First Amonia Test Results Scary...

[Mayonnaise]

I got an amonia test kit over the week end, to test the amonia in my two gallon that I've had for 6 weeks, which contains a Male Betta, and the Amano Shrimp I got at the same time as the amonia test. Anyhow, the test came back positive for bunches more amona than should be in there.

That was Sunday. Sunday and Monday and today I did water changes, but the amonia levels have only come down one color bar.

My father says he has some Ammo Amonia Remover that he'll float in the tank in a little mesh bag to fix the problem, (since we can't get into the filter since it's under the gravel) but I'm not so sure I trust him with that. He's the one who's bright idea it was to cyle the tank I had as a kid, with neon tetras. Will that make my tank all dependant on Ammo and not able to remove the amonia on it's own?

Do I keep up with the water changes, or do I let my father try the Ammo?

8^S

 

[cginflorida]

If you have to resort to chemicals, Ammo Lock by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals claims that it turns the ammonia into a non-toxic form, but it doesn't remove it from the tank. That way, the ammonia is still there so the tank will continue to cycle. You should probably also continue with the water changes.

I used Ammo Lock with my first aquarium a couple years ago, it seemed to work. Good luck.

More experienced fishkeepers, please chime in here.

 

[patryuji]

Is this a nessler reagent (single dropper bottle) ammonia test kit?

 

[Menagerie]

Hold on! Before adding chemicals, let's find out what the problem is. You said it only came down one color bar. This indicates you are not using a liquid test. Liquid tests are much more reliable. What does your color bar mean? Does it correspond with numbers or sayings, like "safe" and "dangerous"?
Also, to see how your bacteria are doing, what are the nitrite and nitrate readings?

 

[Mayonnaise]

I AM using a liquid test... and there's a card in the box to compare it so shades of yellow. I wasn't sure all tests used the same color so I didn't say what color it was. I have the "Aquarium Pharmaceuticals" one, with the blue fish on the box in the lower right, that's dressed up as a doctor. And yes, it's a one bottle dropper test.

It's gone from 6.0-7.0 to 4.0-5.0, I THINK. It's hard to read... either way, it says I should have zero... and I defintely don't have zero, and the thing says anything other than 0 is dangerous. The tank spent a week in the living room filled only 3/4ths of the way with the filter turned off while I was moving back into my room when I got home from college. (I'd have braught it up earlier, but my parents filled my room with crap when they were redecorating the den, and so I had to wait on them to get thier crap out.) I did a 25% water change every other day so long as it was down there, thinking that would compensate for the fact that my mother wouldn't let me plug the filter in in the livingroom (it's an UGF, and she didn't want it bubbling in the livingroom lest water go back up the air hose and get her precios furniture damp.)

I don't have a nitrate or nitrite test. My father kept insisting he didn't even know why I needed the amonia tests, for just a 2 gallon tank. I nearly bought them, but my hands were full and I wasn't sure at the moment how they would react if I came back from a run to the LFS wth scads of stuff that they consider unneccisary. I'll have to make another trip out tonight if I can get my folks to let me use the car. I'll tell em I'm going to get milk, and go to the LFS first. Should I pick up some of that AMMO lock stuff while I'm at it just in case I do need it?

((BTW in case anyone's worried about me lying to my floks about where I'm going, it's ok, cause I'm nearly 20, and frankly it's none of thier bussiness where I'm going, and it offends my father that I'm asking people other than him for fish advice, he says I don't trust him... which I don't.))

*Sighs.*

8^S

 

[bungle]

don't worry, mayonnaise. if it makes you feel better, my girlfriend had a 8:30 curfew when she still lived with her folks (she was 22 at the time).

 

[oscarbreeder]

Thats the best thing to do mayonnaise, get the test kits for nitrate and nitrite and post the results and we can help you more.

 

[flipz]

mayonnaise,
like menagerie said, hold off on the ammo lock for now. it's best to figure out WHY you are having these problems before you start dumping in chemicals. im looking forward to your test results!

-brent

 

[Mayonnaise]

Ok, I have No Nitrates and No Nitrites... I also Have No Alge... (So While I was at the store I picked up sinking alge tabs for my shrimp.) My pH is something higher than 7.6, that's as far as the chart goes but the liquid is darker than that.

I've got pH up and pH down. Is the pH the problem? Should I bring it down?

8^)

 

[jaysono]

Well if you haven't used Ph Up or Ph down yet, hopefully you have the receipt and can return them.

By all accounts I have read, and even an owner of an lfs I frequent says they really don't do much.

7.6 doesn't sound all that bad. I guess it really depends on the fish, but most all can adapt to a range slightly outside their preferred or text-book range.

If you really want to lower it, I suggest looking for the thread on people that use peat moss or drift wood. My Ph is roughly 7.7-7.8, and my danio's aren't affected at all. If I were to do it, I may try the driftwood method...it may take slightly longer but seems much easier to implement that peat. I read some of teh peat articles, and while the results appear to be very good, I personally don't want to go through all the trouble of 'making' useable peat.

 

[Mayonnaise]

No, I haven't got the recepts, but I didn't buy them, they're in the basement left over from my father's fish tanks years ago.

8^)

 

[oscarbreeder]

Making usable peat?

Just go to your LFS and but a box of peat granules and put them in a filter bag or old womens stocking and drop in the filter.

 

[flipz]

Ph up and down do work... however the problem is they do it way too fast, and don't last. It's much healthier and easier for a fish to adapt to a high ph, than have it swinging up and down. if you put ph down in, it will immedietaly drop the ph which is VERY BAD for the fish, and within 24 hours will be back to where it was.

-brent

 

[Mayonnaise]

Ok, I get that... pH is fine... leave it alone... got it....

What about my Amonia Problem?

8^S

 

[flipz]

When you do water changes do you use a gravel vac? The high ammonias could be a result of overfeeding. The left over food, and the extra waste would cause that. Using a gravel vacuum during your water changes could help that. How often do you do water changes? It should be weekly.

The fact that you have such high ammonia, but 0 nitrate and nitrite is weird. It's very rare to see a tank with 0 nitrate, unless it's heavily planted. It should be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, but up to 40ppm nitrate. It makes me wonder if your tank isn't cycled. It sounds to me like for whatever reason the cycle got messed up, and it will take time to get the ammonia to turn into nitrite, and then the nitrates.

All you can do at this point is water changes. Because of how high your ammonia is i would do a 50% change every other day for at least a week. I hope that helps.

-brent

 

[Mayonnaise]

I don't own a gravel vac, but I syphon out the water with some thick tubing that I think used to be bubble tubing. All the Gravel Vacs in the store are way to big for my tank, which is only a 2 gallon hex tank.

My tank isn't planted at all... all the plants are plastic.

I'll cut back on the food some and see if that helps, and keep up my water changes, unless somone else has another idea.

8^)

 

[cginflorida]

Mayonnaise, is there any way you could get a bigger tank? More water would mean fewer water changes, the ammonia would be more diluted.

 

[Mayonnaise]

No, can't get a bigger tank. I won't have room for it at College. It's hard enough transporting the two gallon.

8^(

 

[Mayonnaise]

After nearly a week of daily water changes, I still haven't got any nitrites or nitrates, and I still have way to much amonia. I'm pretty sure my shrimp is dead as When I took the plants out to clean today, he was no place to be found in the tank. (I checked each plant as I removed t to make sure he wasn't in it.) I guess it's possible he's just very good at hiding, but it's a small tank, and I think the amonia finaly got to him.

At this pont i'm highly tempted to remove the betta to his little plastic cup, empty and rinse the fishtank and try to start cycling t all over again *Sigh.* But I know it's ill advised... so I guess for now I won't. Somehow the water never gets any cleaner.

First off... I'm prety sure the betta didn't eat the shrimp, and he was accounted for yesterday... so if he's not dead where the hell could he have got to... and secondly, is there any way, assde from cyphoning water from the bottom of the tank (which I've been doing) to get more of the crap out with each water change?

8^S

 

[Menagerie]

Could you post your latest water readings?
How much crud is on the bottom of the tank? With just one fish and a few betta bites once a day, there should only be betta waste at the bottom of the tank. Siphoning the gravel should pull up the betta poo and everything should be fine.
How much water are you changing at a time? This tank has the UGF, correct?