Frustrated! Argh!

[Suri]

Okay, here's the skinny. I had a tank with one lone bumblebee cichlid in it (was a present not my choice in fish). I did enjoy having him but as I did research I realized for one thing, he needed friends and for another the tank was far too small, I was in the process of figuring out what to do with him. Then he passed away from undetermined causes (he was a few years old). So feeling a bit more knowledgeable about fiskeeping I decided to start up a new tank with fish I wanted. I took a sponge from the old filter and stuck it in the new.

I added live plants, got a brand new heater, substrate etc. Now here's the thing, my ammonia seems to be sticking around and I can't understand why. Annoying in itself but I wasn't too worried as it was only showing trace amounts. I preformed a large water change and went about my week.

So today I notice it's a little higher, in the morning I do a 50% change. And then I did maybe a 10% change again this afternoon. Then I retest and the ammonia is higher!? How is this possible and what the heck am I doing wrong?

I have admit, in the past I was a less attentive fishkeeper (not neglectful though, I promise) but these fish...well I don't know what to say, I'm terribly attached to them in the short time I've had them. This is making me very stressed. I'm really worried about getting this under control.

My tank stats otherwise:

20 gallon

Fish = 3 bolivian rams & 7 zebra danios

Nitrite/nitrate: 0
Ph 7.5
Temp 26.0

Any help is much, much appreciated. <3

I should probably also mention all the fish seem happy and active.

 

[chrisbassist]

What is the ammonia level? You don't put done the results...

How long was it between the fish dying and setting up new tank? Too long without food and the bacteria die.

Did you introduce all those fish right away? Because even going straight from one active tank to another, that would be a massive increase in bioload, requiring lots more bacteria.

Once those are answered maybe we'll be closer to the truth of what is happening. In the mean time, keep up the water changes. Your Bolivian rams won't take too kindly to ANYTHING polluting the water. Especially with a ph so much above it's preferred range.

 

[OldMan47]

If you have a water supply with chloramine in it, you may be facing what I have. When I do a massive water change my tank starts with about 0.5 ppm of ammonia from breaking the bonds of the chloramine in the tap water. The Prime I use makes the ammonia less toxic and the chlorine fraction goes away. If I test a mature tank a few hours later, the ammonia is gone, but it is not so with a young tank that has yet to develop a mature biological filter bacterial colony. In that case I can only trust that the Prime has made the ammonia I am measuring less toxic to my fish for a day or two.

 

[Suri]

What is the ammonia level? You don't put done the results...

How long was it between the fish dying and setting up new tank? Too long without food and the bacteria die.

Did you introduce all those fish right away? Because even going straight from one active tank to another, that would be a massive increase in bioload, requiring lots more bacteria.

Once those are answered maybe we'll be closer to the truth of what is happening. In the mean time, keep up the water changes. Your Bolivian rams won't take too kindly to ANYTHING polluting the water. Especially with a ph so much above it's preferred range.

Thanks for the reply!

I can't believe I didn't actually add in the ammonia results. Dur. I was in such a hurry when I posted, my apologies.

However.

I think I may have solved my "ammonia spike". When I tested yesterday morning (I can't remember the exact reading now) I was still using up the last of the old water conditioner, Top Fin brand. When I tested in the afternoon after the partial water change I had used the Seachem prime.

Now that in itself didn't seem relevant to me until I decided to test the fresh bucket of water I had just conditioned with the Prime. It wasn't even a color on the chart, just a muddy brown. So then I went googling and 'lo and behold, prime messes with ammonia test readings if they are nessler based. Which my test happens to be.

Now this still doesn't address the fact that apparently I have inadvertently started a fish-in cycle. Which I was desperately trying to avoid. I can't be sure how long the sponge was without food. I don't remember it being extensively long but obviously they die off quickly.

So let's assume I'm starting with a 'new' filter. ugh.

I didn't add all the fish right away, the bolivans were in first for a few weeks or so before I added the danios.

In the meantime, I suppose I have a lot of water changes to keep up with. Is it worth maybe getting some of the bottled bacteria I've seen?

If you have a water supply with chloramine in it, you may be facing what I have. When I do a massive water change my tank starts with about 0.5 ppm of ammonia from breaking the bonds of the chloramine in the tap water. The Prime I use makes the ammonia less toxic and the chlorine fraction goes away. If I test a mature tank a few hours later, the ammonia is gone, but it is not so with a young tank that has yet to develop a mature biological filter bacterial colony. In that case I can only trust that the Prime has made the ammonia I am measuring less toxic to my fish for a day or two.

Thank you for your reply as well! It's really nice to have this sort of open forum to ask questions on.

As for the chloramine issue in the tap water, how would I find this out? Is the ammonia test sufficient? I just preformed one on straight tap water and came up with 0 ammonia.

 

[stuuk1]

Firstly what test kit are you using? Hopefully not a dip test! If you are using a dip strip test them bin it and get a liquid test kit.

Most people on this forum use the API Master Test Kit. You will find loads on ebay.

Also, when you do your water changes, are you using some sort of vacume to clean the sand/gravel substrate?

 

[chrisbassist]

Test after you've added your dechlorinator. They will break up choramines creating ammonia. So dechlore then test.

As for the fish, the rams are picky about water quality, so for their sake keep on top of it.