Tank/fish Chronology- Advice Please

[ammoniator]

Hi All,

I'm hoping to get some advice please from experienced hobbyists.

I bought my setup with just the internal filter and filled it with water last week of may, 2008.

I DID NOT do a fishless cycle. (the hobby shop didnt say i had to- just keep an eye on pH).

I added fish shortly after and they began to die shortly after that. I found that the ammonia was too high. Even after water changes.

I've learnt everything so far the hard way, but am currently doing very regular water changes and my fish are very healthy but i am still getting ammonia readings. To date ive never had any nitrite readings. pH is fine..always has been.

I'm mindful of cleaning to keep the bacteria alive now, and the tank is crystal clear.

But I'm still not sure what is biologically and chemically going on.

It's about week 10 now and im changing water, 25% every 2 days, and every week over 50%. I still get ammonia readings.

I clean the gravel but not too much so i can keep the bacteria there.

The fish look very healthy and since i "got the hang of it", all have survived and thrive. But I think im keeping them alive purely due to the frequent water changes.

So far I've NEVER had a zero ammonia reading..its been between 0.25 and 1 for the last few weeks. I did a 75% water change and the reading was about 0.125.

I'm sure when the fish were die-ing, in the first few weeks, that the ammonia mustve been high and was killing them. (i didnt know and didnt even have test kits).

I'm wondering if i can get some comments please on the cycling aspect and some idea of what to expect soon- i dont want to be changing water every 48 hours thats for sure.

A couple of weeks ago I had a breeding pair of convicts with fry. They were too aggressive so they had to be split up. The female convict hasnt grown at all since i got her- about 4 weeks ago. The male that we returned to the shop was magnificent and was growing like a weed. Can i keep 2 x male convicts? (the shop suggested not).

I'm becoming a real fan of them. (the convicts).

The oscars are doing very well also. all the fish are now.

But, I cant leave the tank for too long as the ammonia surges.

I'm looking forward to some advice please.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Ammoniator. Sorry to hear of the troubles you have been having with your fish-in cycle. You are correct when you say that the fish are only staying alive because of the frequent water changes. You don't say what kind of filter you have but if it's not an undergravel filter very little of your bacteria will live in the gravel. If you have a HOB or canister filter, the bacteria are in your filter if you have any. You may need to do larger and more frequent water changes if you are seeing over 0.25 ppm ammonia.
Now that we know where the bacteria will develop, the next important thing to do is not kill them off. If you are cleaning out a filter, do not throw parts of it away. Keep everything and just clean what you have in used tank water. That way any bacteria that have started to develop won't be lost from the cleaning activities. In an undergravel filter, the filter media is the gravel. In other filters the media is all the pads, chunky stuff, sponges and what-not that you find inside the filter. At least until you get a cycle established, none of this should be changed. If you are using htings that "remove ammonia" stop using it. What ammo-chips and similar things do is remove ammonia but in doing so they prevent the cycle from progressing. What that means is you will never see a nitrite build up because there is no conversion going on. The first time that you fail to replace the ammo-chips on time, your fish will be exposed to all the ammonia that you never developed a bacterial colony to deal with. Ammonia removal sounds like a good idea right up to the time that you don't do the media change on time. That day all your fish get to try to survive the ammonia spike.

 

[ammoniator]

Gday OldMan,

Thanks for the reply!

All my tank and fish details are in my signature.

One thing im unsure of is this "remove ammonia" thing.

The water softeners i have all have "removes ammonia" in their description. I thought that that was standard.

Every product ive used includes a statement like "removes chlorine/ammonia...."

Is there such a thing as "removes chlorine"..only?

I've tested the water straight out of the tap and it contains no ammonia.

I was considering getting an inline water filter but the LFS suggested that that wasnt necessary. I was thinking that that would remove the chlorine.

Am I wrong?

I'm off to the shop to see if i can find some "chlorine only" water softeners.

In the mean time, if you- or anyone else can advise, please do.

Tim

 

[OldMan47]

You can get rid of chlorine only by letting the water set out for a couple of days before you add it to the tank. It's what we all did back 30 or 40 years ago and it worked. The problem today is that they add a chemical called chloramine. It is used because it lasts longer in the water supply than plain chlorine. When it comes to healthy drinking water that is a good thing. When it comes to fish, chloramine will not go away by letting the water set out for a few days. When you treat it to remove chlorine, it leaves behind ammonia as one of the byproducts. The reason the dechlorinators work for chlorine and keep ammonia from being as toxic is that they produce some ammonia by breaking down the chloramine, so the product must deal with that too. If you test your water right after you treat it with dechlorinator, you may find, like I did, that the water then contains some ammonia. Mine tests out at almost 1 ppm but my biological filter cleans up a tank full of the stuff in an hour or two so the impact on the fish is minimal. Especially since the dechlorinator made it less toxic to start with.