HELP!Ammonia Problems

[jakeandwendy]

got an api master kit yesterday...Good thing too! i was having my LFS test my water, going down there daily. always came back 0ppm...for nitrates!! tested my ammonia 8.0ppm!!!! did a 90% wc got it down to two. had to work and did another test and 40% wc...started at 2.0ppm and still at 2.0. i dont want to lose my fish from stress because of the wc's but that 2.0 is scary.can anyone help? more wc's? smaller ones more frequently? two larger ones? would even consider lessening the bio load but would like too keep 'em all. HELP!

 

[BigJim]

If your "My Tanks" link is up to date, your tank is very overstocked.

I'm seeing 2 raphael cats, a gold claw crab, 2 dwarf gouramis, and 2 angelfish in a 20g.

You're going to have to upgrade pretty much immediately or rehome some fish. I would start with the crab. It's really a semi-aquatic species and needs to get on land occasionally. Next would be the angels. They get much too big for a 20g. PWCs are less stressful to the fish than 8ppm ammonia. You're probably going to have to do at least a 50% PWC every day, maybe twice a day, to keep the tank livable.

 

[TraceyB4602]

Wow your fish are still kicking? If I were you I would just keep doing 50% PWC every few hours till these levels are down. Are you cycling?

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[jakeandwendy]

yes we are still cycling...fell for the 'ol "run your tank for a week and you're ready" routine...even bought the LFS water and some gravel to start with...doing the pwcs and going to get another filter tom... all of our fish are juveniles does that matter? the fish are still going. picked up some ammonia tablets tonight and that helped. found out our tapwater tests at 1.0ppm Ammonia even after being treated with NovAqua+ and API Ph 7.0!! going to the LFS tommorrow to get some AmmoLock. May end up taking back the striped raphael too. The Angels are 1" apiece, nose to tail, not counting the fin plumage. the crab spends part of the time on the top of the submersible heater thats exposed above the waterline.got the ammonia down to .25 tonight and left it there. didnt want to do a third pwc today. plan on doing a 60% wc tom after getting the AmmoLock. i feel dumb for getting in this position, but i am more than willing to to do whatever i need to do to get through this with healthy, happy, living fish...

 

[jenatron]

You should really consider slowing down on all those chemicals. Unless you have an extraordinarily high PH, you should leave it how it is naturally, as a fluctuating PH is much worse. Also, anything besides de-chlorinator used to alter ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (like AmmoLock) have the potential to stall or disrupt your cycle. If you're worried about the toxicity of ammonia, consider getting a better de-chlorinator like Prime that safely neutralizes it.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Yes, don't try the famous Ammolock, the best and safest way to reduce ammonia is doing partial water changes, as many as needed, I did the mistake in the past of using ammolock versus the water changes and did not work (many death fish).

+1 on fluctuating pH is worst!!

 

[BigJim]

Live and learn.

Skip the pH adjusters and the AmmoLock. Prime will detoxify ammonia and is safe up to a 5x overdose. I'd go with PWCs and Prime.

 

[jakeandwendy]

my lfs dosent carry prime but i got Amquel instead. the baseline ph for the water here is 8.0. the ph in the tank has always been 7.0. before i got the master kit i had an api ph test kit (liquid) and i tested everyday. my readings are good and i'm down to 25% pwc every other day. i added a Aqua tech 5-15 filter too in addition to the ugf. both of the gouramis succumbed to ammonia poisoning and stress from the massive wc's. all the other guys are seemingly well. the gouramis were really showing it before i started doing anything. too late. oh and i don't add anything to the tank, i put it in the water i use for the pwc's. thats right isn't it?

 

[jakeandwendy]

will definitely fishless cycle next time!!

 

[jakeandwendy]

Update

all the readings are good but may have stalled the cycle. amm. has been at >.25-<.50 for the last 3 days then it spiked today to >.50-<1 ppm. did about a 50% wc today and will do another 25-30% pwc this evening. nitrites 0ppm. only using the Amquel for the ammonia in my source water. tanks been cycling w fish for 13 days.