High Ammonia Levels?

[jinxgj]

Hi all,

This is my first post on here and i am afraid it is to ask you all for some help! I have a 125 Lt tank with 5 Danios and 5 Tetra's. I did a fishless cycle for a week before i introduced the fish and everything was fine until yesterday. Since then 2 of the danios have gone to the tank in the sky and the other 3 are lethargic and doing a lot of idling around at the top of the tank.
I have checked my water levels they are:
PH 8
Ammonia 0.6
Has anyone any ideas why the fish are dying and how can i get the ammonia levels down to 0?
PS The tetras seem fine (for now?)
Thanks all
Gary
Oh by the way...had the tank for 3 weeks now.

 

[Underwurlde]

Sorry to hear that mate.

Did you cycle your tank by seeding the filters? I ask because cycling without such a measure normally takes 6-8 weeks.

If you are seeing 0.6ppm ammonia, then I do not think that your filters have cycled at all. Sorry to say that. Either that or you may be massively overstocked.

TBH, the Ammonia levels are killing your fish. Do an 80% water change, now. From now on, daily 25% - 50% water changes.

Andy

[Edit]: Assuming your water temp is 26°C, then the percentage of toxic ammonia is 1.1069%, of 0.6ppm TOTAL ammonia = 0.007ppm toxic ammonia (Your test kit measures both Ammonium (safe) and a,mmonia (toxic)). That is getting very, very closeto lethal levels (for all fish, some are more sensitive than others). If the pH or tank temp were just a fraction higher - goodbye fish!

 

[jinxgj]

Yes the filter was cycled with "cycle" added to the water.I did an 80% water change yesterday and since then they have started to snuff it!

Assuming your water temp is 26°C, then the percentage of toxic ammonia is 1.1069%, of 0.6ppm TOTAL ammonia = 0.007ppm toxic ammonia (Your test kit measures both Ammonium (safe) and a,mmonia (toxic)). That is getting very, very closeto lethal levels (for all fish, some are more sensitive than others). If the pH or tank temp were just a fraction higher - goodbye fish!

So if the PH is brought down to a lower level does that mean that they will have a better chance?

I did an 80% water change yesterday after the first one died and the ammonia is still high!

 

[cane76]

do a 30% water change tonight
then return half of the fish and get some bactinettes from your lfs in the morning

 

[rdd1952]

As mentioned, it does take 2 to 8 weeks to cycle a tank and your tank isn't cycled if you have ammonia present. The .6 level of ammonia doesn't seem too high but coupled with your pH of 8.0 (what is your tap water pH), it becomes very dangerous as ammonia toxicity increases at higher pH levels. I would do a 50% water change (I think 80% could be too much depending on tap water parameters) ASAP and then do 25% WCs as needed to keep the ammonia and nitrite (which you may not have yet) under .25 ppm.

Having said that, danios are generally very hardy fish so I wouldn't expect your ammonia to have been what killed them, especially if the tetras (what kind are they) are still doing fine. Did you notice any strange behavior or signs of disease on the (or the ones that are still alive)?

Yes the filter was cycled with "cycle" added to the water.I did an 80% water change yesterday and since then they have started to snuff it!

Unfortunately, Cycle and other similar "bacteria in a bottle" products are pretty uch useless. They don't contain the bacteria needed to process ammonia.

 

[jinxgj]

DId you notice any strange behavior or signs of disease on the (or the ones that are still alive)?

Yeah they were sort of zooming up and down in the water then just sitting in the current created by the filter. My missus thinks they may have had dropsy but i have looked on here for the signs and symptoms etc and they dont seem to have had that.

 

[rdd1952]

Actually, danios are very active fish so that behavior wouldn't be too strange. They are constant motion as a general rule.

 

[Underwurlde]

Yes the filter was cycled with "cycle" added to the water.

IMO, I don't think that product actually does anything. Hopefully others on the forum can back me up. The cycling process (see pinned topic) is to colonize your filters with bacteria. The bacteria we are talking about here need food (ammonia) and oygenated water in order to survive. Unless the bottle of cycle has a constant supply of both, then I don't see how it can work! You may ask yourself how can a product such as this exist? Think anti-ageing cream etc.

The presence of large amounts of ammonia = sorry, your filters are not cycled / you are massively over-stocked.
To prove this, do you have a nitrite test kit and a nitrate test kit? If so, what are the levels in the tank?
If you did an 80% water change yesterday and ammonia levels are already back up to 0.6ppm, then you are either massively over-stocked, something is dead & rotting in the tank, someone is pouring ammonia in there, someone is peeing in there (human).

Do you dechlorinate your water or use RO water? If you don't do this (e.g. add Tetra Aqua-Safe then the chlorine in the tap water will kill all the good bacteria in your filters and you'll reset it back to a non-cycled tank).

Q) what size tank do you have and what fish / how many of each do you keep in there.

Sorry if I'm going over stuff you already know,

Andy

[Edit]: I'll let rdd1952 take over this one as he is the resident cycling expert here and (As already! ) can better answer your questions.

 

[Musho3210]

cycle says it can be used in both salt and freshwater, this proves its a pseudoscience product, salt and freshwater uses different bacterias.

 

[rdd1952]

As mentioned, if you did a 80% WC and still have .6ppm, then you probably had an extremely high level and is indeed responsible for they deaths. I would suggest getting aomething like Ammo-Lock to de-toxify the ammonia. I generally don't suggest using chemicals but in this case it may be the only option.

As also mentioned by Underwurlde, your nitrite level could also be very high. Cycling with fish is generally done with 3 or 4 fish as opposed to 10 so the levels, especially ammonia would have risen quite quickly.

 

[Underwurlde]

Sorry, missed this one earlier:

So if the PH is brought down to a lower level does that mean that they will have a better chance?

Yes. This is the Ammonia / Ammonium balance: At higher pH more of the Total 'Ammonia' is ammonia (toxic).

For Total 'Ammonia' read, the result of your 'ammonia' test kit.

Andy

 

[rdd1952]

Be very careful trying to lower the pH. Most fish can easily adapt to any stable pH. Using the pH adjusters will put your pH into a constant up and down swing. Lowering pH is much more difficult than raising it. Running peat moss in your filter will help and so will adding driftwood/bogwood but those will only have minimal effects if your KH is high which I would imagine it is with a pH that high. I know that a high pH doesn't necessarily mean that the KH is high but they seem to usually go hand in hand. The best method of lowering pH if the KH is high is by using RO water to lower the buffering capacity.

What is the pH of your tap water and have you had the KH and GH checked?

 

[kittycat12]

in addition if u can get your hands on RO/DI water. that's added plus.