High Ammonia Level

[dolphin0fm6]

Hi all, Ive joined this forum because Im desperate for some help.I had a four foot tank which housed my beautiful 2yr old mbu puffer, 2 large plecos, 2 large parrots, and an albino shark. It was run by a Fluval U4 underwater filter, and everyone was fine, if a little crowded. So for my birthday I treated my little pals to a 6ft 700l tank which I got second hand.It came with two Eheim pro filters, neither of which worked when I got them home, so I had to set the tank up using the old fluval. The fish went in more or less straightaway, and loved their new space, especially Pomfrit, my puffer. After a few days, i went out and bought a new filter (equivalent to the pro)and put that in. I woke up one morning a week later, and my beautiful puffer,Pomfrit was dead, and Nacho, one of my parrots was laying on his side. Absolutely distraught. I immediately moved all the fish out and put back in their old tank with their old filter. Having been to the aquarium shop to have the water tested, it was found that the ammonia levels were sky high, nitrates and nitrites were ok. I bought some ammo-lock and a test kit, and started treating the tank by doing water changes everyday. However, after a week, my parrot Nacho was found dead in his old tank- I tested the water, and the ammonia had shot up in there also. So with the ammonia being down to 0.50ppm in the new tank, I moved the fish back into it.I also got one of the eheims working, so its now running on two large filters.
I have since been doing water changes everyday, I use ammo-lock, stress-coat and stress-zyme, I have detox sachets sitting in the filters-Im doing all the right things! So, until yesterday, the ammonia had stayed on 0.50ppm, nitrite was 0ppm and nitrate was 0ppm and pH 8.0. Then yesterday I tested the water and AAaah! the ammonia has gone up to 8.0ppm, nitrite 5.0ppm, nitrate 0ppm and pH 8.4! What is going on? Why is this happening- I havent done anything different, Im just hitting my head against a brick wall. Can anyone help with what might be happening, as I cant bear to lose anymore fish.And Im sorry for the incredibly long story!

 

[Rickzayne]

You needed to cycle your new filter.

Put your old filter in your new tank and hope all the bacteria hasn't died since you didn't use it for a few days.

Do huge water changes every day! And keep testing your water.

If your old filter has been dry for to long you'll have to cycle your tank.

Do a search for fish in cycle on here.

 

[Tizer]

Sounds like a bit of a nightmare with such a large tank.

If its possible, i would put the old filter from your small tank back into the small tank along with all your fish, test the water daily and water change as much as you need to keep the ammonia below 0.25ppm. You will be doing a "mini" cycle until the filter is cycled again and able to deal with your stock of fish.

Now treat your new tank and filter as "new". Follow the guides in the beginners section on here to fishless cycle the new filter, which could take anything up to 2 months.

The problem with the old filter in such a massive tank, is that its not circulating the water very much and its not "turning over" the tanks volume of water enough times an hour to actually process the ammonia. By adding a new filter, you get a better circulation and turn over, but that filter isnt going to be doing anything useful for a couple of months until its cycled, in which time the ammonia would get to toxic levels for your fish and they simply die, as you have found out.


The other alternative, which may or may not work, is to move all the filter media from the old filter, into the new filter and keep the fish in the big tank witht he new filter running.

Now i dont know what filter you have, or how much water it processes in an hour, but its possible to do the mini cycle on this tank if you wanted to. The old media will seed the new filters media and potentially it will cycle relatively quickly, but you will still be doing massive water changes every day to keep your fish alive. Im sure you get the idea, i've waffled on enough. gluck.

 

[dolphin0fm6]

Yep, I know i shouldve cycled the tank, that was my big mistake, and I paid the price dearly. However, I just want to know why the ammonia level went right down and stayed there, and all of a sudden yesterday, it shot back up again. I just cant figure it out, when Im doing everything Im being told to. Today I bought some API Proper pH 7.0 to try to bring the pH back down, and added the correct amount, now the tank is one big white cloud, and I cant even see the fish- the instructions say that might happen in hard water, but you know, Im just getting really fed up with the whole thing.

 

[Aquamaniac]

My advice stop adding stuff to the water to control the problem. Probably your are just unbalancing your cycle.
Let the tank cycle by itself.
You should have kept the fish in the smaller tank with the old filter and started the new tank from scratch to start with.
Now the only thing you can do is try to control it.Let the tank cycle and check your water regularly and instead of adding stuff to control your amonia do frequent partial water changes that should help control your amonia while the tank cycles.
When i was starting some more wise and experienced guys always told me the more chemicals you put in your tank the more you will unbalance everything.

Sorry about your fish though hope it does not happen anymore