Ammonia!! help

[jlk]

The ammonia is being produced by your fish. You will need to do some more water changes because your ammonia is still very high & your fish is showing signs of ammonia poisoning. The Prime will help with toxicity but it only works up to @2ppm of ammonia- your levels are almost triple this. Water changes are the only way to reduce your ammonia levels. If its at 5ppm right now, a 50% wc will reduce this to 2.75ppm (with .25 in your tap). Two more 50% wcs after this should drop it below 1ppm.

 

[Ruth]

The ammonia is being produced by your fish. You will need to do some more water changes because your ammonia is still very high & your fish is showing signs of ammonia poisoning. The Prime will help with toxicity but it only works up to @2ppm of ammonia- your levels are almost triple this. Water changes are the only way to reduce your ammonia levels. If its at 5ppm right now, a 50% wc will reduce this to 2.75ppm (with .25 in your tap). Two more 50% wcs after this should drop it below 1ppm.

hi jlk
will I see the fish pick up? should I still use the prime or go back to using stress zyme and stress coat? I think I prefer the latter. Prime measurement was only 1ml.

 

[ErinMcG]

Hi Ruth,
Two quick things...
1 - is it possible to edit your first post to give details about your tank size, stock, etc so that anyone stumbling across the forum (like me), will know what the starting point is?
2 - I'm sorry this is so frustrating. Hang in there, keep up the water changes, and work with people to find the underlying problems (Like the suitability of your fish to your tank). I have no new advice, just encouragement. It sucks right now and it's frustrating too. But people here genuinely care and want to help you become successful at this. You can make your tank work.

 

[Ruth]

Thanks for the advice you gave me yesterday!
last night I did around 30% water change (made sure the water temp was same) and the fish has been swimming round bit better this am, just done another ammonia test and is 8ppm (after been left for few mins)
so I guess I still do water changes every day is this right?

my tank is 35l
1 shubunkin
2 ornaments
1 live plant
slim s15 filter

 

[smallfry53]

To go along with what jlk was saying that fish is probably too big for the tank already and producing more ammonia then your tank will ever be able to handle, especially since goldfish are very dirty fish. Probably the only way to keep the ammonia at a reasonable level is to do frequent large water changes or get a larger tank, which if you want to keep this fish will be inevitable.

Getting another filter could help though. Most people say to get twice the filtration of what the filter says. So for a 10g tank get a filter that says it is suitable for at least a 20g tank, or 100+ gph. Also I wouldn't rinse the filter too much if I was you. I rinsed my filter out too much once and it resulted in a mini cycle. But you really need to keep the ammonia level much lower then what it has been or I'm afraid your fish might not last much longer.

In regards to your question I know most of the people on here would recommend using prime. That's what I use and haven't had any issues, but you would probably be ok with which ever you are more comfortable with. Good luck and keep up the good fight!

 

[Ruth]

fish seemed to pick up last night swimming around... will do water change today...but thinking of not rinsing filter pads out(or do I?)

thanks for the advice re fish.... will definately look into different fish ... LPS are not happy for different spieces to be in with shubunkin/comets. I have never had any other kinds of fish all the years I have kept them.

 

[Barakis]

fish not looking good today laying at bottom... not eating I feel so guilty that I can't help it
did water change today,added prime
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ph 7.6
ammonia 5

Wonder if it may be the filter... I have Marina slim s15 it's flowing on max and I rinsed the filters in old tank water this am but still ammonia is there!

sorry if this has already been answered, but i didnt really have time to read the final page.

whilst you are trying to establish your cycle, do not clean the filter or its media, you want that to get nice and dirty for the next 4 or 5 weeks or so.

your nitrAte will never be 0 in a cycled tank, so you currently have an uncycled tank IMO.

once it settles down, and your tank cycles, you a rite to clean out your filter once a week with the water changes, but whilst you are water changing daily, stop cleaning your filter.

you can also buy gel that helps the bacteria grow, people have opinions on this stuff, but it seemed to work well for me.

 

[Barakis]

sorry if this has already been answered, but i didnt really have time to read the final page.

whilst you are trying to establish your cycle, do not clean the filter or its media, you want that to get nice and dirty for the next 4 or 5 weeks or so.

your nitrAte will never be 0 in a cycled tank, so you currently have an uncycled tank IMO.

once it settles down, and your tank cycles, you a rite to clean out your filter once a week with the water changes, but whilst you are water changing daily, stop cleaning your filter.

you can also buy gel that helps the bacteria grow, people have opinions on this stuff, but it seemed to work well for me.

oh, and as far as filtration, for a fish like that, i have read generally it requires a filter 4x the tank size, so for a 10g you need a 40g/h filter. not 100% though, just what i read a lot.

 

[librarygirl]

Unfortunately I think you're fighting a losing battle. Shubunkins an grow 12-18" and need a pond, not a tank. A 10 gal tank is never going to be able to handle that fish long term and even short term the ammonia spikes are going to be difficult if not impossible to keep on top of.