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FAQs on Freshwater Aquariums & Ammonia 3
Related Articles:
Ammonia, Freshwater Aquarium Water
Quality, pH, alkalinity, acidity, Treating
Tap Water, Freshwater Maintenance, Frequent Partial
Water Changes, Establishing Cycling, Freshwater
Filtration,
Know Your Filter Media, A Concise Guide to Your
Options by Neale Monks, Setting up a Freshwater Aquarium,
Tips for Beginners,
Related FAQs:
Freshwater Ammonia 1,
Freshwater Ammonia 2, &
Freshwater Nutrient Cycling,
FW H2O Quality 1, Aquarium Maintenance, Environmental Disease,
Treating
Tap Water for Aquarium Use, pH, Alkalinity,
Acidity,
Biological Filtration,
Nitrogen Cycling,
Establishing Cycling 1,
Nitrite, Nitrate,
Freshwater Algae Control, Algae
Control, Foods, Feeding, Aquatic Nutrition,
Disease,
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Chronic Ammonia? 5/10/08
Hey y'all,
Love the site, it has helped me more times than I can count. This is my first
time writing in as I cannot find the answer anywhere else. I have had my fresh
water aquarium up and running now for about three months. At this time It
contains a silver arowana- 8in, a clown knife- 8in, a jewel cichlid- 3in, a
common pleco- 4in, and two crayfish. My dilemma is that the ammonia has
registered around 4 ppm for about a month now. I figured the test may have
gotten old so I replaced it with a new one and the readings are still around
4ppm. Now for the puzzling part: My Nitrites have consistently been at zero
since the cycle finished, my Nitrates are around 10ppm consistently, I do
bi-monthly water changes of 25%, I do not overfeed my fish, my aquarium is bare
bottom, and no one in the tank exhibits labored breathing, scratching, or any
other stressful behavior. As I monitored the cycle the ammonia spiked (as it
should), and never dropped below 1 ppm. Then I noticed in the months that
followed the ammonia would not drop. Now it has apparently skyrocketed to 4 ppm
just in the last month as I said. Could there be an inhibitor for the ammonia
eating bacteria, or could there be something in my aquarium giving me false
positives? I would have to assume that if my ammonia was really this high for
any length of time my fish would at the very least be acting funny, and my
crayfish would definitely be dead. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly
appreciated.
Regards
James
<Hi James. As you seem to understand anyway, ammonia comes primarily from the
fish, either as an excretory product or else because of the decay of uneaten
food. So you could review your filtration and consider whether an upgrade (or
perhaps a service) is in order. For fish of the type you're keeping, I'd be
recommending turnover rates of 8-10 times the volume of the tank. Things like
carbon are (in my opinion) a waste of filtration space, so removing carbon the
make space for more biological media may be in order. Water changes of 50%
weekly would also be recommended for this type of system, but that's not really
relevant to this particular problem. More important might be the size of the
tank: unless the tank is fundamentally big enough (in terms of volume) to dilute
the ammonia the fish produce, the combination of a too-small tank with too-weak
filtration system can result in persistent levels of ammonia. Or put more
simply, the filter never gets enough time to remove the ammonia in the system,
and the tank isn't big enough to dilute what remains. For these types of fish,
the aquarium will need to be 750 l/200 gal in size once the fish are adult,
though juveniles might get away with a somewhat smaller system. Now, the other
issue is servicing the filter. Filters need a certain amount of care, in
particular cleaning. Removing the filter media for a rinse is fine, but some
folks overdo this and end up killing the filter bacteria. Conversely, if the
filter gets clogged, the lack of oxygen lets the bacteria die as well. One last
consideration is your water. Some water supplies come with a certain amount of
ammonia; others are treated with chloramine, and this can split into chlorine
and ammonia when treated with traditional dechlorinator. So test your tap water.
Cheers, Neale.>
Problems with ammonia, Goldfish in too
small a world, reading 4/28/08
I have two fancy goldfish who are currently living in a 10 gallon aquarium.
<Stop! This is the real problem... Need more room than this...>
I am now aware that ten gallons is not sufficient and I am looking into
upgrading to 30 gallons, hopefully in the near future. In the meantime, I am
trying to cycle my tank
<!? Fish should not be present during>
and I am very concerned about the ammonia levels.
Unfortunately, I did not know about cycling ahead of time.
<Take the fish back>
The pet store did a quick water test of my two day old aquarium water and said I
was "good to go." I knew that a biological filter would have to develop, but I
thought it was OK to do that with the fish in there.
<No>
I didn't know how hard it would be on them and that I would have such trouble
addressing the issues with ammonia. Regardless, I now have two adorable fish
looking to me to provide a safe environment for them. I added the two small
goldfish (one Oranda, one Ryukin) 17 days ago and I have been trying to keep the
ammonia levels down by doing daily partial water changes of 25 to 40%.
<Mmm... the changing of water will forestall the establishment of cycling>
This does not seem to be providing adequate relief from the ammonia, however,
and the tank does not seem to be cycling yet (Nitrates and Nitrites are both at
zero and the ammonia does not decrease significantly). I am extremely concerned
for my fish. I just can't get the ammonia down to an acceptable level.
Today, I placed them temporarily in a fishbowl with water that is similar to
what they have in the tank (regarding temperature, pH, etc.) just to give them
some relief from the ammonia while the aquarium cycles.
<Won't work either>
I plan to change the water daily (at least partially) and closely monitor
ammonia. At least I can change the water in the fish bowl and let their aquarium
cycle without them. I just could never get the ammonia down to zero in the
aquarium. Is this OK? How long can they stay in the fish bowl? I just want them
to be somewhere safe while their home undergoes all the ammonia and Nitrite,
etc. spikes. I want them to go back in as soon as the aquarium water is safe for
them. Please help. I love these little guys
<Then return them temporarily... use a real cycling product or other means...
see below>
and I know a fish bowl is not where they should be but I don't know what else to
do.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Laurie
<Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>
HIGH AMMONIA >>> EMERGENCY
PLS HELP!
Hello, i will start off by saying that i have a 60gal freshwater tank which
has been up n running for about 2 1/2mo now ... i have 14 1" baby piranhas, 1 3"
Pleco, and 1 3" black lobster ... i have about 10 live plants and 2 whisper 60
filters (660gph total filtration) ...
<Not sure about mixing Piranhas with the other stuff, and obviously once these
fish get even more than 3" long, they will need a massively larger aquarium.>
My nitrites & nitrates are always at 0 (i would assume due to the live plants)
and my ammonia is always in an acceptable range.
<There is NO ACCEPTABLE AMMONIA RANGE. Let me be crystal clear about this! If
you can DETECT ammonia, you've got problems. Period. End of discussion. Piranhas
are notoriously sensitive to ammonia, and any exposure to the stuff is life
threatening.>
Well i tested my ammonia lvl one day and it was at 8.0, so i decided to clean
all my filters and get the gunk out of them, rinse/change my filter media, and i
also added 2 3"x8" bags of carbon/ammonia reducer pellets. I vacuumed my gravel
thoroughly twice and did a 50% water change. I did not find any type of dead
fish or decaying matter other than what was in the gravel. I also tested my tap
water and its ammonia reading was 0 ...
<If you have this much ammonia in the system, you have MAJOR problems. Let's
take this one step at a time. Carbon is neither here nor there, and in most
freshwater tanks is a waste of space. Anything carbon can do, 50% weekly water
changes can do better -- and without the need for the carbon to be replaced
every month. Or the risk of removing medications. Next up, ammonia remover is
irrelevant here. Ammonia remover is for fixing very specific situations, e.g.,
hospital tanks or breeding tanks. You'd need huge amounts of the stuff for fish
on a high-protein diet, and you'd also need to replacing it all every few days.
So don't waste your time with it. Finally, if you have no ammonia in the tap
water, but lots in the fish tank, it means only this: overstocking, overfeeding,
under-filtration. Pick and choose from these. Likely more than one.>
so after doing my water change, i tested it and my ammonia WAS STILL AT 8.0!!! i
don't get it at all ... and not to mention my water looks dirty and my water
smells???
<Almost certainly overfeeding and/or under-filtering.>
i took out all the deco fake trees and everything too ... i don't understand
what is causing such a large ammonia reading ESPECIALLY after doing a water
change and cleaning all the gunk out of my filters ... like i said i did not
find any decaying matter at all so i do not understand y after such a large
water change my ammonia is still high ... PLS HELP ME bc im goin nuts trying to
figure out what's going on!
Thx for your help, i look forward to your knowledge ... thx again!
<You need to [a] stop feeding; and [b] remove everything but
mechanical/biological media from the filters; and [c] insure those filters are
mature/adequate to the task at hand. Simple as that! Hope this helps, Neale.>
How to clear 0.5 Ammonia
Level? – 03/07/08
Hello,
My 20cm Flowerhorn who is in a 55-gallon tank has stopped eating and changed
swimming behaviour for a week. The pet store tested the water, everything is OK
except ammonia level (0.5) and I was recommended to clean and use Ammo Chips for
the filter . I did as recommended but today when the pet store tested again. the
ammonia level is the same without improvement. I usually change water every day,
about 1 gallon every 1 or 2 days to remove fish feces. I don't know how the tank
got that ammonia level. Please show me how to remove the ammonia or any
solutions to use for ammonia removal.
Thank you.
Sophie
<Greetings. Ammonia-removing chemicals won't work in a situation like this.
Ammonia-removers are designed either to remove ammonia from tap water or from
small, lightly stocked aquaria where biological filtration can't work. In your
case, the problems are one or more of these: overstocking, under-filtration, or
overfeeding. Pick and choose. I'd recommend a program of major water changes per
week, at least 50%. The filter needs to be providing at least 6 times the volume
of the aquarium in turnover per hour (i.e, the filter used in your tank needs a
turnover of not less than 6 x 55 = 330 gallons per hour). Reduce the amount of
food you are providing; fish need no more than they can eat in a couple of
minutes. Big fish only a need a single meal per day, and skipping a meal once a
week will do no harm at all. Lean towards green rather than meaty foods to
provide energy with less protein, as this will also help. If you fail to manage
the aquarium as I've described, this fish will soon be dead: cichlids have very
little tolerance for ammonia. Cheers, Neale.>
Guppies... hlth., use,
dis-use of ammonia removing tap/source water treatment products
02/29/2008
I'm sorry for being a nuisance but I wonder if you could give me a bit of
advice, I purchased 2 male guppies and 2 female guppies yesterday to go with the
other guppies in my tank but two of the males have since died, I checked the
water and found that the PH, Nitrate and Nitrite were smack on the correct
level, but the ammonia gave a reading of 8.0.
<Means one of two things. Firstly, the filter could be completely immature
(i.e., the fish produce ammonia, but not ammonia gets converted to nitrite, let
alone nitrate, so you detect zero nitrite and whatever nitrate level you have in
your tap water. Alternatively, you have a source of ammonia above and beyond
what the filter can cope with, e.g., ammonia in the tap water, or a lot of
decaying organic material. Either way, extremely bad news.>
I added some "Ammo Lock" to the water but when I checked it this morning it was
still high so I changed a third of the water and added some "Tap Safe" I have
just checked the water again and whereas all the other readings are correct, the
ammonia is still between 4.0 and 8.0 so I added some "Interpet Ammonia Remover"
<OK, you're misunderstanding what these Ammo Lock-type products do. They do not
remove ammonia produced by the fish or from decay. All they do is neutralise
small (typically less than 0.5 mg/l) amounts of ammonia that sometimes are found
in tap water. If your tap water has ammonia, then obviously adding it to an
aquarium would be bad, so these product render than ammonia harmless. What they
CANNOT do is remove masses of ammonia constantly being produced by livestock or
decay in the aquarium. If it was that easy we wouldn't bother with filters! So
put them away; they are as much help here as a bottle of mineral water would be
for putting out a forest fire. You need to establish why your aquarium is
generating ammonia (because it is). Review: stocking, feeding, filtration. Do
also check you are using the correct dechlorinator: if your local water supplier
uses chloramine, but you use a dechlorinator that doesn't treat chloramine, you
end up with a measure of ammonia in each bucket of treated water. Stop feeding
the fish, for a start. Check the filter is running and mature. Do 50% water
changes DAILY until things get down to normal. Ammonia is incredibly toxic to
fish, and anything above zero will kill them quickly.>
Do you have any suggestions on why all the readings are fine apart from the
ammonia.
<Outlined above.>
The other thing which puzzles me is that although the guppies have died, all the
other fish are thriving, including two very small molly fry which are between a
third and half the size of my neon tetras. Many thanks for your help.
<Hmm... fish that have been in deteriorating conditions will adapt (to a point)
whereas new stuff added from a clean tank to a dirty tank will just keel over
and die. But the short answer is if you have ammonia in the water, then chances
are all the fish will die.>
Regards, Gaynor
<Hope this helps, Neale.>
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