Aquarium amonia levels?

Question

No matter what my husband and I do, we can't get the amonia levels in the safe range. It stays right between 'stress' and 'harmful'. We've done water changes, vacuumed the gravel, done more water changes, added a little salt, added some Cycle to the tank, cut back on feeding them.....We did a 25% water change last night while vacuuming and about an hour later, it was still in that 'stress' to 'harmful' range. Nothing seems to help.

We have a 55 gallon tank and we have in it: 2 dwarf gouramis, 2 reg. gouramis, 2 lg. angels, 4 conga tetras, one ghost knife, one clown loach and 2 albino cory cats.

Any advice? Thanks so much! :)

We started our tank on April 30th and we have a Penguin Bio-Wheel 350. :)

Answer 1

I am guessing this is a fairly new tank? By the sounds of it you haven't allowed the tank complete its cycle properly.

Being a breeder for decades, I have cycled dozens & dozens of tanks. Please people, stop advising others to do water changes mid-way through a cycle. All this does is upset the growing levels of bacteria and in most cases will completely re-start the whole cycle.
If the fish are still alive then it is likely they have somewhat adapted to toxic conditions (it knocks them around but they learn to live with it). Let the cycle complete on its own. Nature has developed this perfect process and it will resolve itself - by itself, if you leave it alone.
Contrary to mass 'uninformed' opinion, Ammonium Ions (NH4+) are NOT toxic to fish. In tanks where the ph is high (alkaline), there will be more Ammonia (NH3) present and this is somewhat toxic, but not necessarily fatal.

Do not add ammonia removing chemicals. All this does is starve the growing bacterium colony and the cycle will start again. Do not change the water again, don't clean the gravel (it disturbs the infant bacteruim colonies), and reduce feeding by at least 60%. The fish won't starve!

The key here is Patience, Patience, Patience!

I guarantee if you let nature take its course wihout interferance the Ammonia will disappear and shortly after, the nitrites will vanish. Then, and only then should you do a partial water change to reduce the probably high nitrate levels.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

The only thing I can advise is patience. You don't say how long the tank has been running, but it sounds like less than 2 months. If this is the case then it has not yet completed the process of cycling. Again, if so, continue with the water changes as needed to keep the ammonia levels below harmful range and eventually the cycle will complete and ammonia levels will drop to zero.

I would advise against using cycle or any similar products as in my opinion and experience they aren't usually wirth the bottle they are in. Salt also won't help at this point, it won't hurt, but won't help either.

If in fact your tank has been running for well over 2 months and you stoill see this level of ammonia then I would suggest that the filter may be under sized for the tank or isn't moving water adequately.

MM

Answer 3

Following up on MM's sound advice, I'd also like to mention that vaccuming your gravel should be reduced during cycling. One thing I learned myself is that you have a signifcant amount of your bio filter in your gravel bed, and when you vaccum that, you remove some of it. You may also have too many fish starting out this cycle as well. Bear in mind, fish respiration itself produces ammonia, along with fish waste, food waste, and decaying plant matter. I started out with a few danio's and platty's took me just about 30-35 days on my first tank, and as I stocked up with bigger sizes, there were some small temporary spikes. Cycle and Bio Speria has inconsistant results. I have seen it work sometimes, sometimes it doesn't. The best thing you might want to get to assist the growth of your bio filter might be seeding it. Use a sterile nylon, get some gravel from an established tank and let it sit in the water for a few days.

As mentioned also by MM, if none of that helps bring the levels down, then it may be a filtration issue. What kind and size of filter do you have? I double mine up. Those filters say rated for x amount of gallons, but I decided to add on a second filtration unit to my tanks, and it did so much wonders I did it for all of them. Are your fish showing any distress signs? Try not to water change quite as much, as MM said, you really need to let it run its course over time. If it starts approaching lethal levels, take immediate action, but roughly speaking, your bio filter takes about 24 hours to double in size.

On your follow up info, good choice on filter, I like the biowheel for having greater surface area contact then most other filters. Your cycle is only a couple weeks into it, and there are times when it takes longer then other sites say ammonia will drop. As MM said, just be patient and don't try to treat this outside of water changes. I know how you feel, but you have to let this run it's course.

Answer 4

If you are doing everything you can to fix it and it's not fixing itself, whatever you're using to measure it could be off. The fish are a better barometer for your tank than any pH strip. If the fish act happy, healthy, and are just fine where they are, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If they start acting stressed, upset and sickly, then I would start worrying about the ammonia. All of that constant cleaning and cycling is going to stress them out more than the ammonia will. And some fish are alright with higher ammonia levels. Have you checked the acceptable levels for your little dudes? I've owned tanks with almost exactly the same combo of fish and never had to worry about the ammonia, nor did I check it unless my little dudes were freaked out about something. I've had them for several years now. ^_^

Answer 5

don't feed the fish for a week ,do three water changes a 25%tonight a 15% on Friday and a 15% on Sunday then only feed the fish every 3 days just a small amount for a couple of weeks. don't worry not feeding them for a week wont hurt them they can cope, and there's probably quite a bit of food floating about in there already ,also try adding some bactinites to the filter that can help as well . you might find it just could be a simple case of over feeding them , good luck

Answer 6

Buy another test kit. It sounds as if that one is bad. If you still have high ammonia levels. Back off on feeding amounts and go to every other day while using a product made by SeaChem called "Prime". Also make sure no rotting corpses are stuck in the filter or other areas of your decor. I think your tank is fine and its nothing more than your test kit.

Answer 7

it could have under pressure them for constructive, yet while they dont seem ill, then there's no reason to anticipate they are. If something like that happens returned, dont be afraid to do vast partial water differences. It wont mess along with your cycle, besides the incontrovertible fact that it may save your fish. Ian

Answer 8

Try adding some baking soda. It really works, I go to school and we are in shop, my shop is all fish tanks. So I really know how to care for fish. But add the baking soda and see what happens from there. Try and research on the internet also or contact you local pet store.

Answer 9

You can also purchase ammonia reducing media. Try white diamond in your filter.

Answer 10

I just emailed you... Just too much to tell you in the little space they give you here!

Patience is key... See the email!