Tank Readings

[Silvani]

My tank cycled, it’s been about a month since it fully cycled. I have two goldfish, and suddenly the ammonia has gone up to 0.25. It’s stressed one of the fish out so badly he just floats at the top some now.

My Nitrite is at 0 and my Nitrate is at 40. Both in the safe range. I did a 20% water change 2 days ago, and have checked for any decaying food and am unable to find anything.

What should I do to get the ammonia back down to zero and not stress my poor Black Moore out so much. Should I change out even more water? 80%? Just leave it and let it correct itself? I just am really worried about the little guy.

 

[Lenna]

Can I ask what size the tank is? It's probably best to keep doing smaller water (20%) changes every day rather than one big one as that might stress them out. Hope your fish pull though.

PS There are some chemicals that floc out ammonia and can be used in an emergency (I think it's called AmriteDown, or something similar). Also, some brands of dechlorinator can "remove" ammonia. HTH

 

[Silvani]

It’s a 5 gallon tank, the gold fish are still both very little, about 1 to 2 inches or so. One in a common feeder fish, just your typical orange gold fish. He doesn’t seem to be phased by the change at all, he’s swimming around as happy as ever. The other is a Black Moore, who is a “fancy” goldfish so is stressing out really bad.

I was told that it’s a bout an inch of fish per gallon, so they should be ok tank wise I hope.

 

[smooth_bourbon]

I recently had a big ammonia spike in my 80 gallon. I ended up doing one large water change, then twice daily small water changes until it started testing normal again. My fish amazing never showed any signs of stress other then my Oscar acted as tho his food didnt taste as good(probably tasted like pee).

What size aquarium is it?
What filter are you using?


Hope your fish all pull thru ok.

 

[rdd1952]

If you're showing ammonia, then your tank wasn't cycled. How did you cycle it? Also, you need to start looking for a larger tank or new homes for the goldfish very soon. They will grow quickly and in a matter of a couple months, they will outgrow the tank and your filtration won't be able to keep up. Goldfish are extremely messy. The general rule of thumb for them is a 20 gallon tank for the first GF and then an additional 10 gallons for each additional GF. For now, do the daily small water changes as has been suggested. Stay away from the ammonia locking chemicals unless the level skyrockets to close to 2 ppm.

 

[Silvani]

I wanted to give an update on this.

It seems that it was not an ammonia spike. When I tested the tap water, it was at the same level 0.25. The straight tap water was tested with and with out de-chlor. So I have to blame the ammonia reading on faulty test strips, and have since ordered the liquid test kit.

At least I would like to *think* I’m not drinking or bathing in water that has ammonia.

The filter is a whisper power one that hangs on inside of the tank. The tank was cycled with the one feeder goldfish, I realize that this is horrible now, but I was inexperienced and have since read and read and read to learn all about fishless cycles and better care. The little guy is still ok, though I understand he may be damaged and feel very guilty for it. Trust me this mistake will not be made again.

The tank was fully cycled, it used to show zero ammonia, and I don’t know how there would be zero nitrite with 40 nitrate if it wasn’t.

It seems I also misdiagnosed this issue. It was the orange common goldfish picking on the fancy one that cause it so much stress. This was only realized when the orange one continued to nip at the black ones fins, thus ripping them up. The two were separated so that the black fancy one could have a chance to heal.