Ammonia & pH problems

[dreamyshade]

I have a small angelfish, a little pleco, and a clown loach in a 5 gallon tank. This was my step-mom's friend's tank and I'm trying to get in contact with the friend to move the poor things to a bigger tank (I don't have any others). But until then, the ammonia in the tank is very high - 5 or 6. The angelfish isn't eating and the loach looks like it's having a hard time...aaah! I'd do a partial water change every hour but my step-mom insisted on putting pH 6.3 bottled water into the tank, and our tap water is more like 7.7 - but we don't have any of that bottled water right now.

What should I do? I don't know the temperature of the water because the tank came to me without a heater or thermometer. Is it worth shocking the fish with a pH change to get them ammonia-free water?

Thanks!

 

[WILDER]

Bottled water is not advisable, this is a hard one as the tank is to small, can you find an lfs who will take them, only thing i can suggest is do very small water from the tap at the same temp as the tank, with added declorinator till you can fetch the ph to the tap water, but you will have to do very small water changes over many hours keep testing ph.

 

[dreamyshade]

I'd like to take them to a lfs, but I have to make sure it's OK with this friend...she might want them back or something.

I'll do like 10% water changes every hour.

 

[WILDER]

No that is way to much on a 5gal tank, half a jug full or even less every hour.

 

[dreamyshade]

OK, so about 1/2 to 2/3 gallon?

 

[WILDER]

I would say no more than one litre, don't want to send them into ph shock.

 

[black angel]

ammonia is more toxic at the higher ph level but not by too much so you can slowly alter it over time. with there being no heater then the lower temperature will help keep the toxicity level down. if the temperature had been around 80 then the fish would probably be dead now.
can you afford to get them a rubbermaid of maybe around ten gallons with a small filter?
you could put the angel and plec into that and then leave the clown in the 5.
does the 5 gallon have a filter on it?
this really is a tricky one as something can so easily go wrong, but i think what your being advised to do is for the best and keeping a close eye on the ph is vital. the tank should be left for a few hours between each ph rise.
good luck.

 

[dreamyshade]

What should I be watching the pH for? It's at 6.4 now, and I'm about to do another small water change.

The tank does have a filter; it's an Eclipse Hex 5 with a built-in filter. I cleaned out the intake-tube and spinny-wheel last week...I have a feeling that was a bad idea. I probably killed the good bacteria (I thought I was helping the filter be more efficient). I'm glad I found this forum!

They're just in this tank until I have permission to take them to a lfs. I can't take care of a big enough tank when I go to college in September, and I don't want to force these guys on my parents.

 

[WILDER]

The ph want's matching to your tap ph, i would make the owner hurry up or she will have no fish left to decide over.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Something else you can do is begin by taking out 1-2 gallons of water. Begin adding water, 1/4 of a gallon at a time, until you see your pH move increase by maybe .2 After that, let the fish sit for 30 min, then go ahead and add enough water to get the pH to move .2 again.

When I was aclimating my betta (in a 5 gal) to my local water, I added about half a gallon at a time. I never noticed a big jump in his pH. pH with chemicals - 7, tap water - 9 + (decreases after 2 hrs though).

 

[dreamyshade]

Oh! I just got this water-testing kit yesterday and now I understand the toxic/non-toxic ammonia levels. My house is air-conditioned to around 72F...so I accidentally kept these guys alive by not knowing what pH and temperature they prefer. Eek.

Still doing a mini-water change every hour and a half or so...the pH is at 6.5 and the ammonia is still around 5.

 

[tttnjfttt]

If that is all your pH has changed, you probably can do a little larger water changes.

Have you tested the kH of your water? That will tell you how stable your pH will be. This is also good to know. For example, I have a lower KH, so even though my water comes out of my tap at 9+, the pH goes down to 7.6-8 on its own.

 

[sinistral]

Just one note...sometimes fish can get acclimated to shockingly high levels of ammonia (over a period of months or years even). If these particular fish are acclimated to living in a tank with baseline ammonia of 5 or 6, I wouldn't be too quick about doing a water change (particularly where there's also the pH difference as people have been discussing). As I said, if this is the case, you might consider spacing things out over a longer period of time-- a couple of days even-- as opposed to a few hours.

 

[dreamyshade]

Hmm! I don't know the kH of my tap water. I don't know what level of ammonia they've been living with, either. But they look worse than they did before. The angelfish, especially - he/she hasn't been eating, and the crease near its mouth (not sure what to call this) looks reddish.

I'll keep doing the 1/3 gallon water changes every hour or two. The pH and ammonia are changing slowly, and I'm trying to keep the temperature stable (without a thermometer, it's a little hard to tell). The nitrites are like 0.25, so I think it was me cleaning out the bio-wheel with tap water...argh. I've been putting a few drops of Stress-Coat (it's what I have) in with the water changes.

When I pour the new water in (slowly), the angelfish gets up close to the bubbly water - looks like it's trying to taste it. Is this a good sign?

 

[tttnjfttt]

But they look worse than they did before.

When you are doing water changes, are you using dechlorinator? On the bottle of stress coat that you are using, does it SPECIFFICALLY that it removes chlorine?

I think it was me cleaning out the bio-wheel with tap wate

Yup, that will definately kill the bacteria in the filter. How long had it been running before you cleaned it?

When I pour the new water in (slowly), the angelfish gets up close to the bubbly water - looks like it's trying to taste it. Is this a good sign?

Its probably the fish just playing in the bubbles. My fish absolutely LOVE water change day.