Potential emergency? Freshwater tank with high Ammonia

GrayTeall

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Hi! I recently set up a secondhand tall 55-gallon that's had its sand and snails cycling for at least 2 weeks, and the fish are on their first week. The tank was not under my ownership while it was cycling, it was simply advertised as bioactive and ready to house fish. With guidance from other freshwater aquarists, we set up the tank with a 4-chamber filter and 2 sponge filters, a heater, a few decorations, and 3 live plants, vacuumed the sand at the bottom of the tank, properly treated our water before filling it up, and waited for the filter to clear everything up. When the water was clear and the snails were out, which was about 2 hours after setting the tank up, we added the fish and things went well. They've been in there now 6 days, they're still acting healthy and happy but when I checked the water parameters yesterday, the ammonia levels had suddenly spiked, which leads me to believe my tank is not actually properly cycled. I did a 30% water change around 10:00pm yesterday after discovering the ammonia was at 1.0ppm and used a double dose of seachem prime (recommended for my city's extra mineralized water) to treat the new water.

(as of last night, ammonia updated post-water change)
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0.05-1.0ppm
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
kH: unknown
gH: unknown
tank temp: 78 F

The fish are acting normal, no new behavior; the mollies are exploring as usual, the algea eater is running laps on the walls (he's always been like that in every tank, we named him Nuts for it), the catfish is hiding, the shy cichlid is hiding and the less shy one is just leaving the others alone.


Tank inhabitants: 3 adult mollies, a school of around 10 guppies and up to 3 baby mollies, a Chinese algae eater, a striped Raphael catfish, 2 small striped black-and-blue cichlids, and a few mystery and cone snails.
There's 3 live plants, I'm unsure of the exact species but one is a short, rooted grass, another has tall, light green stalks with sturdy, wavy leaves that come to a narrow point, and another looks like a gigantic, fluffy, swirly pipe cleaner that has roots but floats at the top of the tank; the guppies and babies love hiding in it, and the mollies love eating it. There's also a little duckweed at the surface.

My best guess is that the tank was either not properly cycled when I got it, or I removed too much of the beneficial bacteria while cleaning the tank, either way the tank needs to cycle again and my fish are living in it. The guppies came from one tank and the rest came from another, both of which had elevated ammonia levels. The water in those tanks is not often tested, but during water changes you can smell some of the ammonia, so I at least know it's there and the fish are acclimated to it. Right now my plan is daily 30% water changes with the seachem prime and daily testing for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. The pH has been consistent, and the nitrate and nitrite levels have always been at 0. Is there anything else I should do to ensure the health and growth of my tank's ecosystem?
 
Hi and welcome to TFF!
You may have a mini-cycle going. Fish do not acclimate to ammonia or nitrite, these should be zero. I would change more than 30%, 75-80% daily changes would be better until ammonia (and nitrite) are at zero. Reduce feedings and vacuum substrate at WCs to remove any uneaten food.
 
Hi welcome to the forum :) sounds like a great set up and a great size to get started with!

My guess would be that going from snails in the tank to all those fish in one go has given you an ammonia spike. After 6 days with all those fish if it was totally unfiltered you'd have much higher ammonia so thats a good sign IMO.

In the meantime I would do 50% water changes until it reads 0. When you say the guppies came from other tanks and you can smell the ammonia are they your tanks or are they from somewhere else?

I know its a bit off topic here but can I check what the blue and black striped cichlids are? Are they convict cichlids? Or some kind of Africans? The Raphael Catfish may eat your Guppies when its older and your Chinese Algae Eater may also turn aggressive as it ages.

Wills
 
Another aquarist offered a gallon or two of seed water from a bioactive tank with perfect parameters
 
Another aquarist offered a gallon or two of seed water from a bioactive tank with perfect parameters

Water does not contain much (if any) beneficial bacteria because the BB prefer to attach themselves to surfaces in the tank. They are not free floating. The bacteria you want is mainly found on filter media, so if you can get some seeded media it would be much better for your cycle.
 
Welcome to TFF

What kind of test kit are you using? Is your source water hard or soft?

The CAE can grow close to one foot in length, and can be very aggressive as they mature; they've been known to latch onto other fish in order to consume their slime coat...I'd rehome, if possible, not the best community fish, especially with those cichlids...see here for more: https://www.aquariumsource.com/chinese-algae-eater/

The striped cat will get to around 6", and will eat any smaller fish it can catch...more here: https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/platydoras-armatulus

As other have advised, if you have ANY ammonia, the tank is not cycled; large daily WC's with Prime are needed, until the tank cycles, and you have no ammonia

Post a pic of the tank, when you get a chance...and get us some pics of those cichlids...I have little experience with them, but someone here should be able to ID them
 
Hi welcome to the forum :) sounds like a great set up and a great size to get started with!

My guess would be that going from snails in the tank to all those fish in one go has given you an ammonia spike. After 6 days with all those fish if it was totally unfiltered you'd have much higher ammonia so thats a good sign IMO.

In the meantime I would do 50% water changes until it reads 0. When you say the guppies came from other tanks and you can smell the ammonia are they your tanks or are they from somewhere else?

I know its a bit off topic here but can I check what the blue and black striped cichlids are? Are they convict cichlids? Or some kind of Africans? The Raphael Catfish may eat your Guppies when its older and your Chinese Algae Eater may also turn aggressive as it ages.

Wills
All fish came from my roommate's tanks, so they're in the house, and able to be tested and photographed, but I do not own them. The cichlids are suspected South American, the catfish is mostly dormant and has never expressed any interest in any fish, even the baby mollies, but I will look into getting a tank for him if he ever gets big enough for it to be concerning. I have a job interview but I'll send pictures after that.
 
Water does not contain much (if any) beneficial bacteria because the BB prefer to attach themselves to surfaces in the tank. They are not free floating. The bacteria you want is mainly found on filter media, so if you can get some seeded media it would be much better for your cycle.
In addition to a gallon of water, I also got a VERY large propogation from a Swordtail plant in the same tank that had actually overgrown, which probably has the bacteria I'm looking for.
 
Welcome to TFF

What kind of test kit are you using? Is your source water hard or soft?

The CAE can grow close to one foot in length, and can be very aggressive as they mature; they've been known to latch onto other fish in order to consume their slime coat...I'd rehome, if possible, not the best community fish, especially with those cichlids...see here for more: https://www.aquariumsource.com/chinese-algae-eater/

The striped cat will get to around 6", and will eat any smaller fish it can catch...more here: https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/platydoras-armatulus

As other have advised, if you have ANY ammonia, the tank is not cycled; large daily WC's with Prime are needed, until the tank cycles, and you have no ammonia

Post a pic of the tank, when you get a chance...and get us some pics of those cichlids...I have little experience with them, but someone here should be able to ID them
I use the API test kit, source water is hard. Nuts and the cichlids actually get along very well, the only living thing I've seen him try to eat is the algae growing on snails' shells, but I will keep a closer eye on that and try to come up with a solution when I can. Most of the fish in this tank are at their third home with me, so I've been adjusting my care as I've been learning.
 
Just reduce feeding to 2-3 times a week for a month and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. You should also monitor ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any day you have a reading above 0ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

-----------------
What sort of filter is on the tank?

Filters should be cleaned at least once a month, however do not clean the filter during the first 6-8 weeks of its life.

If you have a power filter, wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
 
Hi welcome to the forum :) sounds like a great set up and a great size to get started with!

My guess would be that going from snails in the tank to all those fish in one go has given you an ammonia spike. After 6 days with all those fish if it was totally unfiltered you'd have much higher ammonia so thats a good sign IMO.

In the meantime I would do 50% water changes until it reads 0. When you say the guppies came from other tanks and you can smell the ammonia are they your tanks or are they from somewhere else?

I know its a bit off topic here but can I check what the blue and black striped cichlids are? Are they convict cichlids? Or some kind of Africans? The Raphael Catfish may eat your Guppies when its older and your Chinese Algae Eater may also turn aggressive as it ages.

Wills
My roommate is the person who gave me the guppies and the cichlids. He took in a 30 gallon tank from a childhood friend, and the childhood friend had no idea what most of the fish were. My sibling was able to identify the CAE and the striped catfish which were previously misidentified. We're about 90% sure on those ID's. The roommate that took the tank in had overstocked his tanks with fish, so we decided to move the fish from his tanks into the 55 gallon to give them a better life as opposed to sourcing all new fish. Here are pictures of the cichlids, they're the same species but one is smaller and whiter than the other. I've also included pictures of the catfish and the CAE in hopes that someone can confirm the ID.
 

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My roommate is the person who gave me the guppies and the cichlids. He took in a 30 gallon tank from a childhood friend, and the childhood friend had no idea what most of the fish were. My sibling was able to identify the CAE and the striped catfish which were previously misidentified. We're about 90% sure on those ID's. The roommate that took the tank in had overstocked his tanks with fish, so we decided to move the fish from his tanks into the 55 gallon to give them a better life as opposed to sourcing all new fish. Here are pictures of the cichlids, they're the same species but one is smaller and whiter than the other. I've also included pictures of the catfish and the CAE in hopes that someone can confirm the ID.
Those cichlids are Pseudotropheus Demasoni which are a rift lake cichlid from Africa, they need specialist set ups with really high ph and hard water and they are very aggressive. Not a good idea to have them with the other fish IMO. The catfish is a humbug but when it grows to the adult size (approx 8 inches) they will become predatory at night when they come out.

There is a lot of great advice in here on how to get through your current ammonia spike but after that I think you need to research the fish you have and reassess if your tank is the best home for them or if rehoming some of them might be a better idea? There are loads of amazing fish out there to keep and sometimes just keeping what comes along isnt the best way to do it.

Here are some good links on some of the fish you have in here which will be a good starting point for any research :)



https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/gyrinocheilus-aymonieri/

Wills
 
Just reduce feeding to 2-3 times a week for a month and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. You should also monitor ammonia and nitrite levels and do a 75% water change any day you have a reading above 0ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

-----------------
What sort of filter is on the tank?

Filters should be cleaned at least once a month, however do not clean the filter during the first 6-8 weeks of its life.

If you have a power filter, wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.
I just did another water change, around 60-75%, and tested the water immediately afterwards. I treated the water with seachem prime again, as well as quick-start, so at least that's partially detoxifying the ammonia that's being read by the test, but I know there's no such thing as non-toxic ammonia despite what the bottles say. Nitrite and nitrate levels are still 0 and my pH is at 7.6, which is the test's maximum, but yesterday I used the high range pH test and it read the same number.

Filter is a brand new Fluval AquaClear for 70 gallon tanks on the lowest flow setting, only been running for 6 days.

In the included picture, the darker green test tube contains water from before today's water change, the light green contains water tested a few minutes after the water change. Should I do another water change today, or wait until tomorrow morning after I feed them (haven't fed them since noticing the high ammonia 2 days ago) and vacuum the substrate during the 80% water change? Is there any good that could come from temporarily removing the fish from the tank, dumping the water out, and deep-cleaning the sand? Or would that more likely remove the bacteria I'm trying to grow? I'm just worried about my tank and want to know that I'm doing everything within my power right.

I don't have the money to buy another new tank for non-compatible species right now, I probably won't for at least a month, but today I have added a new large plant that the sucking loach loves, and a medium-sized smooth rock for algae to grow on in hopes that'll deter him from eating the fish's slime coats until I can rehome him. For now, the catfish is the least aggressive in the tank (he doesn't like to be in view of the other fish, day or night.) The larger, bluer cichlid is kept in line by the 3 mollies; when he was added to the tank, he tried squaring up to fish to see what he could get away with, but now he immediately gets surrounded by the mollies when they see him looking suspicious. They let him swim around and hang out near them, as long as he doesn't look like he wants to attack, and it seems like he's learning that if he tries to pull anything, he'll be banished to the plant corner. The other cichlid has never been a problem, he (maybe she? it's smaller and less blue) prefers to hide under a sponge filter. The sucking loach is by FAR the most active in the tank, I think the longest I've seen him sit still is 3 minutes. I've never seen him sleep, but I also usually fall asleep before a lot of my fish do, because I try to turn my own light off around the time I turn theirs off.
 

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Of course you want zero ammonia but you are not as bad off at 0.5 to 1.0 ammonia as you may think. NH3 is the quick killer but most ammonia tends to be NH4 which can still harm fish but not quickly.

With test results showing at 0.5 PPM the NH3 is actually in the area of 0.0118 PPM.
With test results showing at 1.0 PPM the NH3 is actually in the area of 0.0235 PPM.
I did the calculations using your listed parameters as a base. Here is a link to the NH3 calculator:
 

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