Not so long ago I had PERFECT water in all my tanks, zero's on everything and PH was right at 7 -it was all wonderful. Then I got very sick for two weeks and was unable to do weekly water changes. As I recovered I tested the waters and found that EVERY tank had a huge ammonia increase. Started dosing with prime as directed to make the ammonia less harmful but, of course, that doesn't change the readings when you are testing. I have no nitrites and low or no nitrates - just ammonia readings of 1.0 ppm or higher on all three tanks. Ph is running between 7 and 7.4. Seachem also recommended using Stability daily which I add mixed with a quart of tank water.
I have done 3- -70% water changes on my two bigger tanks - every other day. I've done 4 huge water changes on my small tank (in fact I killed a fish during a huge water change because the left over debris in the tank clogged his little gills) Lessoned learned about the cost of overfeeding.
I'm disabled so this is a struggle for me but I'm determined to keep it up. But what is most frustrating is that the Ammonia Readings STILL have not changed - what HAS changed is that I added several new fish ( they had been on order before this mess started) - so I did add to the load on the two larger tanks - but the Ammonia didn't go up and it didn't go down - it just remained the same. Out of desperation I purchased AmGuard to supposedly remove the ammonia. Contacted Seachem first to get recommended quantities to add (the bottle dosing is based on 100 gallon tanks). They recommended a few DROPS which I mixed with a quart of tank water before adding it back in. Ammonia unchanged.
Since then I have lost two fish - one a beloved CoryCat and the other an adorable Orange Gourami. These appear to have been dead a few days - so I don't think the AmGuard did them in. The Corycat had appeared slow and lethargic for weeks so I think the stress of the ammonia was just too much - but gills look perfect. No idea what happened with the Orange Gorami - gills didn't even appear the least bit irritated and no injuries just a perfect looking dead fish. Now one more is missing (this is a very heavily planted tank so it can take quite a while to locate a dead fish. No fish are missing from my other tanks.
I have two bristle nosed yellow plecos I haven't seen in days but that's not unusual for them - they hide VERY well and come out at night to eat. Besides being hard to get - they were expensive, so I dread losing these two - they are also so adorable just so small I need a magnifying glass to see them properly (they will eventually grow to 4".
So any clues on what is keeping my Ammonia so high? I tested our tap water to see if the City had changed anything but got the usual high PH, moderate hardness and NO ammonia. My tanks do not appear overloaded, most of the time you barely notice there are more than 3 fish in there. I need a solution before all these water changes kill me. HELP!
I have done 3- -70% water changes on my two bigger tanks - every other day. I've done 4 huge water changes on my small tank (in fact I killed a fish during a huge water change because the left over debris in the tank clogged his little gills) Lessoned learned about the cost of overfeeding.
I'm disabled so this is a struggle for me but I'm determined to keep it up. But what is most frustrating is that the Ammonia Readings STILL have not changed - what HAS changed is that I added several new fish ( they had been on order before this mess started) - so I did add to the load on the two larger tanks - but the Ammonia didn't go up and it didn't go down - it just remained the same. Out of desperation I purchased AmGuard to supposedly remove the ammonia. Contacted Seachem first to get recommended quantities to add (the bottle dosing is based on 100 gallon tanks). They recommended a few DROPS which I mixed with a quart of tank water before adding it back in. Ammonia unchanged.
Since then I have lost two fish - one a beloved CoryCat and the other an adorable Orange Gourami. These appear to have been dead a few days - so I don't think the AmGuard did them in. The Corycat had appeared slow and lethargic for weeks so I think the stress of the ammonia was just too much - but gills look perfect. No idea what happened with the Orange Gorami - gills didn't even appear the least bit irritated and no injuries just a perfect looking dead fish. Now one more is missing (this is a very heavily planted tank so it can take quite a while to locate a dead fish. No fish are missing from my other tanks.
I have two bristle nosed yellow plecos I haven't seen in days but that's not unusual for them - they hide VERY well and come out at night to eat. Besides being hard to get - they were expensive, so I dread losing these two - they are also so adorable just so small I need a magnifying glass to see them properly (they will eventually grow to 4".
So any clues on what is keeping my Ammonia so high? I tested our tap water to see if the City had changed anything but got the usual high PH, moderate hardness and NO ammonia. My tanks do not appear overloaded, most of the time you barely notice there are more than 3 fish in there. I need a solution before all these water changes kill me. HELP!