Ammonia in Tank

[lex5489]

I need help! I have a 10 gallon freshwater tank. Yesterday morning I woke up to my 2 angelfish and 2 Pleco's to be dead! It turns out that there is ammonia in the tank. I now have 3 balloon mollies remaining.

I have bought ammonia remover as well as stress coat to treat the remaining fish.

What I did not mention is that we switched the gravel to sand about three weeks ago. The filter went and I had to buy a new filter. The worker's at PetCo have said that's what did it. The worker's at Petsmart said get rid of the sand!!! It's no good for the fish!!!

My question is how do I switch from sand substrate back to gravel without killing the remainder of my fish? The ammonia and pH levels are still high

Please help as I am not too experienced with fish tanks!
Thank you to everyonee!!

 

[dkpate]

Welcome to AA!
No need to get rid of the sand, I have sand in all my tanks and have never had a problem with ammonia because of it. But if your sand was not settled when you started the filter, that COULD be what made your filter break.
To get rid of the ammonia, your tank will have to go through the cycle, and you will need to do partial water changes every day to keep it below .25ppm. Do not use products like Ammo-Lock because they are only a temporary fix. Water changes are the best way to keep your fish alive. I went through the same thing as you, and I did 50-70% pwc's every day for 4 weeks straight. You can also get some Seachem's Prime water conditioner, and that will help with the ammonia and nitrites.
Sand will not make your pH high usually. What kind of sand is it? What else is in the tank? What is the pH?

 

[lex5489]

I dobn't know the type of sand all I know it that it's from petsmart and it can be used for freshwater.

My current pH is 7.8
I am checking the ammonia levels every 2 hrs and it still seems to be pretty high. How long does it take for the ammonia to go away.

When I do my pwc, can I use tap water and put stress coat in it?

As of right now I only have 3 balloon mollies and what seems to be a pleco/catfish (I can't tell what it is!!).

What is the best thing to do to keep these fishies alive?!

 

[lex5489]

actually, I found it! This is the sand I bought:

CaribSea Aquarium Sand - Décor - Fish - PetSmart

 

[mfdrookie516]

Welcome to AA

That sand is fine, i've got it in one of my tanks. What happened is when you changed your substrate, you lost some of your nitrifying bacteria... when the filter went out, you lost the biggest part of it. You're going through a cycle right now. Read the link in my signature on cycling with fish, it basically covers what dkpate said, plus some more. You'll need to do lots of water changes, and you may want to invest in a bottle of prime since it lasts 5 times longer than a bottle of stress coat of the same size, and is about the same price (since you're going to be doing so many water changes)

 

[lex5489]

thank you so much for your help. Is it ok to use regular tap water with stress coat in it when I do my pwc?

How long until the ammonia disappears so I can put new fish in my tank?

 

[mfdrookie516]

yeah, regular tap is fine unless its just horrible quality (high in nitrates or something like that)... IMO, you need to be very careful in the fish you choose when it does come time to stock (which is hard to say, anywhere between a week and 6weeks more than likely). You were very overstocked with angels and plecos in a 10g tank. Angels need at least a 30g tank for just one. When it comes time for stocking, we'll help you figure out what to get

 

[dkpate]

Also, your pH isn't bad. Fish can tolerate different pH's, but it's the swings that stress them.
Like Rookie said, I would get a bottle of Prime.

 

[lex5489]

ahhhh help!!!

one of my mollies has died from the ammonia poisoning!! I now have two left. One of those mollies has some sort of red scabbing on him? I put stress coat in there hoping that will help???

 

[BigJim]

You're going to need to do partial water changes (PWCs) at least once a day until your ammonia and nitrite levels go back to zero. That's really the only way to fix your problem. Adding chemicals is sketchy at best. Does Stress Coat even dechlorinate the water? If not, you're going to need some dechlorinator too.

 

[lex5489]

yes, the stress coat takes chlorine and ammonia out of the water too.

I'm just not sure what going on with my molly. I'm assuming its from the ammonia.

 

[TCool]

yes, the stress coat takes chlorine and ammonia out of the water too.

I'm just not sure what going on with my molly. I'm assuming its from the ammonia.

If I understand those products correctly, they don't actually remove ammonia from the water. What they do is convert toxic ammonia to less toxic ammonium. But, if your PH is high then it will just covert itself back, and if your PH is low the conversion should happen all on its own.

Also, I recently did quite a bit of research on nitrite poisoning, and it turns out a small amount of aquarium salt can help to prevent nitrite poisoning. If you have ammonia, then nitrites are coming next. I don't know of any tricks for increasing the chance of survival with ammonia in the tank (other than many pwcs), but once your ammonia starts turning to nitrites you can give you fish a little extra chance by putting in a little bit of salt (still do pwcs).

If you pick up some API aquarium salt, adding probably about a teaspoon to the tank will help to prevent the nitrite from getting absorbed into the gills. Then, just add lost salt back when you do a pwc. So, if you change 50% of the water then stick another 1/2 teaspoon in the tank. I'd imagine this would be beneficial because by the time you get a nitrite spike your fish are probably going to be already weakened by the ammonia.

 

[DragonFish71]

Another thing, don't add any new plecos to your 10g tank. They can outgrow it quickly and are major poo factories.

Keep doing your water changes until you get the ammonia down to .25 or under. Anything higher than that will kill the rest of your fish. Don't add anything other than a dechlor.The sand is not your problem.

How long was the tank set up before you changed to sand?

 

[lex5489]

well, I ran out of ammonia remover. Should I get more or just keep doing the water changes???

the tank was set up for about 3 weeks until we changed to sand. the filter that we had stopped working and we had to get a new one. I'm guessing that's what did it..

if the rest of my fish die (which i hope is not the case), should i keep the filter running to get the ammonia down so i CAN GET NEW FISH???

 

[DragonFish71]

Ok, so 3 weeks.

The tank wasn't fully cycled at 3 weeks, so by changing the gravel to sand you started all over again. Then with the filter dying, you didn't have the start of the bacteria because you had to change it too.

First thing you need to do it get your tank cycled. The filter alone will not remove ammonia. Water changes will bring it down to a tolerable level, .25 or below. If you can re-home the fish or take them back I would suggest doing that. Here are some links for you that explain the cycle and how to get through it.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ady-have-fish-what-now-116287.html#post983258

Tips and tricks for your fastest fishless cycle!

Nitrogen Cycle

 

[lex5489]

I can't return my fish :/

I ran out of ammonia remover. Should I get more or will the partial water changes be ok??

 

[mfdrookie516]

whatever you're using to remove ammonia (if it is) will just prolong the cycle and cause you do to water changes for alot longer than you will without using it. As stated previously, just do 50% pwc's as often as you have to to keep the ammonia below 1ppm, try to keep it below .5ppm though

 

[supradupafast]

Don't add anything to your Tank (Except for your water conditioner with water changes).
At this point, the ONLY thing you can do, is do 50% Water Changes Daily.

Things to remember when changing water:
1) Use conditioner to treat the entire Tank size, and not just the water you're replacing (Example; If you're replacing 50% of your water, Treat for 10 Gallons, and NOT just for 5 Gallons)

2) By feeling the water, try to come as close in water Temp between Old / New water.

3) During your first 4 weeks, Do not change / clean your Filter media & Gravel Vac. Let the Good bacteria establish before you do anything.

Last thing to remember... Let nature do its thing.. You can't rush things. Do Water Changes and that alone will take care of the Ammonia. Don't spend money on those Ammonia Removers as they will only Prolong your Cycling Period.
Good Luck..

 

[TCool]

Don't add anything to your Tank (Except for your water conditioner with water changes).

I just want to slightly disagree with that. I say only slightly because I think a small amount of salt (like I mentioned in my previous post) should also be added to the tank (but none of that ammo lock or other ammonia removing junk). I know salt is a controversial subject when it comes to its use in freshwater tanks, but the one thing about it that I found that is actually backed by scientific research is its use for significantly lowering the effects of nitrIte poisoning in fish.

So, I would say use the dechlorinator when doing water changes (otherwise the chlorine in your water is just going to kill off the bacteria you are trying to establish) and when you start seeing nitrItes in the tank just add a little bit of salt to your tank also.

Doing water changes often through the cycle should offer a lot of protection from ammonia and nitrites, but adding that tiny amount of salt I mentioned in my previous post should offer even more protection for your fish once nitrites start to go up.

Don't spend money on those Ammonia Removers as they will only Prolong your Cycling Period.
Good Luck..

One more note. They are also a massive waste of money imo.