ammonia high: help!!!

[DOC BENNETT]

Follow up Question

I had the same problem as this other letter. I got a new tank. i have 4 Neon Tetras one Guppy and one frog in a ten gallon tank. Only one guppy because the other one died a week ago and I am trying to get my tank right before subjecting another fish to the torture of my tank.
Anyway, I woke up two days ago to find the tank VERY cloudy. I changed 50% of the water, after treating it, and it was still cloudy. Then this morning I changed it again and still cloudy. I took a water sample to PET SMART ( the place I got the tank and fish from) and they said I had a high ammonia level and recommended "AmmoLock". I had that already and had been using it on changes. What can i do. How do i save these five fish.

 

[reefrunner69]

Is this a new tank? The cloudiness is most likely from an opportunistic bacteria that is feeding off the excess waste in the tank. Continue to do water chages, about 20% per day. Cut back on feeding and remove any uneaten food immediately. As for the ammonia, it is either high from the cycle, or you are not using the proper test kit to test water treated with ammolock. Ammolock will give a false high ammonia reading, if you are using a nesslers reagent kit, you will never get an accurate reading. I recommend a Salycilate reagent type kit.

 

[fishfreek]

Ammolock will give a false high ammonia reading, if you are using a nesslers reagent kit, you will never get an accurate reading. I recommend a Salycilate reagent type kit.

50 Kudos points says its a false high reading. Many of the cheaper test kits give false readings when ammolock is used.

I dont think there is a need to add ammolock to the tank every water change. Over a peirod of days as the water is changed out more and more the ammoina readings should lower as the ammolock is diluted.

If you dont have an ammonia kit pick one up next time your in pet smart.

 

[JurassicRIP]

Just a note to say dont panic too much about the cloudy tank water, especially if your tank is brand new & and the clouds white. i'm a new comer to the world of fish keeping like you, thou i seem to be slightly further on. A white cloudiness is part of the tanks maturation process and will clear in 5-10 days. Also, i'm not sure if you should be changing the water every day, it will affect the maturation process of your biological filter(this is a very important piece of equipment!),same with adding ammolock every day, this will produce high readings(stresszyme does)I have found adding bacterial culture more useful.Ammonia levels will get high (scarilly, in my opinion!) but will drop suddenly. Don't forget to keep an eye on nitrite and pH Levels too. Last tip, take you water to a pet shop that offers water health checks via the internet(aquatest.net), they are a godsend!
Hope this is useful ,good luck!

 

[jackdp]

Like fishfreek said, many test kits will use a reagent that greatly raises the pH of the sample up to a pH of 10 or more. Ammolock and many other "ammonia removers" don't really remove the ammonia at all, they just bind the ammonia up into other compounds that are less toxic. The problem, at a very high pH these complexes that are formed fall apart and you get a false high reading. I would try Seachem's ammonia multi test kit...it uses a gas phase of ammonia and claims to avoid interference from ammonia complexes, amines, amides..blah blah blah good luck.

 

[fishfreek]

THe seachem kit will actually test both free ammonia and total ammonia. the free ammonia is what I was told is the toxic ammonia. The total ammonia test should show the amminolock where the free ammonia should not.

 

[Ramrebel]

ammo-chips

I used ammo-chips and they lowered the ammonia for the readings. The go in your filter with the charcoal. It worked for me . good luck

Ed

 

[JurassicRIP]

Ammo-rock warning!

Be careful when using ammo-rocks. They have an alkalising effect, thereby lowering the pH of the water.It was instrumental in the death of one of my fish(the late jurassic-hence the username),so for heavens sake, use with caution, and keep a close eye on the pH levels.

 

[reefrunner69]

Not trying to be too nit picky, but if they alkalize the water, they would raise the ph. >7 = alkaline <7= acid. Perhaps you might look for another cause for the lowering ph?

 

[JurassicRIP]

Ok, be pedantic! I did mean raising the pH. I wrote the message late at night, gimme a break!! .All i'm saying is be careful.

 

[reefrunner69]

I'm sorry, I took your post at face value I was trying to help you find out why your ph was dropping. I meant no offense. It won't happen again.

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

if you monitor your tank closely while cycling, you shouldn't need ammo-lock! and most tests do measure the total ammonia, and after using ammo-lock, you will not have any idea how much toxic ammonia is in your water, so your measuring can become fairly useless...i haven't used a test kit that measures free ammonia, haven't seen one, but maybe they are fairly new? at any rate, the fewer chemicals you use, the better off you will be in my opinion, and ammo chips and ammo -lock and such are not needed...in the case of an ammonia emergency ( which you shouldn't usually have if you are monitoring a new tank and not overfeeding ) you can do frequent small water changes, several a day if you have to reduce the levels. and yes , if you drop your level of ammonia too low, you will slow down the development of your biological filter because they need some to feed off of until a balance is developed, but better to extend the cycle a little than permanently burn your fishees gills ......or worse