Amonia Poisoning -- New Filter

[SBells]

Hey gang!

In a previous post I was told that my fish very likely had ammonia poisoning. We purchased a filter today to hopefully help with this problem. It is an Aqua-Tech (I believe), and I'm wondering how long it will be until this problem is taken care of? The fish don't come to the top as often as before, but it appears as though they are breathing very heavy. Any help is appreciated!

-Scott

 

[pinballqueen]

Extra filtration is always a plus, but it's not going to help your ammonia problem all that much. The only thing that will is keeping up with your water changes and reducing your stocking levels until the tank is cycled fully.

What the extra filter will do is give bacteria more places to grab ahold of, and keep the water moving (and therefore increase the oxygen levels of the water), as well as remove the gunk that floats in the water. It doesn't remove dissolved chemicals like ammonia, though. Carbon will do a lot of things, removing ammonia is not its strong point, unless you get the kind that is designed for that end. I don't recommend you do this, by the way. Things that remove or detoxify ammonia don't do a cycling tank any good at all. You have to endure a little bit of ammonia to give the newly-multiplying bacteria something to eat....

Like I said, the extra filter is a good idea, just maybe not for what you thought....


EDIT: as far as time frames go, you're looking at anywhere from a month to 3 months before your ammonia problems stop, and that's only if you reduce the stock in your tank to manageable levels. That's how long it takes to completely cycle a tank, usually on the shorter end of the time frame, honestly. Be patient, and try to keep your fish as comfortable as possible during this time. Did you buy testing equipment while you were out (or did you already have some)?

 

[JSchmidt]

Yup, yup, yup, gotta do water changes for those fish. If you have a friend with a tank, or if your LFS is nice, you might be able to get some beneficial bacteria by getting some used filter media or squeezings from a filter sponge that you can add to your tank. It will look like you're adding dirt, but you'll import beneficial bacteria that will start processing that ammonia.

Short of that, you need to do water changes. You want to keep ammonia levels below 1.5 ppm. An ammonia test kit doesn't cost much and can help you know how much water needs to be changed.

Good luck,
Jim

 

[wetmanNY]

Since you're in emergency mode here, you should get a small bottle of AmQuel and follow the directions. Don't overdose. AmQuel will bind ammonia in the water so it's not toxic to the fish, but it will still available to the bacterial colony that's getting going in there.

 

[JSchmidt]

Using Amquel is a good solution, but if you go that route, consider two things:

Amquel will lead most ammonia tests to yield inaccurate results. Most common ammonia tests use the Nessler method; these tests have a single set of chemicals or reagents. Using these tests with Amquel will lead to incorrect results. You will need a salicylate based ammonia test; these tests have two sets of reagents that you use to test for ammonia.

Also, if your water is low in carbonate hardness (often called KH), Amquel can cause your pH to drop precipitously. Don't be too concerned about this; most newbies don't have KH test kits, although your LFS can measure it for you. If water has low KH (below 3 degrees or 100ppm), it has limited ability to resist acids that can cause pH to drop. In water with low KH, Amquel can cause pH to drop very low, which can lead to a number of other problems.

For these reasons, I recommend using Amquel as a very short-term solution for high ammonia. Water changes are much safer (and cheaper!) way to control ammonia levels.

Good luck!
Jim

(I can't believe I'm advocating a lower tech approach than wetmanNY! I must be losing it!)