Help needed

[christopheranthonywhyborn]

Hello everyone just a quick question I have a 40 l biorb life it's been up and running for about 5 weeks giving myself a challenge stupidly I done a cycle with fish all my levels were fine just recently I've had big change in ammonia I've been doing 20 % water change every week I've just recently brought some prime seachem which I've used on Saturday ammonia levels are still very high I waited 24 hours and used some more and it's still high not sure what to do is the seachem working the fish all seem fine eating and going around the tank wondering if I should buy ammonia remover or just leave to see what happens I just done want to hurt my fish I have 3 dwarf gourmi and a blue ram thanks

 

[AquaBarb]

You need to do larger water changes 75% every day until you have zero ammonia. Cut back on feeding during this time to a couple of times a week.

Once levels are back to normal up your weekly water changes to at least 50%.

Id say your tank at 40 liters is a tad small for 3 x dwarf gourami and a blue ram. This stocking and small weekly water changes is probably the reason for your raised ammonia levels

Good luck, i hope your fish will be ok

 

[Barry Tetra]

You need to do larger water changes 75% every day until you have zero ammonia. Cut back on feeding during this time to a couple of times a week.

Once levels are back to normal up your weekly water changes to at least 50%.

Id say your tank at 40 liters is a tad small for 3 x dwarf gourami and a blue ram. This stocking and small weekly water changes is probably the reason for your raised ammonia levels

Good luck, i hope your fish will be ok

Do like @Russjw said and you can add Seachem AmGuard to your tank, Good luck

 

[christopheranthonywhyborn]

Hello everyone just a quick question I have a 40 l biorb life it's been up and running for about 5 weeks giving myself a challenge stupidly I done a cycle with fish all my levels were fine just recently I've had big change in ammonia I've been doing 20 % water change every week I've just recently brought some prime seachem which I've used on Saturday ammonia levels are still very high I waited 24 hours and used some more and it's still high not sure what to do is the seachem working the fish all seem fine eating and going around the tank wondering if I should buy ammonia remover or just leave to see what happens I just done want to hurt my fish I have 3 dwarf gourmi and a blue ram thanks

You need to do larger water changes 75% every day until you have zero ammonia. Cut back on feeding during this time to a couple of times a week.

Once levels are back to normal up your weekly water changes to at least 50%.

Id say your tank at 40 liters is a tad small for 3 x dwarf gourami and a blue ram. This stocking and small weekly water changes is probably the reason for your raised ammonia levels

Good luck, i hope your fish will be ok

Yeah cheers pal I went down my

 

[christopheranthonywhyborn]

Yeah cheers pal I went down my local fish place the man in there just told me to put the prime in and do lower water changes he thinks maybe it's still cycling I've had my German blue ram in the for about 5 weeks and I put 2 gorumi in a week ago and another at the weekend not sure if the sudden stock is the reason for a ammonia spike 10 % a week and your saying 75% a day I'm sure you both have a idea what you are talking about so not sure what to do I have cut down the feeding

 

[christopheranthonywhyborn]

Do like @Russjw said and you can add Seachem AmGuard to your tank, Good luck

Cheers mate I'll grab some seachem am guard tonight I'm just getting told to do different things

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Do as @Russjw said. Do large water changes. You can get Seachem guard if you want to, but it’s not needed.

Edit: I take that back, get it if you can.

 

[Byron]

You have a misunderstanding of how Prime works. It does detoxify ammonia, nitrite and nitrate; but it does this by somehow binding these. Tests like the API will still show the ammonia (or nitrite or nitrate) even though they are harmless. That is the first thing...your ammonia test after you used Prime was actually showing you ammonium which is harmless. But, this binding is only effective for 24-36 hours. If these substances (ammonia, or nitrite or nitrate) are still present, they will revert to being toxic after Prime becomes ineffective.

Other products like Am-Guard are not the best way. You need to find the cause for the ammonia and rectify that. However, this also brings up the issue of pH...what is the pH of the tank water? In acidic water "ammonia" is primarily ammonium which is harmless.

Edit. I had to correct spelling here, but utahfish's subsequent post alerted me to what I had missed earlier. A 40 liter (10 gallon) is insufficient space for these fish as he mentions.

 

[utahfish]

With the load of fish you have in that small a tank your continually going to have high nitrates and ammonia because the beneficial bacteria wont be able to keep up with the high bio load created by the fish you have.
Constant water changes will remove the nitrates and ammonia but in a healthy tank ammonia should be close to zero because its all being converted to nitrate. Assuming the beneficial bacteria catches up to be able to handle the bio load one is going to have excess nitrates.
I find when adding fish less problems seems to present themselves when the tank us under stocked rather than over stocked not to mention gouramis and rams are considered semi aggressive because they are territorial A ten gallon tank is far too small a space for all 4 of your fish to establish territories which will cause aggression and stress which will lead to disease and premature death.
I wouldnt keep more than one gourami in a ten gallon its just too small a space for most fish in the hobby other than nano species or a betta

 

[Essjay]

Another point is that the Biorb Life is not suitable for rams. They have those rocks on the bottom of the tank which are the bio media, and rams do much better on sand which you can't use in a biorb of any type.

I can't find a 40 litre Life on the Biorb website but even the 45 litre version has a footprint of only 37.5 x 25.5 cm (15 x 10 inches) with a height of 56 cm (22 inches) These dimensions make it difficult to stock as a lot of fish that would be suitable in a standard shaped 40 litre tank will not be suitable for this tank.

 

[christopheranthonywhyborn]

Another point is that the Biorb Life is not suitable for rams. They have those rocks on the bottom of the tank which are the bio media, and rams do much better on sand which you can't use in a biorb of any type.

I can't find a 40 litre Life on the Biorb website but even the 45 litre version has a footprint of only 37.5 x 25.5 cm (15 x 10 inches) with a height of 56 cm (22 inches) These dimensions make it difficult to stock as a lot of fish that would be suitable in a standard shaped 40 litre tank will not be suitable for this tank.

I took off 5 gallons for deco and media
Your advise is not very constructive instead of telling my what I'm doing wrong how about telling me how to put it right clown

 

[christopheranthonywhyborn]

You need to do larger water changes 75% every day until you have zero ammonia. Cut back on feeding during this time to a couple of times a week.

Once levels are back to normal up your weekly water changes to at least 50%.

Id say your tank at 40 liters is a tad small for 3 x dwarf gourami and a blue ram. This stocking and small weekly water changes is probably the reason for your raised ammonia levels

Good luck, i hope your fish will be ok

Hello mate quick update I've done two 50% changes since yesterday gave my blue ram to my pal r who has a established tank ammonia levels are rapidly going down thank you

 

[christopheranthonywhyborn]

You have a misunderstanding of how Prime works. It does detoxify ammonia, nitrite and nitrate; but it does this by somehow binding these. Tests like the API will still show the ammonia (or nitrite or nitrate) even though they are harmless. That is the first thing...your ammonia test after you used Prime was actually showing you ammonium which is harmless. But, this binding is only effective for 24-36 hours. If these substances (ammonia, or nitrite or nitrate) are still present, they will revert to being toxic after Prime becomes ineffective.

Other products like Am-Guard are not the best way. You need to find the cause for the ammonia and rectify that. However, this also brings up the issue of pH...what is the pH of the tank water? In acidic water "ammonia" is primarily ammonium which is harmless.

Edit. I had to correct spelling here, but utahfish's subsequent post alerted me to what I had missed earlier. A 40 liter (10 gallon) is insufficient space for these fish as he mentions.

Im in the UK mate so water is always hard I have started to do 50% water changes and everything is going fine now ammonia levels are rapidly going down and nitrates are good

 

[christopheranthonywhyborn]

Do like @Russjw said and you can add Seachem AmGuard to your tank, Good luck

Cheers mate I've done big water changes ammonia levels are rapidly going down nitrate are good I've also have my blue ram to my friend with a established tank thanks

 

[Essjay]

Im in the UK mate so water is always hard

Just because you live in the UK doesn't mean you have hard water. I live in the UK and have soft water.

My earlier comments were meant to show that you need a different tank for the fish you have. Biorbs of all types are notoriously hard to stock. The rocks which are the biomedia mean the tank is not suitable for bottom dwellers, and the limited swimming room of the Life means most fish are unsuitable.
Since you live in London - which does have very hard water, some people call it liquid rock - you need to keep hard water fish. The only one that springs to mind at the moment as being suitable for your tank size and water is endlers. But only males as females will have fry every month and soon over populate the tank.
With a larger tank with more swimming length, there would be a wider choice of suitable fish. Swimming length is more important than volume, and with the Life being a tall thin tank, it does severely limit the fish that can be kept.


Rams need soft water to do well. They also need water which is warmer than most other tropical fish need. And a tank with a footprint of at least 60 x 30 cm https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/mikrogeophagus-ramirezi/

Dwarf gouramis also need a tank with a 60 x 30 cm footprint as the minimum

Mikrogeophagus ramirezi – Ram (Apistogramma ramirezi, Papiliochromis ramirezi, Microgeophagus ramirezi) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com