Ammonia ? Need Immediate HELP!

HappyChem,
Okay, I understood only a little of that about the filter.
PHP: 
If you've got 2 cannister filters, pack one with mechanical filtration media and the second with bio-media.
- Is this information easily found to order?

I really don't understand something that I'm sure is not difficult. What does this mean?
PHP: 
Connect the outflow of the first to the intake of the second, then run the second's outflow into the tank.

PHP: 
slip a filter sponge over the intake to keep the media in the bio-only-filter free of mulm, pack the rest of the filter with bio-balls.
- You want me to slip a sponge over the intake of my Emperor 400? You do mean the black part that is submersed in the tank, right? Where do I get a sponge cover? I've not seen one at the chain LFS but then again I have not looked. Then you want me to take the filters out of the emperor and put in bio balls? I really don't understand that. It has slide in slots for my filters/media, do you mean to put it in there.
I know I'm making everything way to difficult. Sorry, I hate being so lost. My dogs and bettas are way easier than all of this. I just love my O's and want to do everything possible for them also even if it means relearning all this science.
How often should I be cleaning/changing my filters right now. I have not done that since I set it up three weeks ago. I thought I was supposed to leave it alone while everything was cycling. Is this wrong?
Thanks again for helping me. It must get tiresome.
 
No problem, I'm happy to elaborate.

For the filter intake cover, it's DIY. Buy a filter sponge for an AquaClear mini or AC 150 and use a sharp knife to cut a hole in the middle of the small side which runs parallel the long dimension. This will seem a lot more clear once you're holding the sponge ;) . The idea is just to make a hole that will fit the intake and cover all the openings.

The first is simple, but I probably explained it poorly.

Have a look at your cannister filter. It's got an intake and a return.

Now if you had two of them you could dedicate one to mechanical filtration and the other to biological. To do this you just set the intake of the first filter in the tank as you normally would, no sponge over it. Now the difference: instead of running the filter return into the tank, you run it into the second cannister's intake. Then run the second cannister's return into the tank.

The first filter is mech only, so pack it with as much mechanical media as will fit. Start with coarse stuff like sponges and have a layer of filter floss/wool nearest the outflow part of the filter. This way the first filter should remove as much particulate as possible without using a micron filter.

The second filter is bio-only, so fill it with bio-balls, porous ceramic bio-media, etc.

This is the optimal filter set up for messy fish.
 
- You want me to slip a sponge over the intake of my Emperor 400? You do mean the black part that is submersed in the tank, right? Where do I get a sponge cover? I've not seen one at the chain LFS but then again I have not looked. Then you want me to take the filters out of the emperor and put in bio balls? I really don't understand that. It has slide in slots for my filters/media, do you mean to put it in there.
Click to expand...

I cut custom sponges out of bulk chunks for this purpose. Just cut a block of sponge, and then carefully cut a hole into it deep enough to slip it over the emporer suction strainer.
?Now for some additional thoughts. Assuming you do regular maintenance, and do not overfeed. the two bio-wheels on you emporer are probably plenty of bio-filter. With this in mind, I personally would set the emporer up with custom cut sponges instead of the cartirdges they usually use, and set the rena up as mechanical only also. Either rinse the sponges in tank water each week when you do your water changes, or have spares on hand and swap them out. then wash the sponges thouroughly and let them dry for next week (my preferred method) . Either way the bio-wheels will provide you bio filtration, and the sponges will be primarily mechanical. It may take some testing to ensure the bio-wheels are adequate, but I have kept many tanks with messy fish and emporer 400's and have never found the limits of the bio-wheel.

As far as food, The staple you are using is a decent food, Shrimp are good, spirulina is a good idea. For treats add in things like crickets live worms (I dig redworms or catch nightcrawlers) If you have access or room to do it, set up a snail breeding tank of food.
My standard rules with Oscars are some form of balanced staple pellet or flake (hikari is my weapon of choice, but there are many good foods available) and then everything else is fed as random treats, never in high quantities. I feed guppies (home raised) shrimp live and frozen, snails, worms, bottom feeder wafers. so on and so forth. I personally stay away from beef heart( no real reason, just don't use it), And under no circumstances would I reccomend Goldfish. I have no science to prove goldfis are bad, but have plenty of theories about a lot of problems people have with Oscars. If you do chose to use any type of live feeder, quarantine is a must. feeders introduce a lot of disease. Oscars do like to hunt, and will appreciate live treats, but be mindful of the health issues.
Dave
 
Dave,
Where do you get the sponges (online, LFS chain store)? I'm glad you wrote me because I noticed that you have an Oscar (that's helpful in my case).

Did you happen to read my post about the hole in my Oscar's head right directly above his left eye. It is a perfectly round hole (looks like it has been drilled there. It is a little bigger than one of his nostrils and looks to go down about a 1/4". It was not there on Sunday morning. I did a big water change to try to get my ammonia and nitrites down on Sunday night and when I was all finished I noticed a spot (looked like a small piece of dried grass or bread, it was textured and tan/brown in color). There was no hole or indention at that time. On Monday night when I was feeding them I noticed that it was now a hole and if I look closely enough I can still see the piece of stuff down inside the hole. I've looked at the pictures of HITH and it doesn't look like any of them and it happened overnight. What do you think I should do?

He is acting normally. I've only had them for two weeks and he is very active and happy, the female is still adjusting but doing better every day.
I've been doing a lot of water changes to keep my levels safe so the water is clean.

Do you think I should add salt like someone recommeded on my post? I have not added any.

I'm going to a small LFS tomorrow night to get some more BIO-Spira because apparently I messed up and my tank is not yet cycled. I never set out to not do the right thing and even did a lot of research I guess I just did not do enough on cycling and now I'm just trying to correct my mistakes and not harm my O's.

I also plan on ordering a bigger Rena Filstar (an XP3) and a second Emporer 400. I think this will help me some also. Any thoughts?

Sorry to bombard you with questions, I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. I just want to do what's best for my O's and to aquire the knowledge to care for them the rest of their lives.

Thanks for your help.
 
These are my water readings tonight:
pH - 7.2
Ammonia - 2.0ppm
Nitrite - 0.50ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm

My ammonia has stayed the same but now my nitrites have went up from 0.25ppm to 0.50ppm again. I'm going to do an immediate 25% water change and add aquarium salt and Prime. Since I cannot reach anyone online this is what I'm going to do. If anyone has any ideas let me know.
 
rockbellab said:
These are my water readings tonight:
pH - 7.2
Ammonia - 2.0ppm
Nitrite - 0.50ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm

My ammonia has stayed the same but now my nitrites have went up from 0.25ppm to 0.50ppm again. I'm going to do an immediate 25% water change and add aquarium salt and Prime. Since I cannot reach anyone online this is what I'm going to do. If anyone has any ideas let me know.
Click to expand...
Don't panic :)
Do the water change, add the salt. The nitrite level is telling you that the bacteria is doing its job on the ammonia and turning it into nitrites, which then are consumed and excreted as nitrates.

It's all good. You'll get to the LFS tomorrow and get some more Bio Spira, then things will straighten out real quick.

Roan
 
Well, I can honestly say things are not better today. After doing the 25-30% water change last night and adding aquarium salt and Prime to the new water before adding it to the tank I checked the levels as soon as I got home. They are:
pH - 7.8
Ammonia - 2.0ppm
Nitrite - 0.50ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm
I made absolutely no difference. I feel like I'm going crazy. It shouldn't be this hard.
Oh and the last straw was that all of the LFS's in Oklahoma City either are out of the Bio-Spira or don't carry it.
Any ideas about what to do now? More water changes? Help, please.
 
i would say just keep up the waterchanges and don't go overboard on the salt. it doesn't take that much to be an effective aid for nitrite absorbtion.

i think you are in for a nitrite spike, but just stay the course. 25% a day until the nitrite drops away isn't unreasonable, i dont think. maybe even two smaller ones a day, if you think it will help.... just keep aware of your salt level.

its when you start to see larger nitrite readings that you know the end is coming... hard to say when, but the colonies are building.

ditto roan, just be patient... at least its not 1" fish you have.

:cool:
 
I think you need to start doing at least 50% water changes every day until either the tank cycles or you get your hands on Bio Spira.

You have to get those nitrites down as much as you can -- .25 at least. A good 50% change should cut it down to that.

Replace the salt with the change, but don't go over the original recommended amount.

Go easy on the food for the Oscars. Food waste contribute to the nitrite levels.

I know of some online shops that ship Bio Spira. It would have to go Fed Ex overnight. I'll re-source them for you and I'll also see if there's anyone close or in OK on the web. Gimme an hour or so.

Roan
 
Here's one online store for now:

http://www.fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html
Located in East Tennesee

I'll mention if I've ordered anything from these places before, otherwise I've no clue as to whether they are any good.

I'll edit this as I find more stores



List of stores in Oklahoma that carry Marineland products. I plugged in zip code 73101, cause I dunno what yours is. Plug in your zip and see if you can find other stores near you. Give 'em a call and ask about Bio Spira -- make sure you stress Freshwater, there's Saltwater as well.

http://www.marineland.com/StoreLocator/StoreLocResults.asp


Roan
 
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