.25 ammonia level wont go down!

[CMN]

I have a 10 gallon tank, with 5 baby mollies that are not even 1inch yet. My tank has been cycling since early January and I have went through a lo already from my tank smelling discussing to cloudy water. I do water changes daily and bought prime ad the water conditioner. However for the past 1 1/2 months the ammonia level will not go down. I checked the ammonia level for my water which happens to be .25 is there nothing I can buy to make the ammonia level go down. Or to level the ammonia in my water before adding to the tank. Its getting to be frustrating since I have been doing everything I am suppose to do and nothing it bringing it down... Any suggestions my mollies seem to be doing fine. No signs of stress.

 

[corinne118s]

Just do a PWC 10% every other day. Maybe your tank didn't cycle properly? It will go away. What are your nitrates?

 

[HeatherW]

well, I am new to all this, but since your tank is cycling still the ammonia is not too surprising. if you are using prime and doing daily water changes your fish should be fine. how much water are you changing at a time? you should be doing at least 50% each time to get that number down. however, on the good side since you are using prime it will neutralize that ammonia for about 24 hours after dosing your tank. it will still test positive on your test, but it will not be harmful to your fish. so I would say hang in there and keep up with the water changes. you can also do two back to back 50% changes to try and drop that number. what I was doing when my nitrites got really high on my 5 gallon was 2 back to back 50% changes, then again 2 back to back 50% change in the evening. you could even do a 3rd set if your numbers are crazy high, but right now I don't think you are there. with your tap water being at .25 it may be hard to get it below .25 in your tank

 

[CMN]

Just do a PWC 10% every other day. Maybe your tank didn't cycle properly? It will go away. What are your nitrates?

I don't know which is horrible ik, I haven't had the chance to go buy one but will by the end of the weekend. I'm a college student living in a dorm so it's challenging. But everyday I do 50% water changes which I was told to do to bring the ammonia level down. I don't know what or who to listen too anymore.

 

[CMN]

I just don't understand if the water from the tap I am putting in my tank has .25 of ammonia how will it ever get down to 0?

 

[CMN]

well, I am new to all this, but since your tank is cycling still the ammonia is not too surprising. if you are using prime and doing daily water changes your fish should be fine. how much water are you changing at a time? you should be doing at least 50% each time to get that number down. however, on the good side since you are using prime it will neutralize that ammonia for about 24 hours after dosing your tank. it will still test positive on your test, but it will not be harmful to your fish. so I would say hang in there and keep up with the water changes. you can also do two back to back 50% changes to try and drop that number. what I was doing when my nitrites got really high on my 5 gallon was 2 back to back 50% changes, then again 2 back to back 50% change in the evening. you could even do a 3rd set if your numbers are crazy high, but right now I don't think you are there. with your tap water being at .25 it may be hard to get it below .25 in your tank

So what do I do when my tap water is .25 is there something I can buy to neutralize it and bring it to 0?

 

[HeatherW]

this is the same question I asked. I am not an expert but I don't think it will until the bacteria grow. when they do then your tank will take care of all of it for you. the bb will gobble up what is in your tap water and all the fish waste too. I have seen it happen. my tap is .25ppm and now I have a cycled 5 gallon that is consistently reading 0ppm for ammonia. but, please remember that if I tested that tank immediately after a water change it would probably show ammonia. the goal is for it to be 0 within 24 hours (like in the directions for a fishless cycle) so, just do your water changes like you are and eventually that bb will grow and take care of everything for you. in the meantime keep your number as close to 0 as you can get it. for now that may be somewhere between .25 and .50ppm. daily water changes will keep neutralizing the ammonia by using the prime and keep your fish safe

 

[corinne118s]

The problem is if you do 50% you are really prolonging the cycling period. Try ammo-x or something and do 10% daily maybe twice a day. Eventually the tank will cycle and you won't see ammonia. Tap water doesn't have ammonia(shouldn't!).

 

[KaylNeko]

The problem is if you do 50% you are really prolonging the cycling period. Try ammo-x or something and do 10% daily maybe twice a day. Eventually the tank will cycle and you won't see ammonia. Tap water doesn't have ammonia(shouldn't!).

Not true. Using ammo eaters in the tank will prolong, if not completely stop, your cycle because it will eat the ammonia that the BB should be eating, and if you're doing fish in cycle, 10% changes are not enough and 50% is fine if your ammonia and/over nitrites read over .25.

Yes, tap water has been known to read as having ammonia, especially if you have city tap water--chloramine once neutralized can give an ammonia reading.

OP, have you had your tank water checked by another test? I get consistent .25 readings of ammonia, and after testing at the LFS, concluded my reagent is messed up. I'm NOT saying that is definitely what it is, but it's worth checking out with another liquid reagent.

 

[absolutangel04]

First of all, I need to say that .25 ammo isn't enough to hurt fish. I know that we all tell you that you need the ammo to be 0, but in actuality, .25 ammo isn't toxic. Like HeatherW said, you can even get ammo in your tap water. Plenty of people do. 0 ammo is a good thing to aim for, but I don't beat yourself up to much just yet. I suggest testing the tap water to see if there is am ammonia reading and you can go from there. You can also do a big pwc like was suggested and see if it makes a difference. What are your other parameter readings?
Secondly, I have to ask how many mollies do you have? They get large for a 10g tank. Unless you have a bigger tank in their future, I would stick with platies or guppies because they both stay much smaller than mollies do and would be fine in a 10g tank long-term.

 

[smallfry53]

Since prime is being added wouldn't the ammonia in tank not be toxic anyway?

 

[absolutangel04]

Prime only neutralizes ammo temporarily.

 

[HeatherW]

Since prime is being added wouldn't the ammonia in tank not be toxic anyway?

it will only neutralize for about 24 hours so that is ANOTHER reason why the daily water changes are important

 

[foster53]

First of all, I need to say that .25 ammo isn't enough to hurt fish. I know that we all tell you that you need the ammo to be 0, but in actuality, .25 ammo isn't toxic. Like HeatherW said, you can even get ammo in your tap water. Plenty of people do. 0 ammo is a good thing to aim for, but I don't beat yourself up to much just yet. I suggest testing the tap water to see if there is am ammonia reading and you can go from there. You can also do a big pwc like was suggested and see if it makes a difference. What are your other parameter readings?
Secondly, I have to ask how many mollies do you have? They get large for a 10g tank. Unless you have a bigger tank in their future, I would stick with platies or guppies because they both stay much smaller than mollies do and would be fine in a 10g tank long-term.

This is very good advice!! People beat that 0 reading for ammonia into the ground.I consistently have a .25-.50 reading for ammonia after a WC, it will not hurt the fish. usually within 24 hrs it will drop to 0 as the bacteria use it up. My tap water(city water) has chloramine which when broken down releases ammonia, nothing I can do about it. So like advised by others don't worry yourself to death over a low reading like that

 

[librarygirl]

Once the tank has enough bacteria to convert the ammonia in your tap it will be processed quickly and won't harm the fish. Since your tap has .25 of ammo in it you'll only need to do a water change if the tank ammo is higher than .5, just don't let it get higher than that. You may need to do a few smaller pwc rather than a large one. Still, after a month you should be over the ammonia phase by now. Is the tank constantly testing .25 for ammonia or does it go to 0 eventually? Have you ever had nitrite? What filter do you have on the tank? Mollys are not really suited for a 10 gal, especially not 5 of them and as they grow it's going to get worse. They are messy fish and should be in a larger tank. It may not even be possible to keep the ammonia level down. You also might need a larger filter to give the bacteria more surface area to grow, so that could be an issue too (too much fish with a high bioload and not enough surface area for the bacteria needed to withstand that much fish). If you can't upgrade to a larger tank within the next few months then you should think about rehoming the mollies and get some fish more suitable for that tank size.

 

[CMN]

Once the tank has enough bacteria to convert the ammonia in your tap it will be processed quickly and won't harm the fish. Since your tap has .25 of ammo in it you'll only need to do a water change if the tank ammo is higher than .5, just don't let it get higher than that. You may need to do a few smaller pwc rather than a large one. Still, after a month you should be over the ammonia phase by now. Is the tank constantly testing .25 for ammonia or does it go to 0 eventually? Have you ever had nitrite? What filter do you have on the tank? Mollys are not really suited for a 10 gal, especially not 5 of them and as they grow it's going to get worse. They are messy fish and should be in a larger tank. It may not even be possible to keep the ammonia level down. You also might need a larger filter to give the bacteria more surface area to grow, so that could be an issue too (too much fish with a high bioload and not enough surface area for the bacteria needed to withstand that much fish). If you can't upgrade to a larger tank within the next few months then you should think about rehoming the mollies and get some fish more suitable for that tank size.

My tank has always read .25 never .0
My filter is top fin 10
And I had 42 babies so I went out and bought 3 10 galloon tanks yah ik that's not enough room for all of them but there small yet and I will figure it out when they get bigger. Everyone has told me different numbers of how many fish can go in one tank. It gets annoying after awhile. I herd it's all how to take care of the tank. And it depends how big each Molly grows. I honestly can't do anything about it right now so I need to focus on doing the right thing as of right now.

 

[CMN]

I still don't know what to do everyone has just said different things, do I keep changing the water if so 50% or 10?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I still don't know what to do everyone has just said different things, do I keep changing the water if so 50% or 10?

Test you water and let that be your guide.
So if you test and get .5ppm ammonia a 50% should be enough to bring it down. I you get 1ppm back to back 50% to bring it down. The goal is to keep ammonia as low as possible. In your case .25-.5ppm because of the ammonia in the tap water.

 

[CMN]

Test you water and let that be your guide.
So if you test and get .5ppm ammonia a 50% should be enough to bring it down. I you get 1ppm back to back 50% to bring it down. The goal is to keep ammonia as low as possible. In your case .25-.5ppm because of the ammonia in the tap water.

Yep my water hasn't went any higher than .25. And that's what it is still testing.

 

[CMN]

Test you water and let that be your guide.
So if you test and get .5ppm ammonia a 50% should be enough to bring it down. I you get 1ppm back to back 50% to bring it down. The goal is to keep ammonia as low as possible. In your case .25-.5ppm because of the ammonia in the tap water.

It hasn't moved from .25. In over a month. What does that mean?