High Ammonia , Alkaline Tap Water In Piranha Tank

[bluefin]

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

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
What your tap ph.

 

[bluefin]

2 fish - 1 piranha (6 inches about) and 1 royal panaque catfish
Nitrites - <0.3 mg/l
ammonia - 4.9 mg/l
Amount of water in tank - 16.72 gallons
pH - Unknown (water pH is from alkaline, hardwater London area
Nitrates - Unknown

 

[WILDER]

Don't know much about piranha but the tanks to small.
What filter are you using.
How often do you do a gravel vac and maintain the filter.
What type of piranha is it.

 

[Davo86]

2 fish - 1 piranha (6 inches about) and 1 royal panaque catfish
Nitrites - <0.3 mg/l
ammonia - 4.9 mg/l
Amount of water in tank - 16.72 gallons
pH - Unknown (water pH is from alkaline, hardwater London area
Nitrates - Unknown

Tank is seriously too small,
You also need to get a test kit for ph and nitrate asap.

why will the ph have an effect if he has been home for over a year?

Is this the only tank you have? no other mature filter in other tanks?

 

[bluefin]

The filter is a fluval 3 plus
I clean the filter every two weeks (I never used until it started filling up very quickly, and the filter sponges are quite large)
I vacuum the gravel everytime I see mess inside (no set pattern)
The tank has also recovered in the last 3 days from cloudy water, before it turned cloudy it was quite green

thanks Wilder

 

[Davo86]

Are you washing the filter in tap water? if so that would explain everything as you are killing the beneficial bacteria that the fish need to survive, washing pads in tap water would increase toxins and cloud the water as seen here.

The filter is clogging up because the panaque and the piranha are two very messy fish species, add that to the fact that the tank is too small and the filter is nowhere near big enough means that you are fighting a losing battle.

I think your ph query is going to be invalid as if you have been doing water changes for the past year the tank water should be relatively similar to the tap water,

You need to be doing at the very least 1 50% water change per day, if you want the fish to survive, adding any chemicals like ammonia removers is just going to prolong the problem.

If you can find someone who can give you some mature filter media then that will make things slightly easier for you.

 

[bluefin]

Hi davo,

I don't have another tank with established colony. The tank is only a little over at capacity. That is about 22 gallons when filled.

My fish currently is a bit bloated at the tummy on inspection now and the scales look slightly raised or stretched to be more accurate.

I wash my filter in aquarium water only though I do squeeze the sponge a bit. It this too vigorous?

Thanks for all your help guys

 

[Davo86]

Hi davo,

I don't have another tank with established colony. The tank is only a little over at capacity. That is about 22 gallons when filled.

My fish currently is a bit bloated at the tummy on inspection now and the scales look slightly raised.

I wash my filter in aquarium water only though I do squeeze the sponge a bit. It this too vigorous?

Thanks for all your help guys

If the water has gone cloudy then it shows there is a bacterial bloom, this could have been caused by washing the pads to thoroughly Or come to think of it, the ammonia may have reached a certain height where it is starting to kill the bacteria,

The high ammonia level is most likely causing the problems to the fish, ammonia is a poison where 0.1ppm is bad for fish long term, at 4.9ppm, most fish would have been long gone.

also what are you feeding? If it was me i would completely stop feeding for the next three days, this is because added food means more ammonia, and more fish waste which in turn also means more ammonia.

Also just a thought are you using a dechlorinator when you change the water?

 

[WILDER]

It sounds like the filter not coping with the fish waste.
I think I would go out and buy another filter to cope with the two fish.

What do you feed the fish.
Being bloated and scales lifting is dropys. Orgain failure once scales start to stick out.

 

[bluefin]

The water conditioner I use is Nutrafin Aqua Plus.
In the last few days I've stopped feeding the fish.
Fish food has been ham and other meats. My dad previously put in franfurters (which my brother wasn't happy about)
Which dechlorinator is best to use?

 

[WILDER]

I would do a search on there diet needs.
Nutrafin aqua plus is fine as i'm using that brand at the moment.
How long has the tank had bad water quality, as the water tests are saying the tanks to small for the fish, and the filter not coping with the fish waste.

 

[Davo86]

The water conditioner I use is Nutrafin Aqua Plus.
In the last few days I've stopped feeding the fish.
Fish food has been ham and other meats. My dad previously put in franfurters (which my brother wasn't happy about)
Which dechlorinator is best to use?

any dechlor is fine,

I'm afraid those foods may also be partly to blame, any uneaten food will very quickly rot, but also it is most likely that this is what has caused the bloat,

Food for piranhas should really consist of river shrimp, lance fish, silver sides, prawns, chicken etc. but as it is high protein foods should only be fed two to to three times per week. some piranhas will often also take dried pellet food which will also give it the extra vitamins that it needs

The Pleco is an omnivore so algae wafers, catfish pellets, courgette, etc should be offered as well as having bogwood in the tank for it to rasp on.

 

[bluefin]

Hi Wilder and Davo, the water was cloudy for about 4 days, until it cleared up 3 days ago. This has happened a few times in the last year. The water quality has been bad for quite some time in terms of the ammonia levels. The fish is sluggish and I am doing a water change - I really want to save it (a sanctury said that they will take it). The fish is only slightly bloated and I am afraid of not being able to cure the dropsy. What are my chances?

 

[Davo86]

Hi Wilder and Davo, the water was cloudy for about 4 days, until it cleared up 3 days ago. This has happened a few times in the last year. The water quality has been bad for quite some time in terms of the ammonia levels. The fish is sluggish and I am doing a water change - I really want to save it (a sanctury said that they will take it). The fish is only slightly bloated and I am afraid of not being able to cure the dropsy. What are my chances?

Tbh i'd say that the bloating is being cause by the poor water quality and the really bad diet, if this is the case then provided both issues are resolved it should make a decent recovery, eventually.

If it is dropsy however, on top of the current issues then i'd say its chances are slim,

I think their best chance of survival would be to rehome them both to a mature tank and acclimatise them very slowly over a couple of hours.