Help Help Plz Ammonia Level At 10

[envy_me87]

hi ive been lazy havent tested for months
seen my brisselnose dead and check to my shock its at 10ppm
i dont no wat to do can u's plz help and with the luck ive got my chlorine and ammonisa remover has been spilt and got none left
wat the best thing to do ive ot tropical fish and ph is at 7.8
any help would be great
very new to tropical fish

 

[moochy13]

change at least 50% water, more if you can. yur number one priority right now is getting that ammonia out. you need to go get some dechlorinator pronto.

how long has your filter been running ? if you've had the tank 'months', you cant be that new to fish ? and the filter should be doing its job by now. have you done anything to the filter in the last couple of weeks or so ?

 

[envy_me87]

change at least 50% water, more if you can. yur number one priority right now is getting that ammonia out. you need to go get some dechlorinator pronto.

how long has your filter been running ? if you've had the tank 'months', you cant be that new to fish ? and the filter should be doing its job by now. have you done anything to the filter in the last couple of weeks or so ?

hi ive had only gold fish just recently move up to tropical with in the last month
ive been running the filter for a long time been cleanin the filter every month
with the filter should i be changing them or cleaning the(eg running water thought them until they r clean
i recently clean the filter last week

my fish tank is 2ft x1x1.5 it has about 10-15 fish in them most of them are only small around the 4-5 cm

 

[envy_me87]

my filter is a aqua clear waterfall type for 20-50 gallon or 76 -190 lts
ive calculated my tank to be 85 lt (i think)

 

[moochy13]

i feel you may be treating your filter wrong.

tap water will kill off the good bacteria in the filter. if youve been running it under the tap it will be like having a filter thats never been used everytime you clean it. they should only ever be LIGHLTY rinsed in old tank water. they dont need to be scrubbed, just squeeze them a couple of times to get the worst of the crap off, job done. only ever replace them if they're falling apart, and dont replace it all at once. what sort of filter is it? sponges, biomedia (like little ceramic rocks or hoops) ?

you need to get some dechlorinator, dont touch the filter for at least a month, and change out loads of water to get the ammonia level down to 0. if you've been replacing or cleaning the filter in tap water, your fish will be getting poisoned with ammonia that a healthy, bacteria full filter usually deals with.

 

[envy_me87]

i feel you may be treating your filter wrong.

tap water will kill off the good bacteria in the filter. if youve been running it under the tap it will be like having a filter thats never been used everytime you clean it. they should only ever be LIGHLTY rinsed in old tank water. they dont need to be scrubbed, just squeeze them a couple of times to get the worst of the crap off, job done. only ever replace them if they're falling apart, and dont replace it all at once. what sort of filter is it? sponges, biomedia (like little ceramic rocks or hoops) ?

you need to get some dechlorinator, dont touch the filter for at least a month, and change out loads of water to get the ammonia level down to 0. if you've been replacing or cleaning the filter in tap water, your fish will be getting poisoned with ammonia that a healthy, bacteria full filter usually deals with.

the filter its sponge black sponges and white sponges with these little rock things in a bag on top
with the filter should i change all the filters and put new ones in since ive been washing them in tap water??

when changing the water would 50% be to much? or should i do like 20% each day
and wat should i be topping it up with tap water?

 

[moochy13]

no, you will hopefully have the beginnings of some bacteria in your filter now. any tap water will have mixed in with the tank now. now just leave the filter for at least a month, unless its starts getting clogged up and you notice the water flow drops, but it shouldnt do. you really really need to get a lot of water changed though. the longer you leave it the more likely more fish will die. sorry to sound harsh, but thats the way it is. because the tap water has killed your bacteria, your fish are living in their own poo, which as you can imagine is not good for them.

as an example, i lightly squeeze my filter sponges once every couple of months in old tank water. i cannot stress enough how bad un-dechlorinated tap water is for you filter bacteria as well as your fish.

you are now in what is called a 'fish-in cycle'. you are trying to build up your bacteria while having fish living in the tank. this is not ideal as until the bacteria get to the correct level, your water is poison to your fish. this means either re-homing the fish somewhere, getting a filter or sponges that has already been used and is full of bacteria, or more likely changing lots of water out EVERY DAY until the bacteria is set-up. check out this link for more info

fish in cycling

with the ammonia levels you have and the lack of bacteria, i'd say 50% is the minimum you need to change. changing water will cause no harm to your fish , as long as its dechlorinated and roughly the same temperature. use tap water, but put the right amount of dechlorinator/tapsafe in it.

1. leave filter as it is
2. get some dechlorinator/tapsafe
3. change at least 50% each day and keep testing to see what affect it has. up the amount if need be
4. read about fish in cycling from the link i gave you
5. dont slack with the water changes until your filter has recovered.

 

[envy_me87]

no, you will hopefully have the beginnings of some bacteria in your filter now. any tap water will have mixed in with the tank now. now just leave the filter for at least a month, unless its starts getting clogged up and you notice the water flow drops, but it shouldnt do. you really really need to get a lot of water changed though. the longer you leave it the more likely more fish will die. sorry to sound harsh, but thats the way it is. because the tap water has killed your bacteria, your fish are living in their own poo, which as you can imagine is not good for them.

as an example, i lightly squeeze my filter sponges once every couple of months in old tank water. i cannot stress enough how bad un-dechlorinated tap water is for you filter bacteria as well as your fish.

you are now in what is called a 'fish-in cycle'. you are trying to build up your bacteria while having fish living in the tank. this is not ideal as until the bacteria get to the correct level, your water is poison to your fish. this means either re-homing the fish somewhere, getting a filter or sponges that has already been used and is full of bacteria, or more likely changing lots of water out EVERY DAY until the bacteria is set-up. check out this link for more info

fish in cycling

with the ammonia levels you have and the lack of bacteria, i'd say 50% is the minimum you need to change. changing water will cause no harm to your fish , as long as its dechlorinated and roughly the same temperature. use tap water, but put the right amount of dechlorinator/tapsafe in it.

1. leave filter as it is
2. get some dechlorinator/tapsafe
3. change at least 50% each day and keep testing to see what affect it has. up the amount if need be
4. read about fish in cycling from the link i gave you
5. dont slack with the water changes until your filter has recovered.

ok thank u very much with the water cycle if the fish stay in there would they more likely die

 

[envy_me87]

if got this stuff called tropical water conditioner would that work??
aquasonic tropical water conditioner

 

[moochy13]

it is possible im afraid. chances are they have already taken some damage as by the sounds of your 'maintenance' your filter has never had enough bacteria. its all down to keeping the water free from ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. big, regular water changes can achieve this, but you need to stay on top of it. its labour intensive but if you want/have to keep the fish in your tank its the only option.

quick google of that stuff and it doesnt look to me like its what you need. this is what i use

interpet tapsafe

the important thing is that it removes chlorine and heavy metal compounds. the stuff you suggested is just to tailor tankwater to specific fish. get down to your local petshop and the stuff i linked to will amost certainly be in there. if not ask for "something similar to tapsafe that dechlorinates tapwater for my fish tank".

 

[envy_me87]

would u recomded to give them the best change of surving take the in the other tank and do big water changes

 

[moochy13]

sorry my pyschic abilities have left me what other tank ? whats the set-up ? whats in it ? if you've been treating the filter in another tank the same way there wont be much difference. tropical fish wont survive in a tank set for goldfish if thats what you mean.

 

[mark4785]

ok thank u very much with the water cycle if the fish stay in there would they more likely die

If you do your best to remove the ammonia and nitrite in your water and also keep your nitrate levels below 50ppm, you shouldn't have any issues with your fish. You asked if the 50% W/C's are too large; I'd say the larger the better so long as you're not replacing water that's been in the tank for many weeks.

If water in the aquarium has been in there for many weeks you ought to be removing 15-20% of the water (2-3 times a day) and replacing it with de-chlorinated tap water instead. This is because the longer the aquarium water remains in the aquarium, the more the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) levels will differ from the GH and KH of your tap water. If the GH/KH of the water in the aquarium strays away from the properties of the tap water a more significant chemical reaction will take place when you add your tap water. This is a huge source of stress for fish.

If you, like me, do bi-weekly or weekly water changes, a 75-85% water change could be conducted safely and I would strongly recommend it otherwise you will not be removing enough of your ammonia/nitrites.

If you want to use your other tank to keep the fish in while you do these large water changes, the GH, KH, PH and temperature should be same/similar to the fishes main tank so that you can chuck them straight in there.