Ammonia Reading Are High

[newhobby]

Good morning,

I have been treating my 55 gal aquarium for the past 7 days with pimafix after i noticed some of them with white cottony looking spots on them and one looked like it had blood in it's fin . Last night i did a partial water change and added more salt. I checked the PH - 0, i checked the Nitrite -0, and i checked the Ammonia and got a reading of .50. I added some Prime to the water last night after i got that reading. I checked again this morning and got the same reading. I don't want my fish to die. I have about 20 fish in the tank. Most are cichlids and tetras and 1 catfish. How do i bring the ammonia down to zero?

PS Ignore my sig, i have more fish than that now.

 

[Athena]

As soon as you see there is an ammonia spike you need to do a 50% water change asap. After you have done the water change, give it a while and re-test the ammonia levels. If ammonia is still showing, do another water change. Keep going like that until you get a zero reading.

Obviously you need to find out what's causing the ammonia spike so that you can address that and prevent it happening again.

Athena

 

[newhobby]

Thanks a lot. That seemed to work, but how do i find out why it happened so that i can prevent it in the future?

 

[WILDER]

How big are the fish. Sure you are not overstocked and thats what causing the ammonia reading.
Pimafix is no good on spots.
How big are the spots and do they have any red edging to them or red centre.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Greyish white spots with a circling of red around the edges can be columaris spots.
Also spots can be caused by parasites.
Any red streaking in the fins or red edging to the tail.
Bad water quality can cause septicemia.