Ammonia levels through the roof..help.

[Evo8]

So I have a 20 gallon tank with a 30 gallon bio wheel filter and 15 g tetra filter..I have 4 EBJD and abou 6 jaguar cichlid babies right now..also 3 cory cats..for a few weeks my ammonita levels have been through the roofmmwith today's test being the highest at about 6-8 ppm.. all the fish look normal and healthy..I've added ammo lock.. also a ammonia detoxify bag with no luck..water changes every few days as well...I'm out of answers..I don't know where the ammonia source is coming from..any ideas? All my fish are accounted for. I feed them once in the morning.. super small broad spectrum pellets and sparingly as well..any ideas where it could come from? Also how to effectivly combat the high levels?

Thanks guys!

 

[Evo8]

Could the super old bio wheel be creating ammonia? It doesn't spin well latley

 

[Evo8]

The darkest green I've ever seen..

 

[molliwopp]

6-8ppm!? Im actually supprised your fish arnt belly up dead. Water changes water changes water changes. If you want to save your fish, do a 50% change. Then an hour later another 50% then an hour later another 50% and then another 50%!!!!!! geeeez 6-8ppm is like liquid poison and if you dont change out water NOW it's highly likely your fish wont be alive in the morning. Anything over 0.5 you should be doing water changes!! Your fish must be screaming, to say theyre suffering is an understatment..

Im guessing your tank isnt cycled. Becides that, your tank is Way way way too small for the fish you have!!!.. im sorry but im not going to sugar coat it. This is boardering animal cruelty

It could be your filter if it is being restricted but something is catastrophically Wrong with a capital W.

 

[Abiduwhabi]

Bad test kit or not cycled.

 

[Evo8]

6-8ppm!? Im actually supprised your fish arnt belly up dead. Water changes water changes water changes. If you want to save your fish, do a 50% change. Then an hour later another 50% then an hour later another 50% and then another 50%!!!!!! geeeez 6-8ppm is like liquid poison and if you dont change out water NOW it's highly likely your fish wont be alive in the morning. Anything over 0.5 you should be doing water changes!! Your fish must be screaming, to say theyre suffering is an understatment..

Im guessing your tank isnt cycled. Becides that, your tank is Way way way too small for the fish you have!!!.. im sorry but im not going to sugar coat it. This is boardering animal cruelty

It could be your filter if it is being restricted but something is catastrophically Wrong with a capital W.

The jaguars are still basically fry..and the EBJD are only about an inch.. so no my fish aren't to big for my tank..and yes i do plan to get them in a bigger tank after they pair off..this is only my grow out tank..my tank was also cycled before adding any fish.. I do suspect my test HAS to be off for some reason..I shall test again after a water change..

 

[trkchezz]

try testing your water source.

 

[Evo8]

Defiantly in my tap water..wtf. what next?

 

[Bichir Bro]

Do you use conditioner? Like aquasafe or something?

 

[Evo8]

Yeah aqua safe plus to be exact..

 

[Bichir Bro]

That's what I use and I've never had an issue with ammonia. Aquasafe plus works great in making my tap water safe so I doubt that's what's causing it.

 

[molliwopp]

Im sorry i blew up before for starters.

8ppm ammonia out of the tap, i dont even think thats legal here in the uk. I would be on the phone to my water supplier.

I dont even know what to suggest, buy some 25 litre food grade water tubs and take them somewhere and fill them up. Maybe Rain water also? Thats the only way i can think of without buying ro water or an ro system and remineralising it.

8ppm of ammonia in tap water just isnt usable in anyway, shape or form.

 

[Bichir Bro]

Yeah if we had 8ppm ammonia in my tap water I'm pretty sure someone somewhere would be in some deeeeep crap. So now should he do a water change or not? It won't do anything if you take out bad water and put in worse water. Unless you got time to boil 10 gallons of water an hour, you're pretty stuck. So I have no clue what to suggest to you besides boiling it then cooling it THEN putting it in the tank, that will be ungodly time consuming but that's really all I can think of for you to do. You could try taking small amounts of water out at a time, boil it, place it in the fridge to quickly bring it down to the correct temp, and continue that process until you've got 50% changed. That's all I can think of. Sorry I don't like not helping a bunch but there's not much I can suggest besides what I've said or already been stated.

 

[Evo8]

out of the tap its only .25ppm so there is DEFINITELY another source somewhere..seeing as i do water changes weekly.. and molliwopp its ok there are definitely some unreasonable ignorant people when it comes to keeping fish! however i'm not a newbie in freshwater! 4 Full grown dempsys in a 20g would definatly be rediculous..i put a fluval ammonia detox pouch in there last night so maybe that will help. so just to clarify it's only .25 out of my tap at most!! there is definatly still another source..

Also could an unbloomed plant bulb be the source? i found it under my bubble ship when doing a water change!

 

[molliwopp]

Could definitely be a source if its dead and rotting but how big is it?

Whatever the cause i would start doing water changes and Lots of them. If you cycled the tank with a decent amount of ammonia your filter isnt doing its job amymore. I would look into a new filter. Most importantly, get your levels down! i would Seriously suggest twice daily 50% changes from then on until you can find a solution.

Its probably built up, weekly.changes in a newly cycled tank probably isnt enough. You should always keep your eye on a new tank after adding fish.

 

[Evo8]

Could definitely be a source if its dead and rotting.

Whatever the cause i would start doing water changes and Lots of them. If you cycled the tank with a decent amount of ammonia your filter isnt doing its job. I would look into a new filter. Most importantly, get your levels down! i would Seriously suggest twice daily 50% changes from then on until you can find a solution.

Its probably built up, weekly.changes in a newly cycled tank probably isnt enough. You should always keep your eye on a new tank after adding fish.

Well like i said im waiting till i get a pair out of the bunch! (will be taking out the jags soon) and adding 4 EB Gene JD.. Obviously not until i get this ammonia under control..i will order a new biowheel tonight as well..and add some bacteria as well to help with it a little..im thinking it has to be that bulb i added it maybe 2 weeks ago..forgot about the little sucker.. after getting a pair i'm hoping to introduce the rest of the EBJD's to my main tank! (Though not sure how theyll do with my africans)

 

[molliwopp]

I also definitely wouldnt suggest adding them to an african tank. Theyll more than likely be killed.

Becides the fact they have different water requirments, adding them to an established african tank is asking for trouble, if theyre smaller than the africans when added theyre going to be killed.

 

[Evo8]

My Africans are very passive .I actually have a south american fire mouth in there and 2 gouramis as well...they don't even bother..one time I bought a used tank it came with a Australian rainbow..I figured..he's fish food..nope..never even chased him.

 

[molliwopp]

Gouramis! Lol noway. Well i wouldnt recommend them either. I would never try it so cant speak from experience. Again though the parameters for africans if we're talking malawis is vastly different to gouramis, from soft acidic water to hard alkaline.

I cant push anything onto you and you can/will do what you want regardless. I can only strongly advise against it. What type of africans are we talking here?

 

[Evo8]

Malawi's..you see I had the gouramis first as it was a tetra tank..then revamped my tank and went (back) to cichlids..so the gouramis stayed..theyre a nice size probly at least 3.5"