Help Please! Too Much Ammonia

[Smells a bit fishy]

I set up a tank 2 weeks ago. Was my first tank. I may have put too many fish in, in a space of a week, now my ammonia levels have sky rocketed.

I took some water to the aquatic centre for them to test the water, and ammonia is off the chart. He was surprised that fish were still alive in the tank.

I have a tank size of 50ltrs. Temp is 29C. I have 3 mollies, an angel fish, a bumblebee catfish, a gourami and a pleco. Other than the mollies I got given the fish so are quite large, 2-3 inches each.

My ammonia is over 8ppm, however my nitrates are about 2ppm. Nitrates are 100ppm.

I had done a 40% water change a day before I went to the pet store 5 days ago. We have since then done 3 20% water changes and added stress zyme to the water. Is there anything else I can do? I just don't mine or my friends fish to die.

P.S I have also added a small amount. 2 teaspoons of aquarium salt, as I have read this helps fish cope with stress.

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Your ammonia and nitrite readings should be 0ppm, so those are way above.

You need to do a huge water change if you can.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

I woke up this morning to a Mollie floating at the top of the water dead .

I will do a water change this evening and re test the water. But how much of a water change should I do? As the tank is still cycling. 50% I that too much. The man at the pet store said a 40% water change I did was too much, and suggested to do 15% every other day. Would you agree?

Also should I use stresszyme? If so how much enough for the tank or just the water I'm putting in?

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[fluttermoth]

You need to keep changing water until the ammonia and the nitrites are gone. It doesn't matter how many water changes you do; you may have to do more than one 80 or 90% change to get the levels back down.

As long as the new water is warm and dechlorinated it won't cause you any problems. Large water changes are far less stressful for the fish than swimming around in toxic water!

I should tell you that your tank is far too small for those fish; definitely the angel (can grow to 6 or 8 inches long and a foot tall) and probably the gourami and the plec, depending on species. You'll need to get either a larger tank, or re-home some fish, as your water quality will inevitabley suffer with the tank being so overstocked.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

We are picking up a 175ltr tank Tomorro but not sure when we will have it set up. Maybe in a couple of months when we move house. Hopefully wont be too big by then. When I saw the fish from my mate I thought that they were too big for the tank. (they have the same tank as us)

Ok I will do a large water change tonight. But will that affect the cycle of the tank?

 

[fluttermoth]

No, the tank will continue to cycle with an amount of ammonia that's too small to register on our tests.

I'd honestly set up the larger tank as soon as possible. By waiting a 'couple of months' the fish may well already have suffered some stunting and will then never grow properly, even if moved into the larger tank.

It'll also be much easier for you to look after, as you have that bit more leeway to notice problems starting before they get too bad.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok thanks.

It's just trying to sweet talk my dad into letting me set it up. The thing is they have already been living in the same size tank for a couple of years. But I will talk to my dad and see if he will let me.

Then I have the fun times of moving it when we move out lol.

 

[fluttermoth]

Best of luck

 

[Blubble37]

all the best of luck with them mate. a tip would be to try and get the new aquarium balanced as soon as possible after the fish go in by adding lots of nitrate and ammonia absorbing plants like elodea and some other species. if you have any more worries feel free to ask any one of us on here. We're always happy to help (when we can and aren't working or on work experience or whatever).

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Thanks again guys. You have been great help. I'll keep you posted on how my fishes are getting on, and I'll upload a pic of my new tank if I can convince my dad to let me.

Thanks again

 

[3fsh]

Ask the pet store or a friend for a piece of sponge from one of their filters or a handful of gravel from one of their tanks. Make sure to keep it submerged in water until you put it in your tank. The bacteria will help your tank to cycle in a fraction of the time it would normally take. If you don't want to mix in the gravel from the pet store with your own, you can put it in a small mesh bag and take it out of the tank when the cycle is over. The pet store should have those. Also, don't put salt in with the pleco... it can burn their skin.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Right just done an 80% water change.

The readings before were ammonia 6ppm, nitrites were still 2ppm and nitrates were still 100ppm.

After the water change l, ammonia 1ppm, nitrites about .5 and nitrates are still 100 ppm.

Do i need to do another 80% water change today to bring that down even more?

 

[3fsh]

Doing massive water changes is like putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. It will help in the short term, but the tank has to cycle. All you are doing is delaying the process. I forgot to mention, putting plants in the tank will also help. There is beneficial bacteria in their root systems.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok thanks about the salt. I won't put any more in, hopefully the water change has taken most of the salt out.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok. Done a second 80% water change. Looking much healthier than earlier. I understand that it will slow down my cycle. But i would rather it take a little longer than my fish to die.

Current readings are ammonia .25ppm nitrites 0 and nitrates 25ppm.

I will do further checks tomorrow. I may be lucky in that I might not have to do another water change as the ammonia was coming down.

Just so I know for the nitrite spike, what should the maximum be? My tester reads it from 1ppm or 0.