HELP!!! I cannot control the ammonia in my planted tank

[S.A.CichlidFan]

I got a little overzealous over the past couple months and I added 7 2" fish: albino oscar, blood parrot, black convict, rainbow cichlid, firemouth, sun catfish, and a bristlenose pleco to my 48 gallon bowfront that already had 2 3-4 in leopard bushfish, a 2" red severum, and a 3-4 in green severum.
I thought because I gave the pet store my 10" pleco I could add plenty of small fish, but they eat so much and are messy my ammonia soon became out of control.
I am now down to a reasonable community for now: 1 bushfish, oscar, parrot, convict, 2 severums, firemouth, bn pleco, and sun cat. Biggest fish is 4 in leopard bushfish, followed by the 3.5" severum, and the rest are under 2 inches except the bristlenose is 2.5-3".
By the inch/gallon rule I was never overstocked and I don't overfeed(I actually use time release feeder for 1 cube of frozen food per day, + 3 different sized pellets: .8, 1.5, and 2mm, and I only allow a fish to eat as many pellets as it wants once a week(the bushfish will eat 30-40 2 mm pellets in one sitting, and then just graze the rest of the weed). Otherwise, I feed each fish 5-10 pellets a day. My severums eat a special pellet and the oscar and bushfish eat a seperate one and the rest eat normal cichlid pellet so it's pretty easy to keep track of how much food they are eating.

MY PROBLEM IS I CAN'T GET THE AMMONIA LEVELS DOWN. I added a marineland penguin 200 to the marineland emperor 280 on my 48 gallon bowfront and treated with bacteria and did a 10% water change every day for a week and the ammonia is now higher than ever. Today I did a 50% change and added a pack of a marineland product guaranteed to start a cycle in a new 20 gallon aquarium, so I figure it will kickstart my cycle. I am also going to add another dose of bacteria 24 hours after the marineland pack. but beyond that I don't know what to do. If anyone has advice please tell me. I have been treating with ammo-lock and my fish are totally healthy, but my ammonia has been 5 ppm every morning before I do a water change. I have a very highly planted aquarium and very low amount of substrate(My plants are potted), and everything looks clean. If I didn't have a test kit the only thing that would tip me off is the increase in algae in my tank. Does anyone have any ideas of my problem. I have about 1 fish/2-3 gallons of water(I don't know exactly how many gallons it holds with 2 8 inch pots in there.
One pot contains a good size chinese lotus(4 pads, all right above the pot, and the other a young tropical blue waterlily with a few leaves. I also have a dwarf lily are dark red ludwiga repensa, and a small colony of greens(not potted) in an area surrounded with rocks which is the only place the substrate is over 1/4". The bottom of the aquarium is covered in baby tears and lava rocks, plus I have 2 pieces of hornwort growing in the corners.
The fact I am using more than double the filtration I need plus the fact that I have so many healthy plants and my soil is all plant substrate from petsmart, calcined clay, and lava, I don't know what the **** problem is.
aquarium temp: 79 deg F
additives used: API water conditioner, API bacteria supplement, aquarium salt, ammo-lock, the marineland pack I used today, and also algone in my filters; 30 day time release plant food cubes in my plant pots

THIS IS MY FIRST POST, MY NAME IS TK, AND I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING EVERYONE. I AM USUALLY KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT FISH AND PLANTS, BUT I HAVE NEVER HAD AMMONIA HIGHER THAN 2PPM FOR MORE THAN 3 DAYS, SO I REALLY NEED YOUR GUYS HELP ON THIS ONE. I HAVE A LOT OF GREAT FISH AND RARE PLANTS, I NEED TO GET THE PROBLEM UNDER CONTROL

P.S. I will let you all know how the lily and lotus grow experiment works. I have a finnex ray2 lighting it now, and am either going to add a regular fugeray or some sort of full-spectrum led light to add colors. I also have spotlights if I need them

 

[gab_attack]

Okay so there's a bunch going on here, and while I'm no expert on cichlids I'll do my best to help.

To start you're way way overstocked. The 1" of fish per gallon rule is pretty outdated, and I believe that of you cut down on the number of fish you have you'd get that ammonia under control easily.

I know that Oscars alone need a bare minimum of 75 gallons, and that's only if you want one, so I'd try to rehome him. I'm not really sure on any of the other cichlids but for anything that gets larger than 7 or so inches you might want to rehome. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on specific species of cichlids can help you there.

Since I think your ammonia problems are stemming from over stocking and your beneficial bacteria seems to not be able to keep up, I think that's what you need to focus on first. I'm not too sure about where I read/heard it but I think I remember ammo lock not being good for cycling the tank and getting rid of ammonia? Don't take me on my word there but you might want to look into that.

As for your plants, you might experience problems with them down the road. I know dwarf baby tears are usually hard to grow/carpet with anything other than high light/co2/proper ferts, but for now I'd worry about the fish before you get into any of that.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Mebbid]

This post might sound insulting, but it's mix of the way I communicate and the medium that the communicating is being done through so absolutely no offense is intended here. I just happen to have a very "matter of fact" way of speaking But getting beyond that -

First, I would like to point out something to you.

AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

I hate to break it to you, but this setup will not work even remotely well for your fish. With AQAdvisor, you're at 278% stocking and I generally highly recommend people stay below 150%. But since AQ advisor gives compatability warnings and size issues I am going to point out the highlight for the stock.

1 - Warning: Sun Catfish is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 8 inches.
2 - Warning: Oscar is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 14 inches.
3 - Warning: Albino Bristlenose Pleco may become food for Oscar.
4 - Warning: Parrot Cichlid is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 10 inches.
5 - Warning: Severum is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 12 inches.
6 - Warning: Your selected species may eventually require 351% of your aquarium space. You may need to deal with territorial aggressions later on. Try removing some of (Horabagrus brachysoma, Ctenopoma acutirostre, Astronotus ocellatus, Hoplarchus psittacus, Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus, Heros efascticious, Thorichthys meeki, Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus) or get a larger tank.


Second - Did you change the filter media at all? Rinse it in tap water?

Third - The bacterial additives are pretty much useless. Don't rely on them.

Fourth - Stop using algone.

Fifth - You need to increase the water changes. With as overstocked as your tank is, you're likely going to need 2 - 3 50% changes daily to keep the ammonia under control.

Sixth - What exactly are your parameters? pH and nitraite?

Seventh - Stop feeding soo much. With a cycling tank you don't need to feed more than once every 2 - 3 days. Fish have a stomach about the size of their eye, if you're feeding more than that then they are eating too much.

Eight - Your problems are truly just beginning. With the growth rate, aggression, stocking level, and everything that's going on in your tank things are going to go downhill rather quickly. Especially because that oscar is going to be growing an inch or more per month and will get big enough to kill all his tank mates soon. Your tank stocking is going to require a major overhaul very soon or else you're going to lose a lot of fish.

Answering number 2 and 6 will help us determine what happened with your cycle.

 

[trennamw]

This post might sound insulting, but it's mix of the way I communicate and the medium that the communicating is being done through so absolutely no offense is intended here. I just happen to have a very "matter of fact" way of speaking But getting beyond that -

First, I would like to point out something to you.

AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor

I hate to break it to you, but this setup will not work even remotely well for your fish. With AQAdvisor, you're at 278% stocking and I generally highly recommend people stay below 150%. But since AQ advisor gives compatability warnings and size issues I am going to point out the highlight for the stock.

1 - Warning: Sun Catfish is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 8 inches.
2 - Warning: Oscar is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 14 inches.
3 - Warning: Albino Bristlenose Pleco may become food for Oscar.
4 - Warning: Parrot Cichlid is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 10 inches.
5 - Warning: Severum is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 12 inches.
6 - Warning: Your selected species may eventually require 351% of your aquarium space. You may need to deal with territorial aggressions later on. Try removing some of (Horabagrus brachysoma, Ctenopoma acutirostre, Astronotus ocellatus, Hoplarchus psittacus, Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus, Heros efascticious, Thorichthys meeki, Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus) or get a larger tank.


Second - Did you change the filter media at all? Rinse it in tap water?

Third - The bacterial additives are pretty much useless. Don't rely on them.

Fourth - Stop using algone.

Fifth - You need to increase the water changes. With as overstocked as your tank is, you're likely going to need 2 - 3 50% changes daily to keep the ammonia under control.

Sixth - What exactly are your parameters? pH and nitraite?

Seventh - Stop feeding soo much. With a cycling tank you don't need to feed more than once every 2 - 3 days. Fish have a stomach about the size of their eye, if you're feeding more than that then they are eating too much.

Eight - Your problems are truly just beginning. With the growth rate, aggression, stocking level, and everything that's going on in your tank things are going to go downhill rather quickly. Especially because that oscar is going to be growing an inch or more per month and will get big enough to kill all his tank mates soon. Your tank stocking is going to require a major overhaul very soon or else you're going to lose a lot of fish.

Answering number 2 and 6 will help us determine what happened with your cycle.

What he said. We all think we will be the exception to the rule, then we have ammonia issues, then we lose fish, then we either humbly start over or put up an ad on craigslist for the telltale "great fully equipped aquarium setup, barely used, comes with food, medicine, algae killer, and ammo lock."

(And Mebbid, that wasn't brusque at all IMO).


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.

 

[coralbandit]

Overstocked incompatible fish.
Change more water to deal with ammonia and nitrites (really easy enough).
Read up on desease symptoms and treatments as stress is a huge factor in most so that should be new focus IMO(when you get water right again).

 

[dcutl002]

Inch/gallon rule = outdated. I cannot really add to what Mebbid said other than research your fish before adding them. For example, group certain fish together in their tanks. Here is kinda what I mean: goldfish tank, livebearing tank, hard water community tank, soft water community tank, south-east Asia tank, Mbuna Cichlid tank, South American tank, and West African tank are a few examples that I can think of off the top of my head. You can even go so far as to match plants with the geographical location as your fish.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk