0.25 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate, stays this way for months

[Shalemie]

I have a 55gallon tank be running for 2 years. Had a major water change including filter which completely crash my tank. Now,I have this reading for months. I was waiting nitrate to rise but it never did.

Ph 7.0 keep droping
Ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
no heater
4 big gold fish in the tank.and driftwood

Questions
Whats wrong with my tank and how to fix it?
Can it be old tank syndrome?
Can a fish tank never been cycled?
how does ph affect ammonia?
Can I cycle it without heater?

Thank you for your time

 

[jlk]

Welcome to AA!!!

Ok, lets start with some basics so we can try to figure out whats going on. What are you using to test your water? What type of filtration/media? What type of water conditioner? Are you adding any other chemicals (salt, ph products, algae stuff, bacteria products, etc)? What type of water change schedule do you have (%/#wk)? Type of goldfish? Can you also please test your tap water and post the results? Thanks!

 

[Shalemie]

Welcome to AA!!!

Ok, lets start with some basics so we can try to figure out whats going on. What are you using to test your water? What type of filtration/media? What type of water conditioner? Are you adding any other chemicals (salt, ph products, algae stuff, bacteria products, etc)? What type of water change schedule do you have (%/#wk)? Type of goldfish? Can you also please test your tap water and post the results? Thanks!

Api freshwater master test kit
Canisters filter, bio,ammonia chips,
Api stress zyme, Api stress coat, and prime

2months ago I did a 60%water change and also wash the filter media, I also brought a prime that day and added into the tank until now I havent done any water change. I have 3 oranda gold fish and a ranchu.

Tap water
ph 8.5
ammonia 1.0 ppm
nitrate, nitrite are 0

 

[jlk]

Thanks! Perhaps I misunderstood what you wrote but you have not done a water change in two months?

 

[Shalemie]

Right! I was waitting for nitrite to rise but it has not yet show up.

 

[jlk]

Ok, there's a few things going on here. First, your using ammonia removing chips. These essentially will starve your good bacteria of food (ammonia) and prevent your tank from ever cycling properly. This is why you have not seen any nitrites or nitrates despite not doing a single water change in 2 months.

The lack of sufficient wcs and maintenance has resulted in your supply of KH and GH being depleted thus resulting in an unstable ph that is crashing. What type of substrate do you have? My guess is after two months there is a large amount of debris in it further contributing to your water issues.

Ok, now to fixing the problem. The simple answer is lots of water changes and removing the ammonia media and basically starting your cycle from day one. However, you have quite a bit of ammonia in your tap. Invest in a large bottle of Prime. I would start by removing half the ammonia media and start doing 25% wcs daily with double dosed Prime. Let's see how your tank and fish handle this before proceeding further. Have you considered using RO water (reconstituted or cut with your tap)?

 

[Shalemie]

Omg thank you so much, glad I come to the right place.
I'm using gravel as substrate.

So does that means my filter doesn't have any bacteria growing inside?
If so should I remove ammonia chips and wash all the other media filters??
What else can I put in the filter?

 

[bshenanagins]

Omg thank you so much, glad I come to the right place.
I'm using gravel as substrate.

So does that means my filter doesn't have any bacteria growing inside?
If so should I remove ammonia chips and wash all the other media filters??
What else can I put in the filter?

What exactly do you have for media? Yes remove the ammo chips because its a short solution for long term failure as your experiencing. Eventually they will become useless and become breeding ground for BB but for the time being its hurting your cycle. What kind of canister do you have? The best media is coarse sponge for mechanical, TONS of ceramic rings for bio filtration, and lastly polyfill to polish your water and to get rid of tiny floating debris. Chemical filtration is extremely unnecessary with the exception of removing medicines. I personally think its a gimmick to attract newer hobbyists as most chemical products are advertised as the "quick fix" and we've all been there. If you must, Seachem has some great media options like Purigen and Matrix to polish water and help remove excess organics. But for now I would worry about completing your cycle.

 

[rmiller]

Your tap water has 1.0 ppm of ammonia in it?