How can i get the ammonia down Please Help

I have a hard time believing any fish would be ok with even 4.0 ppm of ammonia.
I would definitely check your test kit. It your ammonia is "down" to 4, are you now showing signs of nitrite?
 
Nitrite is still at 0. I tested my tap water for ammonia and it came up 0. I am just going to keep changing water and cleaning the gravel out and hopefully it keeps dropping.
 
PhillipL37 said:
Nitrite is still at 0. I tested my tap water for ammonia and it came up 0. I am just going to keep changing water and cleaning the gravel out and hopefully it keeps dropping.
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That's the best you can do. Just keep doing changes, everyday. Stick with your 25%, all you want to do is dilute the ammonia present and try to keep your fish from seeing too much discomfort. Cut back on the feeding, as has been suggested, one small pinch of flake should suffice for the few fish you have. Go to your most trusted LFS and ask them for a squeezing from the filter in one of their established tanks. You will need to be certain that the store is disease free, as you may be risking your fish to unknown illness, but the bacterial boost you will get from this method will cycle your tank in an instant. If this sounds too risky (and it really is a judgement call), just stick to the 25% WCs, everyday.... All will be well.

One more thing, resist the urge to use any form of chemical/commercial Ammonia control, ie. Zeolite, AmmoLok etc. Just do those changes.:)
 
kooter said:
I have a hard time believing any fish would be ok with even 4.0 ppm of ammonia.
I would definitely check your test kit. It your ammonia is "down" to 4, are you now showing signs of nitrite?
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Agreed. If the pH were 6.0, I could believe it. But at 7.6? Not a chance.
 
kooter said:
I have a hard time believing any fish would be ok with even 4.0 ppm of ammonia.
I would definitely check your test kit. It your ammonia is "down" to 4, are you now showing signs of nitrite?
Click to expand...

KarlTh said:
Agreed. If the pH were 6.0, I could believe it. But at 7.6? Not a chance.
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pH? Eerrrm...ammonia??

One other small thing. I'd not recommend trying to get that gravel "squeaky" clean. Don't worry too much about sitting there and going over every square inch of substrate...it does actually help to have a little gunk in the system. Remember, you don't want to completely eliminate the Ammonia, nor those things tha cause it. You need something for your benificial bacteria to feed and grow upon. Once the bacteria builds, they will take care of the Ammonia for you...

Keep us updated on how you go :)
 
Sounds Like a Faulty Test Kit
Dont Feed the Fish for a day or so as fish can survive with very little food
if u can test the water by a friend or local petshop then do so
in case u not using dechlorinator when doing a water change then do so
 
ghengis said:
One more thing, resist the urge to use any form of chemical/commercial Ammonia control, ie. Zeolite, AmmoLok etc. Just do those changes.:)
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so, using an ammonia detoxifier like Prime, is going to hurt how?

also.... removing all the 'gunk' in the gravel is not essential.. removing all the excess food, IS. that excess food is just another cause for ammonia.. and there's no need for it. the FISH are what are supposed to supply the ammonia for the tank, not excess food left there by incomplete tank maintenance.

why stick to just 25%? if the fish don't have OTS, then there is no excuse to NOT do more.. why leave the fish in the ammonia water for the sake of sticking to 25%? the point is to get rid of as much of that ammonia as possible. the bacteria responsible for the nitrogen cycle need NOWHERE near 4ppm of ammonia, that's the same level you would do a non-fishy cycle at.
 
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Test your kit, run a test on some spring water from a bottle.
Use Prime.
Do not feed for 2-3 days with large water changes up to 50%
 
AC20 is up to 20GL, I would go larger, AC20 is not enough.
What do you have in the filter for media?
 
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