What's a quick and easy way to lower the ammonia in my tank?

Question

I don't have the chance to get to the store until tomorrow night (in college, don't have transportation), and I need a quick way to lower the ammonia. I've done a couple of 25% water changes over the past couple of days, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. I treat the water with this stuff that instantly makes tapwater safe.

Answer 1

Believe it or not, the water changes have been helping. With out them you would probably have dead fish by now. Just increase the size of the water changes to as much as 50% to keep the ammonia to level the fish can handle until the cycle kicks in and takes care of the problem. Depending on several factors, this can be a few weeks from the time you started the tank.

The bacteria in a bottle Gary mentioned is a good idea to speed up the process. I would recommend the refrigerated type as it's usually fresher. Check the date! Other than that I wouldn't suggest the use of any chemicals to lower the ammonia, they usually cause more trouble than they fix.

MM

Answer 2

Why is the ammonia level spiking? As mentioned, if you didn't cycle the tank then fully stocked it, your fishes' waste has now reached toxic levels. The quickest way without purchasing an ammonia bonding solution is water changes. 25% is not enough if you've reached toxic levels, anymore than giving you a blast of 25% oxygen would help if you were in a room filled with mustard gas!
Do 50% water changes twice a day. Do not clean any of the tank or the filter media! This is really important. Here's the quickest breakdown of cycling. Your water is a blank slate (after dechlorinating..haha). You add fish. The fish excrete waste by breathing, eliminating, etc. You add food to feed said fish. Anything uneaten starts to degrade = more ammonia. After ammonia spikes, usually a few days to a week after you add the fish (depending how many and what type they are!), a new bacteria called nitrate forms, eating up the ammonia almost as quick as it is produced. Nitrate, though not as toxic as ammonia, is still harmful. Ammonia will literally burn the fish: their eyes, worse..their gills! High nitrates harm the fish in that they cannot as effectively absorb oxygen and then they slowly asphyxiate. After 2-3 weeks (yes..weeks!) you will start to see a rise in another bacteria called nitrite..the GOOD bacteria. It will eat up the nitrates. This bacteria grows on surfaces: your gravel, tank walls, inside the filter, etc. If you go cleaning this off, you'll start to cycle again. Bad news for your fish.
Also, bear in mind, that any fish that go through a cycle will have weakened immune systems. Especially those that weathered the ammonia cycle. Remove as much of the water as possible...50 - 60%. That immediately removes the majority of the ammonia by sheer volume.
Oh..and don't forget, with ammonia binders you may also get false positive readings. The ammonia is still in the water, but bonded so the fish cannot be harmed by it. If you have overstocked too early, you may want to see about taking some of the fish back and slowly add them as your tank becomes established.
One last thing, if the dechlorinator you're using to make the water safe is one of the ones that has uses for destressing fish, add a little extra to the water to give them a bit of a boost.
Good luck :) Let us know how it turns out!

Answer 3

What is probably happening is you've removed all the bacteria that break down the waste. If you remove 25% of the water and replace it, do that no more than two days in a row. Then take a day off. After a while, you've gotten too much of a good think.
You may just have to let your fish "tough it out" for a while.
Keep in mind ammonia is less toxic at lower temperatures and lower pH. For example, it is OK in the short term to have 3.6 ppm at 77° when the pH is 7.0. If the pH is 7.5, then only 1.2ppm is OK.
This is basic high school chemistry.
Of course if you lower your temperature, you invite things like ich. There is good news, the more waste in the water, the lower the pH will be. Urine has a pH of about 5.5. Doesn't take much to drop the pH.
If your tap water has a pH of 7.0 and your tank is at 6.0, most likely that's because it hasn't been cleaned. If it is cycled, nitrates will also be high, like over 40ppm.
What you need to do is get the tank cycled as quickly as possible. That means less water changes, less amounts changed for now.
Something you can do to shorten the cycle time is to use products containing bacteria spores that in the presence of ammonia (food) will become active. Products like Hagen Cycle, API StressZyme and Kordon ZymBac will shorten cycle times by about 30%.
Also look at this... http://www.aq-products.com/AP/biozyme.htm
I've just tried it starting about a week ago, and I a m pleased with how it dealt with a "mini-cycle" after cleaning and a filter replacement.
Others like a refrigerated product called Bio-Spira from Marineland. Supposedly these are active bacteria, not spores, and work even quicker. I don't know this for sure, but I'm sure it helps.
Good luck. e-mail me if you have any other questions.

Answer 4

Goldfish require 20 gallons for the first fish and 10 for each further fish. you also favor to cycle a tank before you upload fish so that they don't wade through with the help of the technique and characteristic the poisonous outcomes of ammonia. pH rather isn't a huge deal to maximum fish. Your tank length is acceptable for a betta with a heater or some guppies or platies, perchance 5 tetra's yet no longer goldfish. **

Answer 5

Lemme guess what happen
scenario 1-you just recently bought a fish and stuffed it with fish
scenario 2-you cleaned all your gravel, removed all your water, and changed your filter.
If the first one is your problem then you can do either of the following options
1-remove your fish and store them somewhere else till your tank clears which usually takes a week since your tank is not cycled yet
2-buy the bacteria you need to cycle your tank from the store
3-do a 30 percent water change and wait till you have transportation
if your problem is is the second one then do either of the following.
1-your tank will be cloudy for a long time no matter how many times you do water changes, so the best idea is to remove all your fish and give them back or hold them somewhere else till your tank is cycled. you can speed up the process by getting beneficial bacteria from the store
2-Go buy the beneficial bacteria from the store (20 dollar large sized) and dump it all in your tank at once. and after 5 days do a 20 percent water change. If your water gets cloudy, dont worry. It just means that there is a heavy supply of ammonia in your tank, and the beneficial bacteria will kick him soon. Also make sure your tank is dechlorinated because that can prohibit bacteria growth. Also try adding half a tea spoon of salt to remove the bad bacteria.

Answer 6

100% water change, that will put ammonia to 0. I'm just curious, how big is your tank and what is in it?

Answer 7

OK well when u do have transportation there these fish that eats ammonia buy a whole bunch of them and maybe you should have thought bout that before you got the fish

Answer 8

i think if you changed almost all the water, cleaned the gravel, and cleaned the filter and the carbon this would work.