ZakTheRipper
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I've been having some strange problems with my tank I can't remedy. I have a 20 gallon with a pleco and an oscar, and I recently added plants, driftwood (bogwood, actually), and a DIY CO2 setup. I did NOT boil the wood because it was too big to fit in any pot i had, but I haven't had a lot of yellow staining, so that's not a problem. I also recently changed my filter media from charcoal to sponges, and I still have the biowheel going until the sponges seed properly. However, I'm having horrible ammonia problems, like off the chart, and I've been putting ammo-lock in there to keep my fish safe (despite this, the oscar seems to have ich, which I am already medicating, and the pleco fin rot, ditto). I've also done several almost complete water changes (~85%), with gravel-vaccing the first time. Still, the ammonia levels are very high. I have barely been feeding them, only what they eat quickly, and yet the water has been cloudy ever since i put the plants in, even after the water changes. What is going on?? Why is my ammonia so high and the cloudiness not going away? Neither of these things were problems before I added all this stuff.