Help Please Ammonia Problem!

[rocknurworld2006]

hi ther just an update:

5days ago 4/10/07 levels were:

ph=7.5-8.0
ammonia=2.4
nitrite=0.8
nitrate=50


LEVELS AS OF TODAY 9/10/07:

ph=6.5-7.0
ammonia=0
nitrite=0.3
nitrate=5


Will i still keep doing daily water changes??

im so pleased that i managed to get rid of ammonia spike and drop nitrites in just 5 days.
If it wasn't for all your help i would probably have lost my fish!!

 

[The-Wolf]

keep doing the water changes until both ammonia and nitrIte (no2) read zero.
well done on all your hard work so far, just a little way to go now.

 

[arvlyn]

This explains the Nessler test compared to the salicylate test

http/www.nckws.com/water_test_ref_guide....name=Techniques

From the description I would say that the api test is the salicyate one, I don't know about any other make.

Nessler test kits will have one bottle or one powder and will have amber colored readings. These will show false readings when used with ammonia removing products.

Salicylate test kits will have two different bottles and will have yellow to green to blue readings. These work fine with ammonia removing products.

 

[Elaine2]

I am experiencing a similar problem. About 3 weeks ago I moved the inhabitants of my 24 gallon tank into a 240 litre tank, plus the filters, water and so on. I have been checking the water daily and until 2 days ago everything was looking OK. One fish was added during this time as he needed moving urgently (he's a 10 inch plec) and the filters were coping OK. However, the ammonia levels have suddenly shot up and are now reading 3 mg/L despite doing a couple of huge water changes (both over 50%). The fish are looking OK at the moment but the ammonia levels are not showing any signs of shifting. Do I just keep on with the big water changes? Do I try and avoid being too vigorous with the gravel cleaning at this time as some articles I have read suggest that being too enthusiastic with it can lead to more problems by destroying the bacteria in the gravel? Finally, any thoughts of bottled bacteria and whether they are likely to help? I have not found them especially useful to date. Any idea how long it is likely to take to get the levels down?

 

[rocknurworld2006]

hi vaccum your gravel as this will get rid of all fish waste and wont produce as much ammonia. do 30% water changes every day making sure you add dechlorinater. do this until both ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0. is your tank overstocked . and has that filter cycled yet??

 

[Elaine2]

hi vaccum your gravel as this will get rid of all fish waste and wont produce as much ammonia. do 30% water changes every day making sure you add dechlorinater. do this until both ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0. is your tank overstocked . and has that filter cycled yet??

Thanks for the reply. The tank is not over stocked as other than the big plec being added the residents are the same as they were in the previous, smaller tank (2 moth fish, 6 corydoras, 6 small platties, 2 bristlenoses). The two filters from the old tank are still running in the new one, plus the filter which came with the new tank which will be slowly building up its bacteria colonies. The old set up had been running for about 3 years and was nicely matured. As most of the water plus the filters moved into the new tank I wasn't expecting anything too drastic to happen, unfortunately rescuing the plec looks like it was a big error at this time.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

dont worry you haven't done anything wrong. it could possibly be that yur filters from previous tank just aren't able to cope with the bioload of new tank as its bigger . but

just vaccum gravel well,

do 20-30% water changes every day adding dechlorinator. dont do any bigger than this as this will stress fish out!

you culd possibly add ammo chips to your filter to help get rid of ammonia, but make sure you rinse well first!

i wouldnt add any other ammonia removing products eg ammo lock, as thes tend just to turn ammonia into non toxic ammonia and still show the same on tests!