Ammonia I'm sure again

[Shevydavey]

Hi,
As a complete newbie to a freshwater fishtank I hope I'm not asking a really obvious question but ive read lots of info - ammonia poisoning how long does it take to kill the fish??
Background. Got a 10 gallon aqua one tank in late June, cycled it for 3 weeks. Introduced 4 platys, 2 clown loaches and 8 tetras over a period of weeks.
Then decided that the fake rock didn't have enough hiding places, so replaced it with 2 fake rocks with lots of hiding places. The rocks kept floating so was told to put a couple of fishing weights in them. Then I lost a loach (jumped out when changing rocks & I accidentally stood on it), a malformed platy, & another platy and all of the tetras.
Have been recycling aged 15- 25 per cent aged water every 3 days, cut down feeding to twice a week, and taken out gravel so its a better level (it was 2 inches thick). I also removed one of the rocks so I could vacuum better. I've checked all of the filtering system as welll & it seems fine.
For the last month I've had 2 loaches (bought another one after stomping on the original) & 2 platys, Ive also replaced ea anti ammonia tablet as its dissolved. But each daily reading I take comes back for ammonia comes back sky high & no matter how much I tell myself it looks a little less green on the reading it's not. The 4 fish I have left, though, look happy, are eating & apart from 1 platy that's really aggressive don't look stressed. They've also survived for 3 months.
The only possibility I can think of is the following;
A- I should replace the carbon filter- I asked around & apparently I shouldn't need to replace it yet.
B- the weights in the rocks are somehow toxic (fishing weights)
C- the plastic rocks I got with lots of hiding places are no good.
D- I'm over doing it, & should cut the water changes for a week.
I haven't tried any chemicals to get rid of the ammonia yet but I live in a very remote place in northern Australia so I'm hoping for a more "natural" & less postage based solution.
Any Ideas????
I'm sorry in advance if this has been addressed many times but have tried reading up. I'm hoping to get some advice from the experts.
Thanks in advance,
Shevy

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Hi,
As a complete newbie to a freshwater fishtank I hope I'm not asking a really obvious question but ive read lots of info - ammonia poisoning how long does it take to kill the fish??
Background. Got a 10 gallon aqua one tank in late June, cycled it for 3 weeks. Introduced 4 platys, 2 clown loaches and 8 tetras over a period of weeks.
Then decided that the fake rock didn't have enough hiding places, so replaced it with 2 fake rocks with lots of hiding places. The rocks kept floating so was told to put a couple of fishing weights in them. Then I lost a loach (jumped out when changing rocks & I accidentally stood on it), a malformed platy, & another platy and all of the tetras.
Have been recycling aged 15- 25 per cent aged water every 3 days, cut down feeding to twice a week, and taken out gravel so its a better level (it was 2 inches thick). I also removed one of the rocks so I could vacuum better. I've checked all of the filtering system as welll & it seems fine.
For the last month I've had 2 loaches (bought another one after stomping on the original) & 2 platys, Ive also replaced ea anti ammonia tablet as its dissolved. But each daily reading I take comes back for ammonia comes back sky high & no matter how much I tell myself it looks a little less green on the reading it's not. The 4 fish I have left, though, look happy, are eating & apart from 1 platy that's really aggressive don't look stressed. They've also survived for 3 months.
The only possibility I can think of is the following;
A- I should replace the carbon filter- I asked around & apparently I shouldn't need to replace it yet.
B- the weights in the rocks are somehow toxic (fishing weights)
C- the plastic rocks I got with lots of hiding places are no good.
D- I'm over doing it, & should cut the water changes for a week.
I haven't tried any chemicals to get rid of the ammonia yet but I live in a very remote place in northern Australia so I'm hoping for a more "natural" & less postage based solution.
Any Ideas????
I'm sorry in advance if this has been addressed many times but have tried reading up. I'm hoping to get some advice from the experts.
Thanks in advance,
Shevy

to AA!

3 weeks isn't long enough to cycle a tank fully so that's part of your problem for the ammonia and nitrates. Here is an article about fish in cycles
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/fishin-cycling-step-dark-side/

Your going to need to do 50% water changes to get it under control maybe even back to back if your ammonia and nitrite levels don't drop.

A : don't replace the carbon or any part of the filter it contains bacteria that your trying to build up. If it gets to dirty in the process just clean it by sticking it and wiggling it around in old tank water so you don't kill the bacteria

B: I never say to use these because I know some are made from lead. You would be better off useing a small rock

C: this would be really bad don't do it. Remember water changes and more water changes fish like new water

 

[Shevydavey]

How long does it take for amonia to kill small fish

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for your advice. After my last post I discovers that small fish can live with amonia for 3 months and 3 days as a couple of days after my last post the clown loaches died.
I'm left with two platys. I've increased the amount of water im replacing every couple of days and taken out the lead from the ornaments. A friend suggested that part of my problem was that I was being too fanatical in cleaning as I was getting the water from the bottom of the tank and vacuuming up all the debris every two days. He thinks that the bacteria has never had a chance to establish itself.
So now I'm taking the water from mid tank. I'll see how that goes and let you know. I would like to get a couple of more clown loaches again as I quite liked their antics (releasing that if I'm successful in looking after them I'll have to get a bigger tank as they grow).
Thanks for your help, much appreciated.