Need Help! Real Fast

[2day]

Hi guys. One of my neighbours asked me to come over and check their tank out... I used the api master kit for freshwater tanks and the following were recorded:

Ammonia: 1.0ppm
NitrIte: 0.25ppm
NitrAte: In between 10 and 20ppm
pH: 7.6
High pH: 8.2

Is there anything i can do right now to lower any ammonia, NitrAte, NitrIte and Ammonia???

Help appreciated!

 

[bubblesburst80]

first thing i would recommend is doing a water change others will help soon enough

xXx

 

[2day]

But how much water should i take out? 10%, 25%, 40% I don't want to loose their baby bristlenoses whatever i do!

 

[bubblesburst80]

just take out as much as you feel comfortable with
even the smallest amount will help some

 

[2day]

yeah thought about that, i thikn i will just take out 15% until someone on here helps me out a bit!

 

[pandacichlid]

I'd do a 15% water change or 20% no more than that I'd say.
hope they're ok!

 

[2day]

thanks panda cichlid. Doing that now...

 

[-germ-]

Can you purchase some SeaChem Prime from your LFS?
Using this would be secondary to water changes, but it will help the tank a great deal.
Obviously check with the neighbour first, basically it detoxifies nitrite, nitrate, ammonia (if you believe it works - i do).
I've used it before and it owrked for me, nearlyall LFS near me and alot of the ones you hear about on here use this product.
It is a dechlorinator first and foremost, can you get some?

The maintenance regime should be stepped up to about 60% a day, don't do it all in one go;
20%morning
20%noon
20%night

 

[2day]

I hope they sell it in my LFS, that is,in Sydney, Australia... I'm sure if they didn't, they would have something very similar.

Already did about a 15% change today, i will leave the rest until tommorrow.

 

[-germ-]

Just be careful what you purchase, some ammo-lockers have been known to cause ammonia spikes, certain filter medias such as zeolite and seachem purigen will remove nearly all the ammonia (in the case of purigen nitite and nitrate also) preventing the tank from cycling.
You also have to be careful that you don't purchase a false product.....

 

[merry78]

They sell Seachem Prime in most lfs's in Australia, you should be able to find it quite easily.

 

[rdd1952]

Your pH is actually 8.2 if that is what it is registering on the high test. The reason they put in both a low and high is they can't get one to cover the full range. If you test with the low and it is at the max, then you test for high to see where it acutally is. the same replys in reverse.

I would suggest a 50% water change to get the ammonia down below .5 ppm and then start with the 25% WCs as needed to get and keep ammonia and nitrite below .25 ppm. Because of your high pH, you really need ammonia as low as possible until the tank finishes cycling as ammonia becomes more toxic as pH increases.

What is the pH from you tap? If it's lower than the tank pH, there is probably something in the tank that is raising it. Most fish can adapt to a pH that is outside their optimal range so don't use chemicals to try to lower it. If you want to bring it down, try adding driftwood or putting peat in your filter. Both will help naturally.

 

[GobyMaster]

I found some stuff called AmmoLock, I've used quite a bit, and it gets rid of the ammonia really fast.

Hope this helps!!

GobyMaster

 

[2day]

Yep, I rang my LFS and they said they had ammolock, so i will maybe go down today and get it, otherwise i will just keep on doing water changes until it comes down. Thanks for the help

 

[-germ-]

Didn't they have any SeaChem Prime