Slight Ammonia Reading

[JSmails]

A family member of mine asked me to look at her tank because she was concerned a couple of her fish were spending too much time at the top of her tank. I tested everything and although none of her fish have any visible signs of illness I did note a small reading of ammonia in there (0.25). This would obviously be a cause of fish coming up for air. The only thing she changed recently was the white wool in the filter.

Now I know ammonia should be 0. All other stats were fine (dont ask cos I cant remember exact readings but trust me).

I advised daily water changes as could see nothing wrong anywhere. The only thing I could see was some plant debris (not a lot). I left her a kit to test and hopefully we can bring this down but should she at present be panicking about the reading? I ask this cos although I believe it should be zero but the testing kit says 0.25 is safe.

 

[JSmails]

ttt

getting nagged on this, any help much appreciated

 

[arobinson1984]

I'd advise exactly what you have already mentioned, do a large water change, wait an hour then re-test and check the ammonia levels again, if need be do another.

ANY amount of ammonia is harmful to fish although being a minimal amount, it is still enough to cause long term damage.

Regarding the fish gasping for air, is the filter outlet creating surface area movement? is there any other source of ariation in the tank such as air pump?

Andy

 

[JSmails]

I'd advise exactly what you have already mentioned, do a large water change, wait an hour then re-test and check the ammonia levels again, if need be do another.

ANY amount of ammonia is harmful to fish although being a minimal amount, it is still enough to cause long term damage.

Regarding the fish gasping for air, is the filter outlet creating surface area movement? is there any other source of ariation in the tank such as air pump?

Andy

Thanks Andy, I did actually slightly reduce the water level and point the pump more at the surface to create more oxygen (forgot to mention that)

Glad I gave decent advice! Im not sure what the cause is but Ill try and help her get on top of it with the hourly retest you advised. Surely the change of filter wool would not have an effect would it?

 

[doresy]

Hi, I have had this happen to me from time to time. I put it down to over cleaning the filter media thus lowering the amount of beneficial bacteria.

As suggested do a large partial water change followed by not feeding for a couple of days and things should recover quite nicely.

Check that you/they are not over feeding and be careful to only clean half the media at any one time (and gently)

 

[arobinson1984]

No it wont be due to the filter wool as this doesnt really contain much bacteria, it is just to remove all the small particles from the water to make it clearer. The bacteria is on the main sponge(s)

When cleaning the sponges just give them a gentle squeeze to remove the excess gunk, try not to squeeze them out too hard otherwise you might lose too much of the benefical bacteria

Feed once daily, try not to overfeed and you can also have 1 or 2 days a week when you dont feed them at all (known as starving days) this helps to keep the tank cleaner. Less food = less waste obviously.

I dont feed my fish on a sunday.

Andy

 

[Inchworm]

The beneficial bacteria live on all the surfaces, and since there are more surfaces in the filter media, most of them live in there. If you remove any of it, you are removing bacteria. Depending on the type of filter she has, she might have lost quite a bit.

Not feeding fish to reduce ammonia is a lazy way to do it and not at all good for many fish. Corydoras, for example, are always hunting for food. To regularly let them starve is not in keeping with their normal habits. Many small fish cannot digest large amounts of food at a time and even do best with two small daily feedings.