I Need Help

[dallasblake]

I got one of those master freshwater test kits and tested my tank water results are as follows:

PH: 6-6.4
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: crazy high 7
Nitrate: 10

I double checked all the tests to make sure I was reading the proper ones. What do I need to do now to get the ammonia to drop? And I guess my Nitrate needs to be lower also, I don't know.

And also I put a gallon of tap water into an empty water jug, left the lid off of it and let it sit for 48 hours. I also tested that water and those results were:

PH: 7.6
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0

Other than the PH being high is there anything else I need to test it for before I use it for water changes? Will a PH down lower my PH levels or is there something special I need to do to lower it? Oh and one more question, should I put stress coat in the water? Sorry so many questions.

 

[drobbyb]

Did you cycle your tank? As in a fishless or fish in cycle? With a pH that low, your bacteria have stopped processing ammonia. You need to do large water changes pronto! You need to do as many as it takes to get that ammonia under .25 ppm. Make sure you wait an hour between waterchanges if you have fish in there.

Make sure you test twice daily, 12 hours apart. Keeping that ammonia low will save your fish.

 

[dallasblake]

I've had it set up for about six months now. I had no fish in it for three months. Then I got a couple fish and a sucker fish, then a dozen guppies. The guppies died first but not before having babies. Then went my sucker, then one gourami and a month later my other gourami. Then two almost three weeks ago my husband bought me a tiger barb and a bala shark. a couple days ago the barb went belly up and never showed any sign of illness. The bala is still doing fine. As soon as I can get the PH down in my water I'm going to use to do the changes I will be doing water changes every other day. Since the water will be city water and have a ton of chlorine in it will I also need to add a dechlorinator like stress coat to it even though I let it sit at least 24 hours?

 

[cowboy507]

it looks like you tank is still cycling, if your ammonia is that high first do a water change to bring it back down. Make sure that you keep the ammonia levels below .25 ppm, anything above this will harm the fish. The only way to do this is daily testing and water changes.

I would also try to raise your pH, a low pH (below 6.0) will make the bacteria stop processing the ammonia. I would still add the dechlorinator.

 

[OldMan47]

You have what I would tend to think of as an almost brand new tank. I realize that it is not new but chemically the filter has not matured at all. The ammonia is killing the fish because, as you said, it is crazy high.
Try doing a 30% water change and see where you are. I would be afraid to do much more because the ammonia will become very toxic if the pH comes up much while it is still there. I am thinking that a good approach might be to try to get the ammonia down with water changes while not removing so much old water that the pH comes up much. If you can get the ammonia under 1.0 ppm while the pH is still in the low 6s, you could then do a large water change to get the rest of the ammonia out and bring up the pH the rest of the way. In the meantime you have almost no bacteria to process your ammonia and it is killing the fish.
Another approach that I hate but it might fit your circumstances quite well is to use one of the ammonia removing ion exchange products such as is found in ammo-carb. The problem with a product like that is that it prevents the bacteria from developing properly and your tank can end up exactly where yours is. In this circumstance it might remove the ammonia without raising the pH high enough for the ammonia to become toxic. After that first benefit the water changes could then get you out of the woods with low pH and high ammonia. At that point you could go into a fish-in cycling routine and probably get through it with some success.
It is posts like yours that make me think outside the normal box and find new solutions to fit specific circumstances. Thanks for the opportunity.

 

[Anna Robinson]

You should always add Stress Coat or similar dechlorinator to any new water - letting it stand won't remove chloramine, which is often used to treat drinking water. You don't need to use pH down - your tapwater pH is acceptable and your tank pH is low anyway. Your nitrate is fine at 10.

You can tackle the ammonia problem with large water changes, but then you would raise your pH, as Oldman says, which would make the remaining ammonia much more toxic. You could add ammonia-binding liquids, but your levels are high even for these. You could use Nitra-Zorb or similar resin, which would remove the ammonia. You might have to do a combination - water changes combined with ammonia-absorbing resin.

But you need to find out why your tank is showing ammonia. It looks like your filter simply can't cope with the load on it?

Oldman, the filter must have matured because Dallas has a reduced pH and a raised nitrate compared to the tapwater. If the tank has had fish in it for 3 months you'd expect it to be cycled.

Bala sharks are not really suitable for captivity - they grow to about a foot long, are nervous, and prefer to be in groups. Perhaps you could re-home it? That would help your situation re the ammonia.

 

[dallasblake]

I have a LFS that said they would let me exchange it for something else, which I will be doing. My PH is right where I want/need it for the type of fish I hope to eventually get once my tank gets squared away. Since my tap PH is so high won't that change the Ph in the tank?

 

[dallasblake]

I might have totally messed up my tank. My LFS told me to buy some tap water conditioner so I did, and they told me to rinse out my filter, should have asked here first, but didn't. Possibly worst mistake on my part. So when I go and hook my filter back up after I rinse it off because it had slime on the sponges, which I didn't realize they were there till today, Der blonde moment. Any who there was nasty slime on the sponge things, They pump starts doing its thing and tons of fish food comes flying out of the part that spits water into the tank. This is very bad I'm sure

I also bought a gravel cleaner siphon thing and cleaned some of the gravel and siphoned out almost 5 gallons of water and added back 4 gallons. The tank is packed full of very old uneaten fish flakes what do I do now? How often in one day is it safe to do water changes. I don't want my PH to change as it's between 6 and 6.4 in the tank and 7.4 out of the tap. Help!!

 

[OldMan47]

I would stop feeding for the next few days and try to siphon what rotting food that you can with a minimum of water used. Don't refill right away if you can avoid it. The nitrogen absorbing resin looks like the only viable answer with the box you have gotten into. Once the ammonia is reduced it will be safe to do water changes and get the tank's water conditions stabilized. At that point the rise in pH will no longer be a problem for the fish in that tank but even then I would make the changes slowly to avoid creating a new crisis.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, very delicate situation, saving these fish. I'd follow OM47 and Anna's suggestions very carefully, they look good, reading through them. Will be interested to hear how it goes...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[dallasblake]

My ammonia has finally dropped down to 2.0, and my nitrates have dropped also. I'm going to be getting a KH and GH test also.