New here: Ammonia concerns

[squirrilah fish]

Need ammonia advice asap

Hey, new to the forum, I have been reading this forum heavily for the last 3 weeks, but the events of today have made me need to post.
I have a heavily stocked 55 gallon tank, my two acara ciclids had a brood about 3 months ago, and im still not sure what to do with them, that aside...

My 55 tank is not cylced... I am using seceum Prime, and Stability as directed. I have a marineland 50 gallon filter, and a fluval 70 gallon filter going simultaneously.

This morning my ammonia was reading .2 ppm I did a 40% water change via gravel vacuum, used prime, and API ammonia guard as directed. I know that Prime, and ammonia guard do not remove ammonia from testing, but make it less toxic. I also have two rainbow sharks showing sigs of ich, and treated with marycyn yesterday. I also added 3/4 the recommended amount of aquarium salt and turned the temperature up, I want to acheive 82 (for the ich) degrees by monday, at 75 degrees now.

My nitrite, natrate, levels are 0

my questions, I heard that primes affect on ammonia will wear out in 12-24 hours, should I do a daily full does of prime until the ammonia is gone?. Stability is to power kick the bio filter, should I do an extra dose? Should I do another big water change. Again the ammonia is reading at .2 ppm, not the toxic .5, infact my API test kit is reading "safe" (<.2 ppm)

Fish are acting fine, except for my pleco which is scrambling mad around the tank like he is starving, looking for spots with food, it is a new tank (day 8 today) and there is not any algae im sure, should I add some algae wafers for him.

currently the fish are on a diet of goldfish crisps, tropical crisps, cichlid pellets, (all sizes, I have fry, medium, and full grown) and freeze dried blood worms, I thought the pleco would be able to salvage a diet off of this as well, but maybe not as he is scrambling from one place to the next breathing heavily,

all the other fish seem fine, except the sharks occasionally scratching

I want to point out that the shark has a few spots (<10), not full blown covered, very early signs of ich, occosionally scratching.

 

[squirrilah fish]

had an ammonia reading of .25 ppm today, did a 40% water change via gravel vaccuum, added prime, and ammonia guard. Still reading .2ppm.

I know that prime, and ammonia guard only make the ammonia less toxic and do not remove it, and will wear out in 12-24 hours.

My questions are should I do a daily full dose of prime until no ammonia.
Should I do another water change. My biofilter is not set up. I have been using sercheam "stability" as directed.

Fish are acting fine
nitrite nitrate levels 0


Thanks

 

[fort384]

I would do another 50% change if you want to knock it down. Just make sure your tap water tests for 0 NH4. It is possible to have some readable ammonia in your tap water, which could be contributing to the reading.

Welcome to AA by the way!

 

[bkiggy]

Ok so you are doing a fish in cycle. Stability is the best. You can dump the whole bottle and will help along. It can take 4-8 weeks to see nitrItes. WC every day and keep adding stability. Once nitrites show up, then nitrates show up. Good thing is that nitrites only last about 2 weeks. If your fish survive ammonia stage look out for nitrite stage.

 

[fort384]

Merged similar threads.

 

[squirrilah fish]

I got the ammonia removing filter insert for my fluval filter. I am just concerned ab weakening the bio filter bf it's even established. I'm going to check back in a few hours if there is no change I'll do the water change. Someone said I can dump the whole bottle of stability in? Will this really help, I have just been doing the recommended dose. If there are still ammonia readings tomorrow should I use a full dose of prime?

 

[librarygirl]

So is the 55 a new tank or do you have more than one? You mentioned having fish for at least three months but then say the 55 is new? Also aside from the pleco and cichlids do you have any other fish?

Products like stability are hit and miss. I don't think it'll harm anything to use it, but it may or may not work. The ammonia guard and Prime do the same thing, I would just use the Prime.

As Fort said, check your tap water for ammonia; a 40% water change with ammonia at .25 should have knocked it down by almost half, so if it had stayed the same right after the water change then there may be ammonia in your tap water. You're using the API liquid kit for ammonia, etc, right?

If this is a new setup with fish, you'll have rising ammonia levels. Then comes the nitrite phase. You'll be doing water changes for a while. This link might help: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

If ammonia readings are at .25, you can probably just safely dose Prime and do a large water change when ammonia reaches .5. I think Prime lasts about 24 hours. However when treating for Ich it's recommended to do daily water changes anyway to suck up the Ich spores from the substrate once you get the heat up (you'll want the heat at 86). Be sure there's extra surface aeration as higher temps depletes oxygen. Either lower the water level so the water splashes into the tank or add an air stone. Freshwater Ich? Yuck! - Aquarium Advice

For the Pleco, try some blanched veggies like cucumber, zucchini, squash (don't let it stay in the tank more than 24 hours). You can try algae wafers too. If he's new it may take him a while to get adjusted before he eats. Also most Plecos need driftwood to munch on as it aids their digestion.

 

[squirrilah fish]

Thank you library girl. I got algae wafers for the pleco, the 55 is new yes. In that tank I have a full grown Dempsey, 2 adult peacock cichlids and their 17 fry, an adult, and a juvenile rainbow shawk, an adult dog nosed pleco, (the one without whiskers) a juvenile tiger oscar molly, 6 rainbow fish, and a baby bala shark, I have a 70 gallon, and a 55 gallon filter, two air disks from top fin in the corner, the tank is very elaborate everyone has they're own cave/territory, there is NO violence I've even seen fry place good in the Dempsey cave for him. And he protects them from the rainbow. The tiger oscar should hit adulthood after the Dempsey passes.

Anyway, I added the ammonia removing insert to the fluval 70 g filter a few hours ago, no change, but there should be enough prime to last the night. I don't want to do a water change unless I have to. All the fish seem fine. I had a typo, the Ammonia was at .5 this morning, now it's at .2, I don't like having ANY ammonia in there, but I expected some, I guess my main concern is do I change the water, or just do a daily dose of prime til it goes away. I am using the tetra test strips, and I have the seachem ammonia and ph in tank reader disk guys.

No nitrate, no nitrite, no ammonia in the tap water until dechlotinated, (used only dechlotinated in this to test for chlorine vs chloramine, all the water has been treated with prime bf going in the tank.
On day 7 of my stability regimen.

 

[squirrilah fish]

Oh I also used myacyn yesterday, but wasn't supposed to do a water change, I had to obviously, so I added aquiri salt, and turned up the heat, at 78 right now, aiming for 86 by Monday, last time I did this I rise the temp to fast, and killed 3 fish.

 

[squirrilah fish]

One thing I'm confused on is gravel vacuuming, I understand it is important to reduce ammonia, but that the substrate is also important for bacteria, when I have an ammonia spike should I just take out water, and leave the substrate alone?

 

[jlk]

Oh I also used myacyn yesterday, but wasn't supposed to do a water change, I had to obviously, so I added aquiri salt, and turned up the heat, at 78 right now, aiming for 86 by Monday, last time I did this I rise the temp to fast, and killed 3 fish.

What is myacyn? Do you mean Maracyn? If so, stop adding it. Erythromycin is a gram positive antibiotic and will do nothing for treating a parasite issue. It also may harm the bacteria you are trying to establish. I would also limit or skip the salt altogether. The pleco is not very salt tolerant and his behavior sounds like it may be affecting him. Just stay on top of your testing and water changes with Prime to keep toxins under control.

 

[squirrilah fish]

Your thinking of marcyn II, this is malachite green, and formalin. I did another 50% change this morning, I didn't realize how much decaying matter was under the large rock cave, pretty sure that was the source of my problem, I kept cleaning around it. I'm going to post a new thread showing the spots onto shark. Everything should be fine now I believe, I'll keep an eye in it, but I know I have the tools to deal with it.

Still confused ab vacuuming though, if there is an ammonia spike do I want to vacuum the substrate? Or leave it alone, and just change water, typically when I add new water it kicks up the substrate anyway.

 

[shellieca]

Your thinking of marcyn II, this is malachite green, and formalin. I did another 50% change this morning, I didn't realize how much decaying matter was under the large rock cave, pretty sure that was the source of my problem, I kept cleaning around it. I'm going to post a new thread showing the spots onto shark. Everything should be fine now I believe, I'll keep an eye in it, but I know I have the tools to deal with it.

Still confused ab vacuuming though, if there is an ammonia spike do I want to vacuum the substrate? Or leave it alone, and just change water, typically when I add new water it kicks up the substrate anyway.

Typically vacuuming once a week is good. I stick the tube of my vac all the way down into the gravel & it'll suck up the gunk that sinks down. Some people, depending on tank size, will do half the tank one week & the other half the next.

 

[squirrilah fish]

Ok, but in a new cycling tank, when ammonia spikes do I want to vacuum or just change water, I know the beneficial bacteria live in the substrate, I guess I want to know the best way to get ammonia out with the least amount if damage to the bio filter.

 

[squirrilah fish]

Just did my 4th 50% change, ammonia at .05, I am going to leave the substrate alone, even though I haven't gotten a clear answer, if vacuuming the substrate is necessary for reducing ammonia SOMEONE TELL ME PLEASE.

 

[shellieca]

Just did my 4th 50% change, ammonia at .05, I am going to leave the substrate alone, even though I haven't gotten a clear answer, if vacuuming the substrate is necessary for reducing ammonia SOMEONE TELL ME PLEASE.

Vacuuming your substrate once a week while cycling is sufficient. Sorry, I should have been more clear. The bulk of your BB is I your filter media so vacuuming isn't going to hurt anything.

 

[squirrilah fish]

So I should leave the filters alone

 

[Kat767]

If the filter pads get gunky swish them in a bucket of tank water. Do no put new pads in Until the old one are falling apart. At which time seed the new filter pad with a piece of the old filter pad by putting both new and old in the filter for a while

 

[squirrilah fish]

Ok, that's easy enough, both my filters have multiple pads so if I do them one at a time it should be fine, The ammonia is holding at .15, I have used prime, so I assume the fish is safe, I am just going to leave it for now. Focus on the increasing nitrite levels in my 10 g, oh jeez.

 

[squirrilah fish]

I had a typo, I used MARICIDE for ich, did another dose last night, supposed to treat on days 1, 3, and 5, with no water changes, than a big water change on day 7.
Ill update then.