HELP! Can't get rid of ammonia!

M

mrsshoup

AC Members
Sep 23, 2008
14
0
0
Ohio
I'm new at this and I still have lots to learn.....
Heres the deal-

20 gallon tank, 2 months old
1 Bristlenose Pl*co
3 zebra danios (lost 1 last week)
2 fancy guppies (lost 1 last week, 1 this week)
2 bumblebee gobys (lost 1 yesterday)

ph 7.5-8
water temp 78
ammonia ranging from 1-2 ppm, but usually at 1ppm
nitrates and nitrites both at 0

For just over a week I've been doing daily 50%-60% water changes to try to get rid of this ammonia. I change the water just after lunch (ammonia drops to .25ppm) and by the next morning it's back up to 1ppm.

I've tested my faucet water (well water)- 0ppm.

I changed my filter last week- I was overdue and thought maybe that was contributing to my dying fish.

I'm treating new water with Aquasafe, and LFS said to use StressZyme and Aquarium/Conditioning Salt as well. (Salt in a FW aquarium... is that RIGHT?!!)

I have AmmoLock but hesitate to use it. If I understand the way it works, it solves the immediate issue of elevated levels of ammonia, but doesn't get to the root of the problem and stop the ammonia from developing.

Of the fish I have left, they are active and don't appear to be under any stress. I can't say about the pl*co--- I rarely see him :-)

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Marty
 
A cycled tank will turn any ammonia into a readable amount of nitrates as you are not seeing any nitrates it sound as if your tank is not cycled.
When you did your cycle did you add a source of ammonia?
Also you said you changed your filter (i presume you mean the filter media), this is where most of your bacteria lives. You shoud not need to change this until it is falling apart just clean it in dirty tank water and when you do change it don't change it all at once.
Don't use salt unless you need to treat ick.
 
Last edited:
Marty, sorry to hear about the fish you lost. Here's a link to the article on this website about cycling a tank: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598
It has the info you need about what's happening with the ammonia in your tank. As you'll see in the article, you are doing a "fishy" cycle as opposed to a "fishless" cycle, so you have to keep doing water changes until the ammonia and nitrites stay at 0 and the nitrates can be maintained at around 20.
I'm sure other people here can give you more expert advice, but one thing I know might be a problem is changing your filter. The cycle is about getting certain beneficial bacteria to start living in your filter, consuming the ammonia and nitrites for you. Did you get rid of the whole filter? Or all of the filter cartridges and pads? If you did either, then you got rid of any bacteria that had started to grow.
I very rarely change my filter pads. I let them go until they're falling apart, and then I only change part of them at a time. When they're dirty, I rinse them off in old tank water, because straight tap water will also kill your bacteria.
I hope some of this helps you! You may have the option of selling/giving your fish back to the pet store if you'd rather do a fishless cycle, and getting some more fish later. Let us know how it all goes.
 
Yes, I did mean filter media.
The Bio-bag box said to change the media monthly... it had been 6 weeks. It was all brown and nasty when I looked at it... even after swishing it around in the water I had removed.

So I DON'T need to change it every month?

I cycled with 4 danios.... and thought I had completed the cycle. Evidently not.

I assumed I was getting the 0 nitrate/nitrite readings because I was doing so many water changes.

If I continue to do the daily water changes, will the tank complete its cycle or are there too many fish? I've cut back on my feeding, hoping that would help with the ammonia output.

Should I use the AmmoLock, or is there a better product?

Thanks,
Marty
 
Yes keep up the water changes until you have finshed cycling, fishy cycles usually take a bit longer. Personally i wouldn't use the ammolock water changes should be enough. How often are you doing water changes?
 
No you don't need to change you filter media every month, unless you want to throw away your money. When you're doing your water changes, take out some tank water into a bucket and just rinse the filter media out in that. I do mine about every 2 or 3 weeks. You can do it every week if you want.
 
I would say to quit taking the ammonia out of the water. You are starving the bacteria that you need to build up to convert the ammonia to nitrates.

Take the fish out and let the cycle run its process or leave them in and hope for the best.
 
247Plants said:
I would say to quit taking the ammonia out of the water. You are starving the bacteria that you need to build up to convert the ammonia to nitrates.

Take the fish out and let the cycle run its process or leave them in and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

But where to put the fish?

You're not starving the bacteria by reducing the ammonia amount. What you can measure is excess ammonia which the bacteria can't yet use. They don't reproduce any faster at 1ppm ammonia than at 0.5ppm, for the same reason that rabbits don't reproduce any faster in the presence of a ton of carrots they can't eat than they do in the presence of half a ton of carrots they can't eat. And the bacteria won't starve for the same reason that a rabbit next to a pile of carrots won't starve, as long as the pile doesn't become completely empty.
 
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