help wiith high ammonia

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

jeff6898

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 2, 2020
Messages
10
I am new to aquariums. I took my water to the local fish store on day 7 and was told tank tested perfect I could add fish so I did. I have been fighting high ammonia ever since. Cant get it to go away. I am now on day 46. Have been doing water changes every other day. I even did a 90% water change as instructed by fish store. They have had me keep putting prime and stability in., Still no change in ammonia. I am at whits end can anyone help me? I have been spending a fortune on chemicals the store been selling me. I don't mine spending the money if it helps but it hasn't budged. Any suggestions?


water is nice and clear
 

Attachments

  • 20200602_185838_resized.jpg
    20200602_185838_resized.jpg
    125.7 KB · Views: 34
  • 20200602_185031.jpg
    20200602_185031.jpg
    255.4 KB · Views: 36
Hi Jeff

Are these your water parameters?

pH: 7.0
Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm

These look very strange. There is clearly some nitrate, so some ammonia is cycling in nitrite and all the nitrite is cycling to nitrate. It usual for the ammonia to be getting to 0ppm before the nitrites though.

A few questions.

- What size is your tank?
- What filter do you have? Is it suitably rated for the tank?
- What fish do you have in there?
- Are your fish looking healthy? Is the ammonia resulting in any visible issues for the fish?

A few potential causes.

Perhaps you just have an unusual cycle, keep up with testing and water changes whenever you see detectable ammonia or nitrate. If you havent already done so, either get some established filter from somewhere or dose with some bottled bacteria.

Perhaps your tapwater is putting ammonia into the system. Can you test your tap water for ammonia. If ammonia is showing, it is likely to actually be chloramine, which some water companies use instead of chlorine. API test for ammonia is actually a test for chloramine, bottle #1 turns the ammonia to chloramine and bottle #2 tests for chloramine.

Perhaps your filter isnt suitably sized and doesnt contain enough biological media to support enough beneficial bacteria to fully cycle out the ammonia.

I would also test some bottled water for ammonia, just to check that you dont have a defective test kit. Bottled water should be 0ppm.
 
Hi Jeff

Are these your water parameters? Yes

pH: 7.0
Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm

These look very strange. There is clearly some nitrate, so some ammonia is cycling in nitrite and all the nitrite is cycling to nitrate. It usual for the ammonia to be getting to 0ppm before the nitrites though.

A few questions.

- What size is your tank? 60 Gallons


- What filter do you have? Is it suitably rated for the tank? see attached pic



- What fish do you have in there? plecos, mollys, tetras catfish glow fish


- Are your fish looking healthy? Is the ammonia resulting in any visible issues for the fish? 1 fish doesn't look that good. 2 has died a week ago


Tested tap water Ammonia o nitrites 0 nitrates 2.0


A few potential causes.

Perhaps you just have an unusual cycle, keep up with testing and water changes whenever you see detectable ammonia or nitrate. If you havent already done so, either get some established filter from somewhere or dose with some bottled bacteria.

Perhaps your tapwater is putting ammonia into the system. Can you test your tap water for ammonia. If ammonia is showing, it is likely to actually be chloramine, which some water companies use instead of chlorine. API test for ammonia is actually a test for chloramine, bottle #1 turns the ammonia to chloramine and bottle #2 tests for chloramine.

Perhaps your filter isnt suitably sized and doesnt contain enough biological media to support enough beneficial bacteria to fully cycle out the ammonia.

I would also test some bottled water for ammonia, just to check that you dont have a defective test kit. Bottled water should be 0ppm.
shows 0
 

Attachments

  • filter 2.jpg
    filter 2.jpg
    175.7 KB · Views: 30
  • filter 3.jpg
    filter 3.jpg
    224.6 KB · Views: 37
Products like Prime don't actually remove ammonia, they just neutralize it and make it non-toxic to fish. But it's still present in the water, and it will show up on tests. There's no point wasting money on this stuff, unless of course you have animals in the tank, in which case it's a must - especially with your sky-high levels of ammonia, which would be lethal to any aquatic animal.

I don't see any live plants in your tank, and live plants are immensely helpful in controlling water quality - they feed on nitrogen compounds, including ammonia. Try adding some easy, fast growers like hornwort, water sprite, anacharis or frogbit - they should help bring down your levels.
 
Bought the seachum ammonia alert. Had it in 8 hours now and reads yellow safe still. Use test kit shows high reading. Really confused now.
 
Bought the seachum ammonia alert. Had it in 8 hours now and reads yellow safe still. Use test kit shows high reading. Really confused now.
It's probably because of Prime. The ammonia alert only shows levels of toxic free ammonia. You have lots of ammonia in your tank, but Prime neutralizes its toxicity and that's why the alert says it's safe. I'm willing to bet that if you stopped using Prime the readings would go off the chart, as 2 ppm ammonia is pretty much lethal. Ammonia is also less toxic at a lower pH, so if yours is low that could be a contributing factor as well.
 
If you have ammonia in the tank, your fish are breathing it, period. Prime does nothing for ammonia at all, even for any fish. It is a simple dechlorinator proved on the web for years. Water changes and good bio media that allows water to flow through your media and not around it, will oxidize ammonia fastest.
 
If you have ammonia in the tank, your fish are breathing it, period. Prime does nothing for ammonia at all, even for any fish. It is a simple dechlorinator proved on the web for years. Water changes and good bio media that allows water to flow through your media and not around it, will oxidize ammonia fastest.
Not sure that's correct. Prime removes chlorine, chloramine and detoxifies ammonia (and, as far as I know, nitrites & heavy metals as well) by converting it to a safe, non-toxic form that is readily removed by the tank's biofilter. It basically makes these compounds more easily accessible to the beneficial bacteria in the tank. But this effect only lasts for 24h, after that ammonia and nitrites in the tank become toxic again.

It's a little more than a "simple dechlorinator", although of course it can't replace proper cycling and tank maintenance.
 
Prime "claims" to detoxify ammonia and nitrites. There is a study that show these claims to be false, on aquariumscience.com

http://aquariumscience.org/index.php/5-5-3-2-prime-and-safe/

I havent seen any other studies that demonstrate these claims to be false, and i wouldnt say a single source is proof the claims are false. But, it is something to consider.
Not sure that's correct. Prime removes chlorine, chloramine and detoxifies ammonia (and, as far as I know, nitrites & heavy metals as well) by converting it to a safe, non-toxic form that is readily removed by the tank's biofilter. It basically makes these compounds more easily accessible to the beneficial bacteria in the tank. But this effect only lasts for 24h, after that ammonia and nitrites in the tank become toxic again.

It's a little more than a "simple dechlorinator", although of course it can't replace proper cycling and tank maintenance.
 
Prime "claims" to detoxify ammonia and nitrites. There is a study that show these claims to be false, on aquariumscience.com

5.5.3.2. Prime and Safe

I havent seen any other studies that demonstrate these claims to be false, and i wouldnt say a single source is proof the claims are false. But, it is something to consider.


The above is correct. Even Seachem has no proof that it does anything but remove Chlorine. Seachem does not have even one patent on any of their products and can show no studies, scientific studies or any evidence on any of their products. Good read the above web site. Click and learn.
 
Help!

Hi I was wondering how you ever sorted your high ammonia issue. I am literally in the same situation myself. Into my 3rd week of ammonia between 1.0 and 2.0!!!

I have tried so much and nothing has helped.

Please can you give me a little advice on how it worked out for you..

Kindly ppreciate it :)
 
Back
Top Bottom