ammonium level reaches 0.50ppm mg/l what do I do? Help plz!?

Question

It has increased dramatically. It was fine yesterday.

Okay, do I need to do a 10 percent water change? I did it yesterday.

Is it okay to use boiled water - as this will not contain chlorine.

sorry it's now 1....no wonder why the fish keeps lying on the bottom.

Answer 1

Only use boiled water as long as it has cooled to roof temperature other wise you will cook your fish.

Personally i prefer to use water straight from the tap and add 5mls of aqua safe (available at any good pet store) to water which destroys the chlorine.

I recently had ammonia problem with a new tank.

When the levels got high i did a 50% water change and bought tank buddies ammonia fizz tablets (avaible at any good pet store) i add the aqua safe to the new water before it goes in teh tank and drop a tablet in there as well then once its desoloved popped the water in the tank.

If this is a new tank then ammonia will be a problem for a while. Do a 20% water change everyday then when your fish perk up and the water looks better and doesnt smell bad try leaving the water change to every other day.

Also if this is a new tank then the biological filter in your tank (which removes ammonia) hasnt had time to grow, it can take up too 6 weeks from the date you first put fish in. Luckily you can buy a chemical you can add to the tank to speed up this process called stress zyme. (avaible at any good pet store)

Hope this was helpful and best of luck with your fish,

Darkness

Answer 2

Do a 50 % water change to get the level down. You may need to do another tomorrow.

Boiling and letting the water cool (or adding a few ice cubes) will work. Add the new water SLOWLY.

NOTE: Although boiling may remove chlorine, I don't know what effect it will have if what your water company uses is chloramine. It would be better to buy a chlorine/chloramine neutralizer to be sure that chloramine is removed if this is what your water company uses (a phone call to their office will let you know).

You may need to increase the amount of your regular water changes if your level goes from ) to 1 in a day. Make certain tou aren't overfeeding - only give the fish what they can eat in 2-3 minutes, twice a day. Some products that are used to "neutralize" ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, but these will still show up on your test results. It's best not to use these on a regular basis so you know if the readings reflect toxic ammonia, or ammonia that's already been neutralized.