Ammonia Spike, Missing Shrimp

[sms1852]

I have two guppies in a 2.5 gallon tank. My son wanted some tank mates so I listened to Pet Supermarket & bought 4. The first one died the 1st day & I took it out. I haven't seen the other 3 all week & believe they are dead but can't find them. My Ammonia was 1.0 before the shrimp it is now 2.0. Nitrite is .25 & Nitrate is 0 . I did a 25% water change yesterday & retested Ammonia still 2.0. I have the API Master Test Kit. Should I take everything out of the tank to find the dead shrimp or wait it out? I know 2.5 gallons is small & will upgrade to a 29 gallon soon. I already bought the 29 gallon, just waiting on the stand.

 

[mark pogi]

Maybe the intake sucked the 3 shrimps, or being eaten by guppies, or hiding somewhere in the plants or substrte ).
And also the reason behind of your ammonia spike is because of adding 4 shrimps and their bio load. Hmm try for some search and rescue.
Since you have the 29g start cyling it when the stand becomes available and just do the same care you done on the 2.5g tank while cycling the 29g

 

[sms1852]

I tried moving the plants and gravel to look for the shrimps without success. Should I take the plants and gravel out to look for them? They are/were ghost shrimp. How often should I be doing water changes? API Perfect start came with this kit and suggested water changes every 2 weeks . But given my levels I changed to weekly but am wondering if daily or every other day is better until I transfer them to the 29G?

 

[flchamp89]

Numbers seem like your not cycled. In 2.5g ammonia can get out of hand quick. Weekly water changes if your going to try to keep a fish in a 2.5. Being that small 50 percent is easy enough.

If your not cycled since you have fish get a bb additive

 

[sms1852]

Tested my tap water & my ph is high & it contains ammonia. Should I be worried? I've been using Tetra Easy Balance as a water conditioner.

 

[flchamp89]

Id test a couple times thats fairly high out of tap. Chloramine can give these readings. I assume this is not a well. Being that the tank is small RO or distilled is an option.

 

[Toad]

Guppies probably ate the shrimp tbh

Sent from my SM-G930T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Ironworker161]

If your ammonia levels are that high I would change 50% of the water daily. Until they come down. Finding the shrimp is maybe not as important right now, if they are dead they will be broken down by bacteria and turned to more ammonia , which is you should test for ammonia daily, before you do your water change. Hope this helps.

 

[nirbhao]

Is anything alive in there now? You may have inadvertently started a fishless cycle.

 

[coralbandit]

To properly reduce a nutrient to the "safe" level you need to remove the % of water you want the nutrient reduced by..
So lets say you have 2.0 ammonia and you want it to be .5 or less.
Sounds reasonable?
.5 is1/4 of 2, so you need to take 3/4 [75%] of the water out and replace with new.
The size of the tank only changes the size of the wc, not the % needed .
So every ones standard 50% water change answer, which is what most cycled keepers do removes 1/2 of the nutrients. If you had 2 ppm you would still have 1ppm. 25% wc during cycling is a waste of time...It goes from 2 to 1.5?

Now your source water , do you drink it?

 

[sms1852]

Update: I was doing daily water changes to bring the ammonia down. I went away for the weekend & came back to find one of the guppies was killed by the filter. It's a small filter so I'm not really sure how he got inside of it. As expected my Ammonia was at a 4.0. All week I kept doing a water change & testing levels. I also started adding Prime with every water change. While the Ammonia has gone down to .5, nitrates & nitrites remain at 0? Is this normal? Should I continue the daily water changes?

 

[Ironworker161]

SMS, I got your reply, yes this is normal...keep doing your water changes whenever you can detect ammonia in your test levels, you really want to be at 0ppm. I would imagine that the guppie died from the 4ppm ammonia and the filter sucked it up after. When you do your water changes don't clean the side or back glass or disturb the filter media. The bacteria (nitrite) you are trying to grow clings to surfaces in the aquarium and filter, so you don't want to disturb them. Once you begin to see nitrate in your levels, you can reduce your water changes. Keep your levels at 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and less than 50 ppm nitrate.

 

[sms1852]

Oops, I cleaned the inside of the glass yesterday with a toothbrush because it looked dirty. I'm setting up my 29 gallon this weekend. Should I wait until it is cycled to add new fish or would it be okay to add my one guppy since her tank is not cycled ?

 

[Ironworker161]

It's up to you. Just keep an eye on your levels. If he's happy, I would leave him where he is. Just keep up on water changes.