Rising Ammonia Levels

[jimmy_veal]

Hi.
I have a Juwel vision 180 tank, have had it up and running for about 2 weeks, doing a fish-less cycle. I added a few of my fish in to test out the water and they seemed fine, so i was planning on adding in the rest of my fish a couple at a time every 2nd or 3rd day, however whilst i was out one day my wife decided that she wanted rid of our old tank out of the room, so netted the remaining fish and added them all in. You can imagine my reaction when getting home, however the deed had been done! I then got a testing kit and have monitored the levels of PH, Nitrate and Ammonia etc. At first they were fine, 1 week later the PH has risen to 8.0 and the Ammonia is around .50 the fish are fine none have died, but am a little concerned what to do? I have been doing 10-15% water change every other day and feeding every other day, but not sure if i am doing right? I dont want any of my fish to die.
Any suggestions would be great.

 

[fluttermoth]

You probably need to do much larger water changes.

For example, if your ammonia level was 1ppm, and you did a 10% wc, that would only drop the ammonia to 0.9, which would still be a toxic level. If you did a 90% wc, then the ammonia would be only 0.1ppm, a much more acceptable level.

Your aim should be to keep the ammonia as near to zero, and never above 0.25ppm at all times.

I don't suppose you still have any of the old filter media left from the change-over? If you'd transfered all the old media when you moved the fish, you wouldn't have needed to cycle at all. If you do have old media about, and it's still damp, you could put that in your new filter and hope some of the bacteria have survived.

 

[jimmy_veal]

Unfortunately no i dont have any filter media from the old tank. I will do another Ammonia test this evening and then a much larger water change depending on the reading.
Thanks for your help.

 

[jimmy_veal]

The reading was still at 0.5 for Ammonia so i decided to do a 50% water change last night, will let it cycle through whilst at work and will do another test tonight. Fingers crossed!

 

[Tizer]

just gotta keep doing the tests and water changes, could take weeks, but eventually it will zero out. Make sure you are checking nitrite too, its more toxic than ammonia.

 

[jimmy_veal]

I have been checking PH, Nitrate2 Nitrate3 and ammonia, i take it they should all be 0 except the PH which should be around 7, is that correct?

 

[HayzH]

The reading was still at 0.5 for Ammonia so i decided to do a 50% water change last night, will let it cycle through whilst at work and will do another test tonight. Fingers crossed!

doing a 50% change would only have taken the Ammonia level down to 0.25..it needs to be 0. Bigger water changes. as much as you can get out (leaving enough for fish to swim upright)
Looks like you are in a fish-in cycle now...daily waterchanges required.

good luck x

 

[Tizer]

I have been checking PH, Nitrate2 Nitrate3 and ammonia, i take it they should all be 0 except the PH which should be around 7, is that correct?

Nitrate might be between 0-100, its nothing to worry about, with daily water changes its going to become close to that of your tap water which should be quite low anyway.

ammonia and nitrite are the only ones you really need to worry about for now. As already said, test daily for these, then water change accordingly.

Fish in cycles are all about keeping your fish alive, but also allowing your filters to cycle correctly. While readings should be close to 0, you still need a little ammonia in there to get the filter bacteria kick started and make sure you add dechlorinator when putting tap water in there.

 

[HayzH]

I have been checking PH, Nitrate2 Nitrate3 and ammonia, i take it they should all be 0 except the PH which should be around 7, is that correct?

Nitrate reading ... which is NitrIte? and anything over 0 for NITRITE is toxic to fish...NitrAte is normal up to 100ppm (this is when you know your bacteria is breeding lovely)

 

[jimmy_veal]

Well, last night was the big test, i got out the testing kit, and set to work. 10 mins later i had these readings: Ammonia 0, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, PH, 7.3 - at last the readings i had been waiting for. I know i'll have to keep a check on them, but hey, got there in the end.
Thanks everyone for their coments.

 

[CezzaXV]

Are you using a liquid test kit? I'd highly recommend giving the nitrate one (especially bottle #2) a #41#### good shake and whack on the table then retesting, as the test solution tends to solidify quite strongly on the bottom of the bottle. Sorry to say it, there's no way you got 0 on nitrate. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's best to know your real levels.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, in his case, zero nitrate would be a bad thing. If his nitrate is zero, it is because his ammonia and nitrite aren't being processed. So, yes ZERO nitrate is BAD here. We want to keep nitrate low (for a variety of reasons) but ultimately, it can't be zero. It will probably be very low based on the water changes being done, but it CAN'T be zero. 1ppm ammonia will process to 3.6ppm nitrate. So, even a light stocking should show up as SOMETHING. It may not be the color of the 5ppm on the color chart, but it shouldn't be that same yellow color (assuming API test kit).

 

[jimmy_veal]

Just checked the Nitrate levels again as suggested and gave the bottle number 2 a good shaking, after reading the small print in the guide that comes with the API test kit. After waiting 5 mins the reading for Nitrate is 5, the solution is a dark yellow slightly orange tinge to it.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Now THAT is a good thing! Congrats... your bacteria are processing ammonia.