high ammonia help

[dave2010]

Hi since I bought some live plants for my aquarium the ammonia went up from 0 to 3.7! I removed the plants as soon as I done the test but eversince my ammonia readings have been between 2.4 and 3.7 I have been told to do 20% water changes everyday which I have done but the ammonia remains the same! The fish all seem completely fine and are still acting themselves but I'm worried and don't know what to do, I was going to do a 50% water change but I was told on another forum to only ever do a 20% max change because it will effect the bacteria in my filter!
Some one please give me some advice I don't want to use chemicals to lower the ammonia because I don't want to harm my fish.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Hi since I bought some live plants for my aquarium the ammonia went up from 0 to 3.7! I removed the plants as soon as I done the test but eversince my ammonia readings have been between 2.4 and 3.7 I have been told to do 20% water changes everyday which I have done but the ammonia remains the same! The fish all seem completely fine and are still acting themselves but I'm worried and don't know what to do, I was going to do a 50% water change but I was told on another forum to only ever do a 20% max change because it will effect the bacteria in my filter!
Some one please give me some advice I don't want to use chemicals to lower the ammonia because I don't want to harm my fish.

How are preforming the test, liquid or strips? You might be getting a faulse reading. What are the other reading (n02, n03)?

Unless the plant was in some bad water and didn't get rinsed (I QT mine like new fish) IME, it should actually help.

I prefer 2x25% PWC's in a day, rather than 1 50%, but in your situation maybe a 50% is called for? IMHO it won't hurt the bacteria in your filter.

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[siva]

Sounds like you are using test strips? They are notorious for innacuracies. Try a liquid test kit like API.

 

[dave2010]

I'm using a liquid ammonia test called nutrafin, and to check the co2 and co3 I use a test strip by tetratec, I'm going to do a test strip test and ammonia test now and I will give you my current readings, since the ammonia has been high I have been using my gravel cleaner every day to get rid of any dirt or fish crap! Is this a bad idea or a good thing? Should I test my water now or do a partial water change then test it?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I'm using a liquid ammonia test called nutrafin, and to check the co2 and co3 I use a test strip by tetratec, I'm going to do a test strip test and ammonia test now and I will give you my current readings, since the ammonia has been high I have been using my gravel cleaner every day to get rid of any dirt or fish crap! Is this a bad idea or a good thing? Should I test my water now or do a partial water change then test it?

IME, I do a PWC, let the filters mix it up for a couple hours, then test. Nutrafin is good (I use it to test KH/GH), they expire so maybe check the date. So the gravel is pretty dirty?

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[xxwolfpackof1xx]

I'm using a liquid ammonia test called nutrafin, and to check the co2 and co3 I use a test strip by tetratec, I'm going to do a test strip test and ammonia test now and I will give you my current readings, since the ammonia has been high I have been using my gravel cleaner every day to get rid of any dirt or fish crap! Is this a bad idea or a good thing? Should I test my water now or do a partial water change then test it?

you may actually be vacuuming good bacteria if your vacuuming each and every day

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[dave2010]

Ok ill post the test results later, yea it gets quite dirty my royal pleco does huge shits! Lol how often should I vacume my gravel then?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Ok ill post the test results later, yea it gets quite dirty my royal pleco does huge shits! Lol how often should I vacume my gravel then?

I agree, that too much stirring might cause a problem.

How often do you clean your filter media out and how?

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[dave2010]

I have only cleaned my aquarium filter once, I put water out of my tank into a bucket and just rinsed everything in the bucket, I have a fluval 205 external filter I've had it about 5 weeks and since then I've cleaned it once, how many times should I be doing it? Once per month?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I have only cleaned my aquarium filter once, I put water out of my tank into a bucket and just rinsed everything in the bucket, I have a fluval 205 external filter I've had it about 5 weeks and since then I've cleaned it once, how many times should I be doing it? Once per month?

You're cleaning it the right way, but I'd check it. If there's that much waste in the tank it could be fouled and not even filtering.

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[dave2010]

Is there any way I can check if its filtering or not? Should I just open it and wash it in some tank water? I've just done a 25% water change ill wait a hour or so and then do a ammonia test, hopefully it has gone down a bit

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[Mr. Limpet]

Is there any way I can check if its filtering or not? Should I just open it and wash it in some tank water? I've just done a 25% water change ill wait a hour or so and then do a ammonia test, hopefully it has gone down a bit

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You have the water there, if it were me, I'd do it right now. At least look inside and see what it's like.

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[dave2010]

I've looked inside and my foam pads which were whitish yellow when new are completely brown! All of the other filter media looks clean and fine, should I get off all the brown on the foam pads or will I be removing all the bacteria?

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[Mr. Limpet]

I've looked inside and my foam pads which were whitish yellow when new are completely brown! All of the other filter media looks clean and fine, should I get off all the brown on the foam pads or will I be removing all the bacteria?

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Not sure what you filter set up is so you might want to wait for someone with more experience with it. Best I can say is clean it, because you're getting build up.

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[dave2010]

Ok then, I've just done the ammonia test and its still the same its between 1.2 and 2.4 its been like this for days and days now! I have been doing water changes and I haven't over fed my fish or anything and I can't seem to get the ammonia down! My fish seem completely fine tho, could this ammonia be effecting them at all? I don't want anything to happen to them.

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[Mr. Limpet]

Ok then, I've just done the ammonia test and its still the same its between 1.2 and 2.4 its been like this for days and days now! I have been doing water changes and I haven't over fed my fish or anything and I can't seem to get the ammonia down! My fish seem completely fine tho, could this ammonia be effecting them at all? I don't want anything to happen to them.

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What do you use to dose your water with? I like to use Prime. Any PWC should reduce it some IME. If it were me, I'd get another ammo tester to double check the one you have now.

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[dave2010]

I have a small 28 litre tank too I checked it today with the same kit and it showed up as 0 ammonia. I use interpet tap safe to condition the water before adding it, I used a water conditioner by king British called safe guard its basically the same as the interpet tap safe but it says is removes excess ammonia but as far as I can tell it doesn't remove any ammonia at all lol what is prime? Is it a water conditioner? I'll have to ask in my local pet store or ill have to look online

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[siva]

Ammonia exposure does cause tissue damage and shortens life spans..some fish seem to be able to withstand it better than others. You could add a double dose of prime which will make the ammonia harmless to your fish..the only thing is the effect doesn't last that long. You might want to do that every day until you get your ammonia down to at least .25ppm.

 

[siva]

Prime is IMHO the best water conditioner out there. It's used to remove chlorine/chloramines, help replace slime coat or detoxify ammonia and/or nitrites in emergencies.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I have a small 28 litre tank too I checked it today with the same kit and it showed up as 0 ammonia. I use interpet tap safe to condition the water before adding it, I used a water conditioner by king British called safe guard its basically the same as the interpet tap safe but it says is removes excess ammonia but as far as I can tell it doesn't remove any ammonia at all lol what is prime? Is it a water conditioner? I'll have to ask in my local pet store or ill have to look online

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Good, so you know it's right .

Seachem makes Prime. Takes care of the usual + some ammo, n02 & n03. Sounds like the stuff you're using.

Are there any fish you had that "disappeared"? Just thinking that if someone went missing and is in the tank, it could cause an ammo spike.

Did you add a decco or something to your tank lately? If it were me, I'd start by figuring out what changes were done that could've caused the spike.

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