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hmurray

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Messages
3
I have 20 gal freshwater tank with 10 community fish (Danio's, molly's etc). The water test strips indicate high ammonia and very acidic water (off the scale). I treated with Tetra Easy Balance and Seachem Neutral Regulator on advice from store. After 10 days and 3 water changes (25% each) there is no change to test strip readings (confirmed by the water test in store. Tank been fine since I started it 9 months ago!

What to do? What to do"
 
You need to do 4 things straight away.
1. Remove/rehome half of those fish.
2. Stop using those chemicals
3. Get your own liquid test kit, API freshwater kit is a great kit
4. Do a large 70% water change.
When you do these steps, you will need to keep a good eye on the water chemistry and test daily and be prepared to do some daily water changes. Did you cycle the tank before adding the fish??
 
Hi

Thanks for the reply

Just curious - Why stop using the additives?

The tank was fine since start-up 9 months ago. It just deteriorated suddenly.
 
If the water ph has been like that for 9 months, I wouldn't go changing it now. The rise in Ammonia could be from overfeeding, stock growing or a dead fish rotting. I would advise you to get you own freshwater liquid test kit. API make a good one. Strips are notoriously inaccurate. How many times are you feeding, twice daily/daily or every other day. When you get your test kit, I would check all your parameters and then you will have much more accurate results to work from. You could stop feeding for a day or two and see if that lowers the Ammonia.
Ideally you should not need to add any chemicals to a fw tank apart from Ferts(plants) and dechlorinater....
 
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