Serious Ammonia Issue

[TheConstantGrower]

i posted this originally in emergency section but they said to do one here.

Tank size:10
pH:7.4
ammonia: Off the chart
nitrite: 0.50ppm
nitrate: 5.0 ppm
kH: (not relevent)
gH: (not relevent)
tank temp: 76f - 80F

Fish Symptoms:Magically still alive

Volume and Frequency of water changesaily 25% (cycling)

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
oversized 20 gallon filter with 25 day old carbon used fresh from the box and used to start the cycle
Bio-Spira Fresh water bacteria additive, added on day one, and once after first water change on day 2 (had no real effect)


Tank inhabitants: 6 Zebra Danios

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): NONE

Exposure to chemicals:NONE

Ugh... im nearing 20 days into my cycle. and only have those 6 fish in there to produce ammonia, ive read the "Why its good to do water changes during cycling" thread and understand it and have been following it, and it has been working, my ammonia has been holding at just under 5ppm for approximately 14 days since i started the tank.

But now, my ammonia is way off the charts... were talking liquid test reaction with green so dark it looks black. im thinking it has to be in the 15ppm+ range, and i have no idea how the fish are still alive...

Heres the crazy thing though.
my nitrite hasnt changed since day 3... 0.50ppm, NO growth at all
my nitrate hasnt changed since day 3... 5.00ppm, NO growth at all

Today at 6am est, i did a 25% water change in the morning, No effect. in fact the ammonia went UP
12 hours later at 6pm i retested, ammonia is still on the rise, 50% water change.
6 hours later (12pm est), extreme white cloudyness to tank appears, no tests are ran
6 hours later (6am est, current time) ran tests...

Results

Ammonia: So dark green its black
Nitrite: 0.50ppm
Nitrate:5.00ppm
Tank status: so cloudy i cant count my fish nor see the back.

It cant be that my 10 gallon tank is incapable of producing more then 0.50ppm of nitrite and 5ppm of nitrate, that just makes no sense.

Help guys im losing my mind. ive cycled tanks in the past and never had this issue.

 

[TheConstantGrower]

Bump... Help please!

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Test the tapwater.

How old is the test? Are the fish showing signs of stress? If they are fine I think that the test may be off... But they are danios, tough as nails.

 

[jwddboy]

Fish with that amount of ammonia would show some sort of slowing and gasping...

With things like this I always start by asking a few obvious questions about the test kits. and then some more obvious ones

>Did you wash out the test tube with anything? - Try testing in another glass?

>Is the test kit still inside its expirey date?

>Is there anything inside the tank that could be rotting?

>Have you tried to get hold of any mature filter media?

Do larger water changes to take the ammonia down. Do you have anywhere to put the fish to stop them being affected? With that amount of ammonia the cycle should work great!

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Also, can you test one of your established tanks? If they show ammonia as well the kit has gone bad for sure.

 

[TheConstantGrower]

All great ideas, will start to check all these things now, thanks for the help, will report back later

 

[backtotropical]

5ppm ammonia is far too high. When doing a fish-in cycle, you should be aiming to keep ammonia below 0.25ppm.

Do a 90% water change now, and then another in 1 hour. Thereafter, do as many and as large water changes as it takes to keep ammonia under 0.25ppm. Don't be afraid to change lots of water, you pretty much can't when the alternative is ammonia poisoning.

I can't even begin to think what effect that ammonia will have on the long-term health of the fish.

You need to take drastic action, NOW!!

Hope this helps.

BTT