibby25731]

OK, second change done, ammonia is now about 0.50. So tomorrow i will test for ammonia and also for nitrite, and will report back - can someone keep an eye out for my replies and tell me if i am messing up at all? I really don't want to hurt my fish! Thank you x

 

[st24rsap]

good job youl get there, its a long process cycling with fish but it can be doine, i did mine at xmas and took about 2 months but in that time i lost no fish, my tanks a 240L fully stocked so you can imagine the amount of water i had to change, yours isnt too bad so im sure youl be fine

dont blame yourself, local fish stores tend not to give good advice but at least you know now and are working towards doing it properly.

for the moment id just test for Ammonia and Nitrite to make sure they dont go above 0.25, nitrate will be the last part of the process so not too much point in checking for that. would also be worth keeping an eye on the PH to make sure it doesnt swing too much with all the water changes.

as for the stocking id say your ok at the mo, although if its a common plec it can get very big and will outgrow that tank quite quickly

 

[tibby25731]

Thanks! My ammonia level rose to about 1 again overnight so I have done another 50% water change and it now reads somewhere between 0.25 and 0.50, better. Will check again tonight. Thanks for the advice! And I am glad I am not overstocked, though yeah, plec is common and I am already working on space and money for a bigger tank for him!

 

[backtotropical]

Good advice so far Tibby, you're in good hands here.

I'll try to simplify it for you to make it as easy as possible. Sorry if i'm repeating anything already said.

Ammonia and Nitrite are both lethal to fish in even very small amounts. You need to keep both levels below 0.25 at all times. This is achieved by doing partial water changes. 50% is a good place to start, and more if necessary. Don't be afraid of changing water, it will only improve the situation.

You could do 4 x 75% changes per day if required with no ill effects. Newbies often fall down because of being scared to change large amounts of water, but in actual fact the opposite is the case, you can't change too much.

Remember ammonia and nitrite below 0.25 at all times until your filter can deal with it on its own. At this point, you will see no ammonia or nitrite regardless of water changes. This is when your filter is 'cycled'. Ammonia and Nitrite should always be 0 in an established tank. This is the main function of your filter, and essential for the health of your fish. Hence, it's very important to keep both levels as low as possible until your filter catches up.

Disregard nitrate and pH for now, they are nowhere near as important for your circumstances.

Hope this helps you.

BTT

 

[tibby25731]

Thanks! After the 2nd change of today, my level is about 0.25, possibly a tiny bit higher but not 0.50. I'll test again first thing tomorrow! No nitrites yet, will this start once the ammonia is 0???

 

[charlton]

Thanks! After the 2nd change of today, my level is about 0.25, possibly a tiny bit higher but not 0.50. I'll test again first thing tomorrow! No nitrites yet, will this start once the ammonia is 0???

i finished doing a fishless cycle a few weeks back and my ammo stayed a 0 for a few days before i started seeing nitrites ! my whole cycle took about 4/5 weeks so stick at it with the water changes, its well worth the wait !!!

 

[tibby25731]

ammonia back to 0.50 overnight, done another change and now it's below 0.25, not quite zero yet!

 

[backtotropical]

Good work Tibby. Keep it up.