Hi,
I'm stuck in a dilemma and I don't know what to do. My brother moved back home some time last year, bringing his piranha with him. Three died not very long ago, all over a year old resulting from overfeeding by someone in our household. I've checked the ammonia in our water and it is very high (4.9).
Nitrites = <0.3
My tank isn't cyled then. The last piranha is hanging in and doesn't look ill yet. (I changed some water and reluctantly added ammonia remover last night and this morning because it was an emergency).
Other info...
* My piranha gets restless when I do water changes
* It relaxes a bit about 10 minutes after the water change
* My piranha gets very restless not long after adding ammonia remover
* My tank is currently holding 76 litres but holds over 100 full capacity
I have been worried that the fish has been reacting to water changes because of the pH difference, when adding the alkaline tap water to the tank (that has been polluted several times from organc debris). I don't know the actual pH of the tap + tank water.
Half an hour ago I changed a little bit of the water. I have decided on changing about 2 litres every 1- 1 1/2 hours (this is how much pH scares me) to clean the water and if there is a big pH difference, to ease him/her into it.
Is this a good idea considering how much ammonia I have in the water? This is my dilemma: I want to change more water to clean the ammonia, but 1) I'm scared of pH shock 2) The fish has had enough stress already and this might push it over the edge. On the other hand ammonia gets more dangerous with increasing pH. If I'm changing a little of the water every hour, the ammonia is getting more toxic even though I am cleaning out a little of the ammonia. If every hour the pH is getting more and I'm not cleaning out enough ammonia, this is harming the fish. But what about the pH? How much water can I really safely change at this stage?
Thanks in advance
I'm stuck in a dilemma and I don't know what to do. My brother moved back home some time last year, bringing his piranha with him. Three died not very long ago, all over a year old resulting from overfeeding by someone in our household. I've checked the ammonia in our water and it is very high (4.9).
Nitrites = <0.3
My tank isn't cyled then. The last piranha is hanging in and doesn't look ill yet. (I changed some water and reluctantly added ammonia remover last night and this morning because it was an emergency).
Other info...
* My piranha gets restless when I do water changes
* It relaxes a bit about 10 minutes after the water change
* My piranha gets very restless not long after adding ammonia remover
* My tank is currently holding 76 litres but holds over 100 full capacity
I have been worried that the fish has been reacting to water changes because of the pH difference, when adding the alkaline tap water to the tank (that has been polluted several times from organc debris). I don't know the actual pH of the tap + tank water.
Half an hour ago I changed a little bit of the water. I have decided on changing about 2 litres every 1- 1 1/2 hours (this is how much pH scares me) to clean the water and if there is a big pH difference, to ease him/her into it.
Is this a good idea considering how much ammonia I have in the water? This is my dilemma: I want to change more water to clean the ammonia, but 1) I'm scared of pH shock 2) The fish has had enough stress already and this might push it over the edge. On the other hand ammonia gets more dangerous with increasing pH. If I'm changing a little of the water every hour, the ammonia is getting more toxic even though I am cleaning out a little of the ammonia. If every hour the pH is getting more and I'm not cleaning out enough ammonia, this is harming the fish. But what about the pH? How much water can I really safely change at this stage?
Thanks in advance
