Continuous Ammonia Readings..

[The Taffy Apple]

Good day all, i hope this quick thread finds you all well... i'm seriously looking for a little advice and knowledge on what should/could be next step in this emergency,so here goes..

Quick update ----> http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/350978-cloudy-water/

That was yesterday, overnight my Ammonia went upto 4ppm (tested 0900 this morning), carried out another complete water change, tested 2 hours later and it is at 2ppm. NitrIte at 'Disney Blue 0' and NitrAte as expected down to 5/10 after the W/C's.

My fish are showing no signs of any distress, i would have thought that being subjected to such levels of Ammonia for what is over 36 hours now would have killed the poor little fellas off, but they are their usual self as i type... strange (?)

I shant take their behaviour too seriously though, and will continue to do regular water changes.
Has anyone experienced such parameters before? Is there some sort of Ammonia source in my filter?
Should my next step be purchasing a new filter sponge for my filter (really don't want to go down the 'Fish-In' cycle route if i can at all help it).

Any help or replies will highly appreciated,
Terry.

 

[ZoddyZod]

What test kit are you using?

What size tank do you have?

What is the current stock of fish?

What filter are you suing?

If you ammonia reading is still 2ppm after a water change, I would advise anotehr large change immediately and then more over the course of the day until it is reading as close to 0ppm as possible.

Also, have you linked the correct thread? That appears to be nothing to do with your questions above.

 

[KittyKat]

What is your pH? If it is very low, even the high ammonia over the short period of time might not have been enough to kill the other fish.

Bacterial bloom. Normally, it will clear up by itself after a few days, but sometimes more serious intervention may be required. The things to be aware of is that they often happen parallel to ammonia spikes and may cause low oxygen in the water (so increase aeration in the tank). Often, they are preceded by a drop in filter bacteria, so make sure you are adding enough dechlorinator. The main thing you can do for the next few days are large waterchanges and I would advise you to use a dechlorinator which will "remove" ammonia, such as Stress Coat.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Many thanks for your replies people..

Zod- The link provided includes a post i put up regarding my cloudy water, and shows a short history of my tank..
I am using APL water test kit.
It is a 30L corner tank (hoping to upgrade to a 'real' tank once i learn the basics of fishkeeping)
At the moment i have 1 Cardinal Tetra, 1 Endler Guppy, 1 Cherry Barb and 3 Amano shrimp.
I am using the internal filter that was part of the tank package deal (serious thought has been put into investing in a larger capacity, more renowned model).

Many thanks KittyKat, My P.H is currently at 7.2.. i add a weekly buffer of Bicarb of Soda as i seem to suffer from P.H 'crash' issues, if i wasn't to add any buffer when water changing, my P.H would suddenly drop to 6.2/6.4 overnight. The product of De-Chlorinator i use is mainly 'Seachem Prime' but i ran out 4/5 days ago, so i am using a bottle of 'Ammo-lock' as a substitue.

Regular water changes will continue to be carried out, very appreciative of your replies,
Terry.

 

[KittyKat]

My P.H is currently at 7.2.. i add a weekly buffer of Bicarb of Soda as i seem to suffer from P.H 'crash' issues, if i wasn't to add any buffer when water changing, my P.H would suddenly drop to 6.2/6.4 overnight. The product of De-Chlorinator i use is mainly 'Seachem Prime' but i ran out 4/5 days ago, so i am using a bottle of 'Ammo-lock' as a substitue.

The Ammo-lock should do exactly the same. If you are using it as per instructions, the ammonia should not be harming the fish as much as it normally would.

(Will not go into buffering as it should not be affecting anything, even though I still think that it would be better to let the pH remain at 6.2/6.4.)

 

[ZoddyZod]

ok, so I presume you cycled the tank first, then all of a sudden you have seen a massive ammonia spike? Or is this tank newly set up and you are actually in a 'fish-in' cycle?

 

[KittyKat]

ok, so I presume you cycled the tank first, then all of a sudden you have seen a massive ammonia spike? Or is this tank newly set up and you are actually in a 'fish-in' cycle?

The tank was cycled a few months ago, the thread is somewhere on this forum.

 

[ZoddyZod]

The tank was cycled a few months ago, the thread is somewhere on this forum.

hmmmm, puzzling

Have you cleaned your filter out since you cycled the tank? If you have, did you use old tank water or water stright from the tap?

How much food (roughly) are you feeding each day? Can you see any leftover food in the tank?

Sounds daft, but are you 100% sure that the filter is working and correctly moving the water through the media chambers/filter pads?

 

[The Taffy Apple]

The tank was cycled a few months ago, the thread is somewhere on this forum.

hmmmm, puzzling

Have you cleaned your filter out since you cycled the tank? If you have, did you use old tank water or water stright from the tap?

How much food (roughly) are you feeding each day? Can you see any leftover food in the tank?

Sounds daft, but are you 100% sure that the filter is working and correctly moving the water through the media chambers/filter pads?

Thank you Kitty, yes, i cycled my tank using household ammonia a few months back, everything has been great for the past 5/6 weeks. But i'm still firmly under the assumption it is classed as a new tank and in no means mature or established.

I gave my filter one half decent squeeze a few weeks back due to a build up of gunk, this is turn told me to slow down the feeding (i find very little, twice a day is ample to keep them fed and interested). Evertything mechanically seems and sounds fine.

This flakey, white 'deposit' is concerning me though. It seems it is this material, which is within the sponge of my filter, that is making the water still cloudy... could this be the source of the ammonia reading?

This afternoon i removed one of my live plants which showed signs of decay at the root and base of the once green leaves, the other is bright green and flowing lovely. My gravel got a thorough vac and by removing the reamining false plants i was able to give it a good clean.

Ammonia still present (as of 15 mins ago), i shall continue to W/C, read, W/C, watch tonights' rugby (!), W/C, etc etc..

Appreciative of the time and replies,
Terry.

 

[ZoddyZod]

, everything has been great for the past 5/6 weeks. But i'm still firmly under the assumption it is classed as a new tank and in no means mature or established.

5-6 weeks of 0 readings shows that the tank was well and truly cycled, so we need to establish what has changed in the tank to cause an ammonia spike.

You say you squeezed your filter. Did you use any water to rinse it in? As I asked above, was that tap or old tank water?

I'm afraid I dont know what the white build up in the filter could be, but unless it is excess food or fish waste it is unlikely to be the cause of ammonia.

You have a plant that is rotting in the tank. Now this MAY have caused an ammonia spike, but if you have a cycled filter and relatively low stocking, then I doubt it could have caused such a high reading before the filter/bacteria was able to cope with the addional ammonia.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

, everything has been great for the past 5/6 weeks. But i'm still firmly under the assumption it is classed as a new tank and in no means mature or established.

5-6 weeks of 0 readings shows that the tank was well and truly cycled, so we need to establish what has changed in the tank to cause an ammonia spike.

You say you squeezed your filter. Did you use any water to rinse it in? As I asked above, was that tap or old tank water?

I'm afraid I dont know what the white build up in the filter could be, but unless it is excess food or fish waste it is unlikely to be the cause of ammonia.

You have a plant that is rotting in the tank. Now this MAY have caused an ammonia spike, but if you have a cycled filter and relatively low stocking, then I doubt it could have caused such a high reading before the filter/bacteria was able to cope with the addional ammonia.

Thank you Zod, i used the old tank water, not really squeezing it hard enough to lose vast amounts of any media i had in there.

 

[KittyKat]

Actually, I have seen someone have similar problems recently because they did not clean their filter weekly so it was getting blocked up.

Flaky white deposit on soft plastic of new equipment? Normal in all modern aquarium equipment.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Actually, I have seen someone have similar problems recently because they did not clean their filter weekly so it was getting blocked up.

Flaky white deposit on soft plastic of new equipment? Normal in all modern aquarium equipment.

Again, thank you Kitty. I don't think it is a case of a blockage (my outlet is producing it's usual flow) but i am, sadly, having to squeeze the filter sponge every time i do a water change ( 3 times daily and counting...) to remove this white substance. The only thing i can describe it as is dead, chalky looking looking organisms of some kind, an organism or substance that is producing ALOT of ammonia in my tank (upto 6/8ppm every 5/6 hours)... All 6 inhabitants of the tank are still not showing any signs of distress, surely over 2 days of such high ammonia exposure would have poisoned my little friends ?!?

NitrIte at 0, NitrAte at 5, slowly getting thoroughly cheesed off but keeping fingers crossed and Mrs.Apple fuming at 'the wet kitchen floor all the time'..

Regards,
Terry.

 

[Harlequins]

Has regards your ph,i think a stable ph of 6.4 is better than one going up & down.Is there anything in your tank thats causing your ph to drop so rapidly?

Bicarb is a sodium based products and its possibly this could be causing the flaky white deposits in the filter? Also is it definately bicarb and not baking soda? - these can contain different agents
Do you mix it in treated tank water first before adding?

I have read before about ammo lock states that it removes chloramine,but in most cases only sodium thiosulphate,usually a higher dosage is required for chloramines,this is to ensures that the chlorine part is split from the chloramine and nutralised- however this releases the ammonia part,so the chloramine is not fully dealt with.e.g. the manufactures awareness of this,is shown by the fact that API recommend ammo-lock in conjunction with stress coat if you need to deal with ammonia...

 

[Skins]

Hello,
I noticed you said in post 4 "i add a weekly buffer of Bicarb of Soda as i seem to suffer from P.H 'crash' issues", could this be related to the white substance you are seeing in the filters media. I have read other threads which recommend not using sodium bicarbonate in a stocked aquarium but i don't know why.

Keith.