Help me figure out where this ammonia came from!

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VioletEmber

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Messages
489
Location
SF Bay Area, CA
So I've had this tank up and running for almost a year. I did a fish-in cycle before I knew about fishless. It started out with just plastic plants.

20g high
Marineland 200 penguin filter

I originally had a little dinky filter rated for 20g but it didn't seem like it was cutting it once I learned that many people recommend having a stronger filter... So I added the 200 bio wheel filter (rated for 50g I think)

I let those two run together for a month before taking some filter media from the original filter to seed another tank and eventually moved the filter out completely to set up a qt tank.

At that time I was using a red sea water testing kit someone gave me. I now believe it had expired and wasn't giving me accurate readings. No matter what what water from what tank or tap, it said I was at .25 ammonia...

So I got an API test kit. Right before that I lost a zebra danio and long story short when I tested for ammonia with my fancy new kit the test tube turned a terrifying emerald green. I correctly diagnosed (duh) two other danios with ammonia poisoning though all other fish seemed unharmed.

Yikes!

Over the last few months I began adding live plants and moving out the plastic. At this point it is only live plants. I also pulled out some of the ugly blue gravel and put in sand, but only in one corner... Just planning in doing a corner at a time. (looks kinda cool actually, like a little underwater beach, and the cory loves it!) But these changes were gradual over several weeks, not all at once.

image-3413780306.jpg



I have been doing 25-50% PWC every day or every other day and the ammonia is slowly coming down. I am now at .25ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0-5 ppm nitrates.

So did the filter change cause my tank to have to re-cycle? That is the only explanation I can think of... But I let it run for a month and also have some if the original filter media in there.

What else could have caused this ammonia? I was doing weekly PWC of 40-50%.

1 female Betta
5 glowlight tetra
1 Cory (he has friends coming in qt now)
3 zebra danio (moving them to my 20 long once it's up and running)
I had 4 endler's in there but they died in the ammonia. So sad and guilty feeling!

Although I think I have a handle on it now I am wondering if I have missed something that might have caused this. Any ideas? Anything I have left out?
 
How often were you doing water changes/gravel vacs before?

Sounds like you properly seeded the new filter.

Your bioload for this tank seems fine. Were you overfeeding? Do you use a dechlorinator?

Glad you got a decent test kit. (y)
 
Ha, I was hoping you would respond Lynda!

I was doing weekly 25% water changes at least, always with gravel vac. but i bet it wasn't enough. I aimed for 50% once a week or 10 days, but i'm sure i missed a few in there. I think because I had plastic plants the water stayed clear and I thought I was all good. The amazing thing is how long the fish survived as the ammonia must have been building for some time. The two zebra danios that i was sure were goners have actually managed to come back from the brink... they will probably have shortened lives and never fully recover but the fact that they were lying still on the floor of the QT for several days and then started swimming around again is a testament to how strong they are. They swim a little squiggly still but they will just remind me to stay on top of things and test test test the water!

I do use a dechlorinator every time and recently upgraded to Seachem Prime, which I think I can sense a difference in already.

i was probably overfeeding but I never had a problem with snails - there were usually one or two but not many... i tend to feed several times a day in tiny amounts ( I like feeding them and i like to mimic how they would probably eat in the wild - little bites over the day) but i have scaled that back and started fasting them after i clean my tank.

and i will definitely advertise for API for free! i am so glad i got it.

i bet you are right... if it wasn't the filter switch, it had to be overfeeding and water changes. all my tanks are sparkly clean now cause I am trying to quit smoking... instead of a cigarette i go do a water change!

thanks!
 
Whoo on the stopping smoking!

Up your water changes to 50% weekly, once you have good readings.

Make sure you gravel vac.

I feed my fish every other day. You're definitely overfeeding. Only fry should get fed like you feed your tank.
 
Congrats on quitting smoking. I quit in Tuesday. Keeping busy with something you live is a great distraction.
 
Update and more questions!

so it looks as if i am going through the steps of a total fish-in cycle. now the ammonia is 0, nitrites are 5, and nitrates are barely there.

besides continuing water changes on a daily basis, what else can i do? i put some gravel from a cycled tank into a bag in my filter, hoping that will help. Does increased aeration and temperature have any effect on this process at all?

Also, when my nitrites start to fall and the nitrates go up, is there an unsafe level of nitrates? I have a cycled tank that is heavily planted and the nitrates are at 80. I just measured them tonight before my water change on that tank. I thought all those plants eat up nitrates? so why is mine so high?
 
ok, i did some research and i think i know why the nitrates are high in the other tank, but i'll start a different thread for that one.

but still, how long should i wait in between water changes for my 20? I guess my real question is how you dose with prime when you are changing the water that often? I just want to get those nitrites down!!
 
VioletEmber said:
ok, i did some research and i think i know why the nitrates are high in the other tank, but i'll start a different thread for that one.

but still, how long should i wait in between water changes for my 20? I guess my real question is how you dose with prime when you are changing the water that often? I just want to get those nitrites down!!

What's the other thread???

I'm sorry, I'm no help with cycling. I'm cycling my first tank ever. Good luck!
 
Well, my question about high nitrates is actually about a different tank and I think it is due to overfeeding fry... But in terms of this tank... It's been set up since last June and I didn't know about cycling a tank at all at that point... And then I used an old testing kit... And then I got a new testing kit and my danios got ammonia poisoning. So after many many water changes the ammonia is at 0 and my nitrites are high. I have added some more plants, removed a few fish and put in some gravel from another established tank... I'm just wondering if there is anything more I can do and how to dose prime correctly if I am doing more than one water change a day.

The funny thing is that the leopard danio that was literally nearly dead from ammonia poisoning - and I was looking at euthanizing -- is the one I had the hardest time catching to move out of the tank! I guess she bounced back pretty well! Lol...
 
A lot of things can have an impact on ammonia such as:
- over feeding
- non-frequent water changes
- direct sunlight
- lights being on too much

by the sounds of things you seem to know what your doing. What ever you do, do not start changing all your water!!! My advice would be to do 5-10% water change every 1 or 2 days, that's what I did when I had an ammonia problem and it cleared up in just over a week.
 
Update! I've been struggling with daily water changes but it seems to be working...

image-490709730.jpg

.25 ammonia
.25 nitrite
20 ppm nitrate (?)

So I'll do another water change tonight. The nitrites were crazy high a few days ago and the ammonia looked like it was at zero. Is it normal to continue to get ammonia even as the nitrites are coming down?
 
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