ammonia spike and fish getting sick

[Ff_emt2008]

Hello. So about 3 days ago my 55 gallon tank had a huge ammonia spike at 4ppm. We can't seem to get the ammonia down at all and we have been losing fish at a rate if about 3 a day and my girlfriend just lost her sailfin catfish and we r worried her betta is next to go. We have done 1 50% pwc a day for the past two days and the ammonia has yet to drop. Our tap water has no ammonia and we you API water treatment with stress coat. We did just have a ich outbreak about a month ago and loss a fish that had an infection. We have no clue what we r doing wrong. The tank has been setup for a year now and the filter has been running for about 10 months. Have never had the ammonia this high before and lost on what to do. Also the fish start to turn white before they die but it's different from the white the get with ich. Thank you for any help I can get

 

[Fishlover3578]

Might be to late but I would do a larger water change and try get a filter off an established tank... Ich meds coulda messed up benificial bacteria like 75%

 

[Ff_emt2008]

We are going to try a larger pwc right now and I'll post the levels when we test after. But here is a pic of the banjo catfish. It's getting the same white spot on top as the banjo that day a few nights ago

 

[Fishfur]

Fwiw, when you have levels in a tank that high, you have to do more water changes than you did. You can change all the water, it's better than leaving the fish in toxic soup. If need be, you can change 50%, wait ten minutes and do another 50% change, making sure to equalize temps and use dechlorinator.

Test and if the level is still too high, do another 50% change. Fish will be far less stressed by multiple, fast water changes than they are by the ammonia, which is so extremely toxic, I fear you will end up losing all the fish. Even a few hours of exposure to levels that high does permanent damage, though fish may not die right away.

Depending on the fish, they may live weeks, even months, but the damage done will dramatically shorten most fishes lives. Sorry to have to tell you that. This is one instance where using ammonia absorbing media in the filter can be a life saver, though even the makers tell you not to use it as an ongoing ammonia solution. They have resins that absorb ammonia directly, preventing it from going back into the tank.

Once you get the levels down to zero, then hopefully the filter bacteria will be able to recover, or reestablish themselves. You may be looking at going through another cycle process. Hope not, but ammonia that high suggests the filter bacteria may have died off, perhaps due to the ich treatment.

You can do however many water changes you have to, to get levels down to what is safe. Worrying that water changes are stressful is pointless when the water the fish are in is poisonously toxic.

 

[Ff_emt2008]

We did add carbon & ammonia removing zeolite crystals to our filter on sat. Before that there was no carbon cause it was taking out for when we treated for ich. I was just informed that the ammonia was just under 2ppm today before my gf starts the pwc. So over the last 3 days we have been able to drop it some so I hope we are able to stay on top of it

 

[Fishfur]

Hope so too. Carbon does absolutely nothing for ammonia or anything else. It's only useful for removing odours, colours or some medications. If you removing meds, fine, otherwise, the space is better used by more biomedia. The zeolite should help some.

But 2 ppm is still much too high. Do as many water changes as it takes to get it as close to zero as possible, the faster you do, the more chance some of the fish might survive.

 

[Ff_emt2008]

Yea I knew that about the carbon that's y we weren't in a rush to put the carbon back in but I say the carbon with zeolite crystals and figured it was worth a shot

 

[Fishfur]

Well, good luck with the water changes. I hope some of the fish live.

 

[Ff_emt2008]

So it has been a hr after we finished our 75% pwc and r down to .25 ppm so it's looking good.

 

[Fishfur]

That is much better. Hope you can get the cycle established again soon.

 

[Ff_emt2008]

Me too I think my girlfriend is going to be test the water every day for like a week or so. I'm do glad to have it back down. It has cost us 6 fish and we have one more banjo catfish that doesn't look to healthy but I hope now that it's lower levels that he might get better

 

[Fishfur]

FIngers crossed. Catfish are sensitive, so if he looks poorly it may not augur well for him, sadly. But where there is life there is hope. I would certainly test daily, as you don't know at this point whether you have any live BB in the filter. If not, it will take time to recycle.