At My Wits End

[petal040]

Hi everyone -

I'm so fed up and don't know what to do about my tank. On the 21st of June I lost a fish and realised the ammonia in my tank had rised to 8 (!). Up until then it had been fine, I had been doing weekly 25% water changes. Tank was established and happy.

I realised my pH had gone right down to 6ish.

I removed a piece of bogwood and got ammonia down to 0.25 with many water changes.

Since then, the pH has risen to 7.2.

Problem is, the ammonia keeps on rising. There is never any nitrite in the tank. Nitrates are between 0 and 5 just now (low due to frequent water changes). If I leave the tank for two days, ammonia can rise to 1.

We have been doing 50% changes on a 175 litre tank every second day for weeks and weeks, to keep the ammonia down.

I am heavily pregnant and my partner works long days. We feel like giving up. Is there anything at all we can do to sort this out? We don't understand why this is happening and have posted before asking for advice - we did get some which we followed (which was to remove the bogwood so pH rose).

I have a full community of fish with nowhere to rehome them to, so starting the tank again is not an option. We have been unable to get filter squeezings from anywhere (all local fish shops refuse, we don't know anyone else with a tank).

Any help much appreciated.

 

[mixmaster jay]

whats the stocking in the tank ?

 

[Curiosity101]

Sorry to hear you've had so much hassle.

Could I ask for a full list of stocking please?

Also what is the filter? In an established tank, unless you've washed the filter out in tap water or something similar there is no reason it should uncycle. However, the stocking level could be above what the filter can deal with.

I don't think the bogwood needed removing to be honest. It'll have been the ammonia that was causing the pH to plummet. Bogwood will lower the pH slightly, but no where near enough to need to remove it. Put it this way, I have 3 bits of wood in my tank and my pH is steady at 7.2 AND I have soft water.

 

[petal040]

Thanks for the replies - currently we have 5 xray tetras, 5 glowlight tetras, 2 angels (small), one chinese algae eater (I think that is the name) and 3 small clown loaches. I know the loaches need a bigger tank - we did not realise the size they grow to when we got them (due to snail infestation) and are saving for a bigger tank (will take a while though before we can get this, so doesn't solve the current problem).

Two of the loaches are around 4 to 5cm long I would say. One is smaller - around 3cm - he does not grow and is a bit deformed (always has been since we got him - he is sociable though and seems happy).

- edited to say - the tank is a 175litre fluval. We are using the fluval filter that came with it. We used to wash one half of the media every month I think, but have not touched it since we started with the big water changes, as we didn't want to delay re-cycling (which is what we thought would maybe happen).

It has the two sponges and a finer sponge in the middle. Water flow is good.

We have three medium size plants in the tank.

 

[mixmaster jay]

well that doesn't sound too bad i wouldn't say its overstocked or anything

hmmmmm

have you done any of this latley these are the main causes of an ammonia spike

Ammonia poisoning is one of the biggest killers of aquarium fish. It occurs most often when a tank is newly set up. However, it can also occur in an established tank when too many new fish have been added at one time, when the filter fails due to power or mechanical failure, or if bacterial colonies die off due to the use of medications or sudden change in water conditions. Knowing what causes it can help you avoid dangerous ammonia spikes.

 

[petal040]

I'll just add - as someone asked before - we do not have any other pets or children, so nothing has been added to the tank and nobody has done the toilet in it without our knowledge! (Or with our knowledge!)

 

[-germ-]

Buy some SeaChem Prime.
It's a cop out but it works....
How long had you had the tank prior to the ammonia issues and have you changed any products you use with the tank, water conditioner et cetera?
Used any meds prior to the spiking?

 

[mixmaster jay]

lol

 

[petal040]

Hi - we didn't change products or use any meds. The ammonia spike was a mystery to us - we thought the pH had crashed and killed all the bacteria?

We use a basic water conditioner that removes chlorine etc (makes tap water safe). It does not affect ammonia or contain aloe vera or anything like that. The tank had been running with fish in for around 8 months - it had experienced a nearly 100% water change about 3 months prior to the death because we moved house.

Is Seachem Prime available in the UK? What does it do?

I have some ammo-lock (I bought it in case of emergency - like if we couldn't manage a water change for some reason) that I have never used.

 

[star4]

Silly question are you just changing the water or are you vaccing the gravel each time? I have had a similar problem in my little boys tank and discovered it was the snails dying and rotting. I had been doing very vigorous gravel vaccing every other day to remove the bodies it settled back down again.

 

[Curiosity101]

Ammo lock will be fine for now. Using it is a good idea until you can find the cause of the problem.

Have all of these issues occured since moving house?
I'm only speculating but if it was then the reasons could be:
Change in tap water caused a die off of bacteria
During transportation the filter dried out

Also I'd recommend phoning your water board to ask them if they did anything to the water supply just before your problems started.
And find out what the tap water quality+readings were at your old house, then at the new house.

 

[-germ-]

http/www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Prime.html

Bit tired for the whole Columbo thing. Possibly the one armed man, anyway. Avoid ammo-lock.
Buy some prime; happy days.

 

[glolite]

I don't think ammo-lock works? Seachem prime does though. It neutralises ammonia and nitrite and yes it's available in the UK. It's also very safe being almost impossible to overdose. If you read the label it says you can overdose in the case of high nitrites/ammonia. Get some it's a Godsend!

 

[Curiosity101]

Seachem prime may be a better overall product and is definitely worth buying...

But ammo-lock does work and if that is what the original poster has to hand then it CAN be used to detoxify ammonia.

You just have to be careful not to overdose and bear in mind that test kits will still show up the levels of detoxified ammonia on top of free ammonia.

 

[petal040]

Thanks again - I think we're going to go with the Seachem.

We couldn't get any info re. changes made by the water board. The only difference I can see between water here and water in the old house is that here hardness is 0. In the old house it was higher (but I can't remember how high).

When I use the Seachem, will ammonia readings still show up on my testing kit?

Also - will I need to keep using it forever once I start (at the moment I don't care if I do - but thought I should check).