Amonia

[Tyshow]

I have had a 20 gallon tank for 5 months now and everything has been fine. I raise guppies so we have alot of fish and breeder things in this tank. When i got my 10 gallon i relised how cloudy the 20 gallon tank looked. Its been that way for awhile. Recently i tested the water and the amonia spiked and it was really green so we did an emergancy water change.

The next day it barely went down. I changed the water like two times and it wont go down. The fish exspert at our favorite fish store told us the cloudeness would go down if we didnt clean for 3 days. I only change the water once a week usaly. I am worried for my Guppies. I have 3 breeders in this tank with over 85+ babbies. I transfer them to other tanks when their old enough but i worry about the youngest ones. The adults dont seem to mind the spike in amonia but need some advise on what to do. I also bought some amonia remover. That liquid stuff and have been putting in the amount it says to everyday. Please help! Thanks.

Tyshow Urameshi
of
Urameshi Productions.

 

[crazysilverwolf]

How is the Nitrate and Nitrite?

 

[Tyshow]

How is the Nitrate and Nitrite?

Everything else tests at the normal levels. Its just the amonia thats off the charts.

 

[rdd1952]

What is your pH? Since the fish don't seem to be affected, it almost sounds like your pH has dropped very low and the ammonia is actually ammonium and non toxic. That would also explain why it isn't dropping because nitrification slows severely as pH gets lower and basically stops at pH levels below 6.0.

I would stay away from the ammonia "removal" products as taking the ammonia out of the tank will cause problems with the cycling process. Instead, look into a product like ammo-lock that makes ammonia non-toxic (ammonium again) but still allows it to be processed normally.

 

[Tyshow]

What is your pH? Since the fish don't seem to be affected, it almost sounds like your pH has dropped very low and the ammonia is actually ammonium and non toxic. That would also explain why it isn't dropping because nitrification slows severely as pH gets lower and basically stops at pH levels below 6.0.

I would stay away from the ammonia "removal" products as taking the ammonia out of the tank will cause problems with the cycling process. Instead, look into a product like ammo-lock that makes ammonia non-toxic (ammonium again) but still allows it to be processed normally.

Thanks for the info. I just did a water testing and the nitrite and nitrate both register 0ppm. The Ammonia is testing at 0.50ppm and the PH is reading at 6.0 which is very low or nonexistant. We have not changed the water since we put the ammonia neutralizer in. We have carbon in the filter, do we need to change the carbon? Should we add Biozyme to build up the good bacteria and if i am way off base here what do you suggest we do, we dont want to lose our fish. We are not sure what we did wrong to begin with. Someone said we were vacuming the gravel when we were cleaning and might have sucked up the good bacteria. We do a water change every week as i said earlier. What do you recomend we do next?

 

[fishlette]

What is your pH? Since the fish don't seem to be affected, it almost sounds like your pH has dropped very low and the ammonia is actually ammonium and non toxic. That would also explain why it isn't dropping because nitrification slows severely as pH gets lower and basically stops at pH levels below 6.0.

I would stay away from the ammonia "removal" products as taking the ammonia out of the tank will cause problems with the cycling process. Instead, look into a product like ammo-lock that makes ammonia non-toxic (ammonium again) but still allows it to be processed normally.

Thanks for the info. I just did a water testing and the nitrite and nitrate both register 0ppm. The Ammonia is testing at 0.50ppm and the PH is reading at 6.0 which is very low or nonexistant. We have not changed the water since we put the ammonia neutralizer in. We have carbon in the filter, do we need to change the carbon? Should we add Biozyme to build up the good bacteria and if i am way off base here what do you suggest we do, we dont want to lose our fish. We are not sure what we did wrong to begin with. Someone said we were vacuming the gravel when we were cleaning and might have sucked up the good bacteria. We do a water change every week as i said earlier. What do you recomend we do next?

the bulk of your bacteria ia housed in your filter and seeing as you are supposed to gravel clean i really dont understand this comment. ignore that and continue doing gravel vacs. you need to do that to remove all the waste and things that can contribute to ammonia in the tank like with rotting food etc

how long has your tank been set up? have you changed anything recently like substrate, filters etc? your pH is very low so maybe this is the cause as mentioned earlier. either that or something you have done could indicate a mini cycle with stats like that. but the other guy seems to know what hes talking about so you will prob want to listen to him lol

 

[rdd1952]

Do you know for sure that the pH is 6.0 or is that as low as your test kit goes? I'm sure that is the reason the ammonia isn't being processed but it also means that most likely the ammonia is non-toxic too. If the fish are doing fine, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just keep a close check on the ammonia and pH so that you are aware if the pH starts to go back up and make the ammonia toxic again. What is the pH of your tap water? If it is considerable higher than 6.0, be careful with water changes and keep them small so that you don't raise the pH a lot with a water change and create problems.

 

[Tyshow]

Do you know for sure that the pH is 6.0 or is that as low as your test kit goes? I'm sure that is the reason the ammonia isn't being processed but it also means that most likely the ammonia is non-toxic too. If the fish are doing fine, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just keep a close check on the ammonia and pH so that you are aware if the pH starts to go back up and make the ammonia toxic again. What is the pH of your tap water? If it is considerable higher than 6.0, be careful with water changes and keep them small so that you don't raise the pH a lot with a water change and create problems.

I dont use normal tap water i use the reverse osmosis water from the fish store. Just to let you know. I also havent checked in an awhile. The ammonia still is alittle high but no one seems to mind. I bought some of that Ammonia lock or what ever its called and have been use it as directed. Thanks for the info.

 

[rdd1952]

The RO water is the reason your pH is low. It has no buffering capacity so anything in the tank such as driftwood would cause the pH to drop. Is there any reason you don't use you tap water?

 

[robertherrington]

The RO water is the reason your pH is low. It has no buffering capacity so anything in the tank such as driftwood would cause the pH to drop. Is there any reason you don't use you tap water?

I got 3 Gallons Of RO Water I Was Going To Add To My 10G Tomorrow Is There A Reason I Shouldnt Do This I Mean In My Tap Water Theres Millions Of Calcium Deposits. Just Curious

 

[rdd1952]

There's nothing wrong with RO water. Actually, it's the other way around. It is supposed to be pure so it has no buffering capacity. That means that there isn't anything in it to keep the pH stable. If you have driftwood in your tank, it will allow it to lower your pH more than with normal tap water.

 

[robertherrington]

There's nothing wrong with RO water. Actually, it's the other way around. It is supposed to be pure so it has no buffering capacity. That means that there isn't anything in it to keep the pH stable. If you have driftwood in your tank, it will allow it to lower your pH more than with normal tap water.

Just Had To Check To Make Sure Thx

 

[Tyshow]

The RO water is the reason your pH is low. It has no buffering capacity so anything in the tank such as driftwood would cause the pH to drop. Is there any reason you don't use you tap water?

I just use RO water because its easier. Then I dont have to worry about what is being taken out of the tap water that is actuly good for the fish. I dont know just a way to be sure its good water i guess. Thanks for the help i got the ammonia lowered and stuff.