New Here

[AKGrown]

Hi im new to the site I visited a different one and was scolded and not helped at all and im looking for help. You se i have a problem and it will not let me post elsewhere. I have an emergency really I need advice on how to get ammonia levels down as well as nitrites and nitrates.

Products in use: Prime Seachem Neutral Regulator API Stress Coat +

Environment:
Temp: 80 degrees
10 gallon tank going for about 6 months now just recently for a new filter set up so I have the penguine now and have done one cartridge change since having it. I tested my water and things did not look good. I did two 20% water changes earlier in the week and one today. My levels do not seem to be improving. Im thinking that I might have been overfeeding a tad and as instructed per a petstore employee did not do a water change for two weeks (or a bit over that) I am very concerned and have not been doing this long.
3 platys
3 glofish
2 african dwarf frogs
1 otto
and the 3 snails
2 plants (live)

Water:
Nitrate: 60
Nitrite: 2.0
GH: 140
Chlorine: safe
KH: 60
pH6.4

Ammonia: high
Food: (for all)
HBH frog & tadpole bites
Hikari Algae Wafers (sinking)
Tetra Min and Tetra Color fish flakes
Blood worms & Kickari Tubiflex Worms
Frozen BW's (not freeze dried blood worms)

Thanks! -WorriedAlaskan

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum! My first thoughts might have been that you were over stocked but I dont think thats the case it sounds like a nice mix. Though some fish could do with upping a little like the glofish to 6 and the ottos to 5 or so but thats something to address at a later date.

When you say you got a new filter, did you transfer all the sponge and stuff from inside your old filter? If not this means that essentially you have a new tank, if you see what I mean? Where as before your old filter would have been keeping up with the bio load of the fish in the tank the new filter is purley just turning water over whilst there is no bacteria to make the water safe.

How long have you had these high readings? Have you seen any change in the high levels? Have you had any fish die recently? Also which kind of water test kit are you using?

I would start doing daily water changes of about 50% per day to keep ammonia down to around .25 ppm. The LFS worker saying dont do anything for 2 weeks I think would mean they wanted the water to build up so bacteria would develop quicker but I dont think this will work as it is just a time based thing and the most important thing is to keep the fish alive and the daily water changes will do that

I would perhaps start to cut down the amount you are feeding, the less food the less poo the less ammonia.

Hope thats helped and Im sure we will get you sorted soon enough

Wills

 

[Paradise3]

Did you put the original filter media in the new filter?
I would do a 50% water change now and if the levels don't go down, do another one. Carry on doing water changes until the levels go down.
Make sure the water temperature is the same as the water in the tank as not to shock the fish.
I would get a couple more plants for the tank this will bring and keep the nitrate down. Hope this helps.

Xxx~misscosmo~xxX

 

[AKGrown]

Hi welcome to the forum! My first thoughts might have been that you were over stocked but I dont think thats the case it sounds like a nice mix. Though some fish could do with upping a little like the glofish to 6 and the ottos to 5 or so but thats something to address at a later date.

When you say you got a new filter, did you transfer all the sponge and stuff from inside your old filter? If not this means that essentially you have a new tank, if you see what I mean? Where as before your old filter would have been keeping up with the bio load of the fish in the tank the new filter is purley just turning water over whilst there is no bacteria to make the water safe.

How long have you had these high readings? Have you seen any change in the high levels? Have you had any fish die recently? Also which kind of water test kit are you using?

I would start doing daily water changes of about 50% per day to keep ammonia down to around .25 ppm. The LFS worker saying dont do anything for 2 weeks I think would mean they wanted the water to build up so bacteria would develop quicker but I dont think this will work as it is just a time based thing and the most important thing is to keep the fish alive and the daily water changes will do that

I would perhaps start to cut down the amount you are feeding, the less food the less poo the less ammonia.

Hope thats helped and Im sure we will get you sorted soon enough

Wills

Thank you this is great to know! I didnt know that i needed a sponge? I have just been changing the cartridge (leaving the biowheel alone of course) I'm not to sure what to look to buy for that?

I Changed my water about 5 days ago now but before I did i tested and had the high levels. They havent really changed even withthe addition of prime today and the pH neutralizer. No fish have died so far however my one snail isnt looking so hot his foot is deformed (im not sure if that would matter but ive just noticed it 3 days ago and havent had him for long just about 3 weeks now) I am using test strips for now because it seemed much simpler but I think that I need to get a liquid kit.

I always thought that the bacteria grew in the gravel and on the plants/ornaments and I didnt realize that the filter made such a huge impact when changed (though i knew that it was important.)

I really want to thank you for being so constructive. I really had a bad experiance at the other site and feel relieved now that I actually got some good advice!!

 

[AKGrown]

Did you put the original filter media in the new filter?
I would do a 50% water change now and if the levels don't go down, do another one. Carry on doing water changes until the levels go down.
Make sure the water temperature is the same as the water in the tank as not to shock the fish.
I would get a couple more plants for the tank this will bring and keep the nitrate down. Hope this helps.

Xxx~misscosmo~xxX

I did not add the old media filter to the new..i didnt know that i was supposed to..how would i go about doing that?

 

[Wills]

Hi yeah I know what its like to have a bad experience on the forum but at the same time its just often easier to give instructions its quite hard to get meaning across the net.

With the old filter cartridge if its been a while I would forget about it not much you can do now as the old bacteria will be dead. As far as where the bacteria lives, 99% of the bacteria is in the filter gravel and plants help a little but the filter does all of it nearly.

What make of filter is it? Different filters have different ways of managing bacteria colonies and if your using a bio wheel these can sometimes work different to a regular internal filter.

The test strips are notoriously inaccurate get the liquid API ones as thats what most of this forum uses so we can interpret each others results easier, I would also stop using the ph neutralizer these kind of products can send your ph haywire which can do more harm than good, you dont have any delicate fish so I wouldnt worry about using it.

The prime your using, I know its commonly used but Im unfamiliar with it, is it a dechlorinator or does it claim to hold benificail bacteria?

Sorry for all the questions but its just to help us work out what kind of situation your in right now.

I think the best thing to do is keep doing daily water changes, keep the gravel nice and clean, go down to maybe half feeding and the filter will cycle its self its just a matter of time, its whats called a fish in cycle and they can be successful with no fish deaths if the water changes are kept up and eventually you will see the water quality improve

Wills

 

[AKGrown]

Hi yeah I know what its like to have a bad experience on the forum but at the same time its just often easier to give instructions its quite hard to get meaning across the net.

With the old filter cartridge if its been a while I would forget about it not much you can do now as the old bacteria will be dead. As far as where the bacteria lives, 99% of the bacteria is in the filter gravel and plants help a little but the filter does all of it nearly.

What make of filter is it? Different filters have different ways of managing bacteria colonies and if your using a bio wheel these can sometimes work different to a regular internal filter.

The test strips are notoriously inaccurate get the liquid API ones as thats what most of this forum uses so we can interpret each others results easier, I would also stop using the ph neutralizer these kind of products can send your ph haywire which can do more harm than good, you dont have any delicate fish so I wouldnt worry about using it.

The prime your using, I know its commonly used but Im unfamiliar with it, is it a dechlorinator or does it claim to hold benificail bacteria?

Sorry for all the questions but its just to help us work out what kind of situation your in right now.

I think the best thing to do is keep doing daily water changes, keep the gravel nice and clean, go down to maybe half feeding and the filter will cycle its self its just a matter of time, its whats called a fish in cycle and they can be successful with no fish deaths if the water changes are kept up and eventually you will see the water quality improve

Wills

My filter type is the Marineland penguine 200. I dont add anything to the filter other than the cartridge at this point. Prime is supposed to remove Chlorine, Chloramine, Ammonia it is supposed to detoxify nitrites and nitrates and provide a slime coat according to the bottle.

I also have the nutrafin cycle but it does not go in the fridge so i dont know that it does any good at all however i did add some three days ago. Seeing no change I would believe that it doesnt work. It says that you should be able to add fish "immediately" because it gets your cycle started that quickly.

I dont mind questions ask away thank you for all of your help!

 

[Wills]

Yeah I would forget the cycle stuff most of it does not work for the exact reason you said you cant garuntee the stuff in there is alive because there is just no control over it at all. I mean even if your lfs keeps it in a fridge who knows if it was transported in chilled conditions or stored in chilled conditions in the warehouse? The cycle is a naturally occurring thing and these kind of chemicals just add to the confusion for people in the hobby, I used them for years blissfully unaware that they were doing very little to the tank.

I would also consider swapping from the prime to API stress coat as that is just a dechlorinator at this stage if you start adding stuff that helps remove nitrite and ammonia thats taking food away from the bacteria that you need to grow asap.

Like I say lots of water changes and give it time and it will go right

Wills

 

[chrisbassist]

on the prime,

I've swapped to it, and actually e-mailed seachem for info on its effects.

works out much cheaper because it's so concentrated (5ml treats 200 litres)

detoxifies ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, but does not remove them. they all still show up on the tests, and the bacteria will also still feed on it happily.

but DON'T just dose prime to detoxify stuff, otherwise you won't have a clue what your test readings actually mean! you might have 0.75 ammonia and you don't know how much is toxic... not a good situation...

so don't worry about swapping to something else on that, but try not to overdose it too much. 1ml will treat the entire tank.

but i agree with the cycle. some came with my tank, i was using it as the instructions said, and if anything, my cycle sped up after i stopped it. useless, bin it.

 

[AKGrown]

Thanks so much for all your help I will continue with the water changes and let you know how it goes! -Bridget

 

[AKGrown]

So today I went out and purchased a liquid test kit and basically my levels are through the roof. I did a 50% water change earlier today (after testing the new water) I let it sit for oh about 5 hours then tested the water to try my new kit out.

My levels: Ammonia basically off the charts even with using the prime Nitrite .50ppm Nitrate about 20ppm and my ph is very low sitting at about 6.5

So my question is what do I do now? I'm afraid to wait to long, my fish are showing signs of ammonia poisoning..(redish gills and stripes on one) I have not fed them today and only fed them a little bit yesterday. I have a bubbler going and several live plants..Anything else that I can do to help them out?

Thank you!

 

[Wills]

Honestly the best thing you can do is lots of big water changes the filter bacteria will start to develop, infact it already has. If you have nitrite and nitrate readings there is bacteria present that is cycling the ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate which is what you need to happen.

Do you know anyone with an established fish tank? Who could give you some filter media? Or if you dont mind posting on here where you are from someone might be able to get you some filter media which will basically just instant cycle your tank.

Wills

 

[AKGrown]

Honestly the best thing you can do is lots of big water changes the filter bacteria will start to develop, infact it already has. If you have nitrite and nitrate readings there is bacteria present that is cycling the ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate which is what you need to happen.

Do you know anyone with an established fish tank? Who could give you some filter media? Or if you dont mind posting on here where you are from someone might be able to get you some filter media which will basically just instant cycle your tank.

Wills

I dont know anyone here that has a well established tank I live in Anchorage Alaska If anyone offers I'd be very happy! So should I do more than 1 50% water change a day??

 

[chrisbassist]

Don't do more than 50% but be prepared to do another one today. Try and do enough to keep all the readings under .25 max

 

[AKGrown]

Don't do more than 50% but be prepared to do another one today. Try and do enough to keep all the readings under .25 max

Okay will do but my levels dont seem to want to come down. And I'm not too sure what to do?