I have consistently high ammonia levels in my fish tank.?

Question

My tank is freshwater with 12 small community tropical fish.
I have a power filter and an under gravel filter. My tank is 3 months old. My ammonia level is 8 with an API liquid tester.
I add ammo lock every other day, I change 25% of the water when I vacuum every week and I have ammo chips in my filter, and I add water conditioner and aquarium salt to the water.
The pH is 6.6, hard water, no nitrates of nitrites. I've recently been trying to raise my pH, but the water is not responsive to this treatment. My fish look okay, but I feel I've been adding too much ammonia remover. Someone please help me.

My tank is 29g. I read that the liquid ammonia tester is accurate despite the non toxic ammonia. I also read that the low pH will prevent the bacteria from growing. What do you think?

Answer 1

I would also say stop using chemicals to try to get the ammonia lower. Some of these products still allow ammonia to show up on your water tests. There's no way your fish would be alive if the ammonia level was 8 (0.8 maybe, but even this would be stressful for them!).

What's also of concern is that you don't have nitrite or nitrate yet. The nitrite should begin to show up by the end of the first week (definitely by the second week), and the nitrate should appear by the third week.

Your ammo lock may not be be making the converted ammonia available to the bacteria that cycle the tank, and this is why none is being converted. The only way you can get the tank to properly cycle is to stop using both the ammo lock and the zeolite (ammo chips). I would do a few water changes over the next few days (starting with a 50% change the next two days to remove most of the ammo lock), then go to 20% changes skipping a day in between. This should remove most of the chemicals, and keep the ammonia level low enough so your fish aren't harmed. From there, you can continue to do the 25% weekly changes, or as indicated by your water tests (try to keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.5 until the tank has cycled, at which point both should be zero).

Also, be familiar with the signs of ammonia and nitrite poisoning, in the event a water change is necessary before a week would be up.

Answer 2

Well, stop using the ammo chips and ammo lock to start. You'll still get a "false positive" with a lot of those products. You don't say how long the tank has been set up, but either way it's not cycled if you're removing the ammonia with ammo chips. If there's no ammonia, the tank won't cycle.

Now, with your ph at 6.6, ammonia isn't toxic to fish. At 7.0 it gets converted to a nontoxic form, so stop trying to raise your ph as well. And actually, you should just leave it alone anyway because fish can tolerate a wide ph from 6.0-8.0-especially community fish. A stable ph is better then one that fluctuates, and that's what happens when you try to adjust it-it ends up crashing or rising which stresses or kills the fish.

You dont' say what size the tank is or what kind of fish. Your problem may be that it's overstocked. Undergravel filters are another issue. They tend to trap all the uneaten food and fish waste in there, which will cause poor water quality. I'd recommend removing it when you feel up to the task :)

Take out the ammo chips, stop using the ammo lock, and let it be to cycle. Again, with the low ph, the fish should be fine. Keep an eye out for your nitrites, they'll eventually spike-and stress the fish. You'll need to do daily water changes till they drop. Once your ammonia and nitrites are at 0 ppm, and some nitrates, your tank will be cycled, and hopefully you won't have that problem anymore. Keep the nitrates under 20 ppm by doing weekly water changes, at least 25%, and vacuum the gravel once a week as well.

If you're tank is overstocked, you'll have constant problems with the water quality, so consider getting rid of some of the fish.

Answer 3

well first off, how many gallons is your tank? you should have at least a 15 gallon tank for 12 tropical fish. anything less than that will be overcrowded! overcrowding = waiste=ammonia... and in a cycled tank you would see nitrates and nitrates...and then theyll all die. how much are you feeding. try feeding only what the fish will eat in 3 minutes each day. just make sure you are doing that 25% water each week and getting all the leftover food out. really come to think of it...the low pH is a direct result of the waiste the food breaks down into. try feeding frozen brine shrimp or blood worms...and try not to change your water pH. get fish that are used to that pH, like tetras, gouramis, and angels.... fish can not handle anything more than a .2 change in anything so be careful with pH treatments!!!

Answer 4

Buy a bottle of Prime by Seachem. It converts the ammonia, nitrate and nitrites to a non-toxic form but leaves them available to the bacteria so that you can build a suitable biofilter. It also conditions your water removing the chlorine and chloramine as well as promoting the slime coat.

You can also use it once a week in "maintenance mode" to keep any spikes in those chemicals.

I wouldn't use ammo lock or ammo-chips. A big bottle of prime costs about $10 US and will treat 5000 gals so you won't have to buy any for a while.

Also, when you do water changes, add about 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. It will help buffer and normalize your PH...

I'm not a shill for seachem, I just use and stand by that product. Its saved many a fish from death.

Answer 5

I used to use AmmoLock too, but found out it was bad! You can read more about that in my profile, then go to my questions and reading about it. Stop using it!

Anyway, keep up the water changes, and eventully the ammonia should go away. Sorry I can't help you much, I am currently dealing with the exact same problem! I will let you know if anything happens ;)

FishieFin

Answer 6

No matter the tank or filter size we all seem to have to do frequent water changes. Try doing 3 - 20% changes a week until you get your ammonia levels manageable. I have goldfish and they are requiring it every other day until I get it under control. Depending on the levels, you might want to consider a 50% change to start. Just be sure to make sure the water is safe/treated before adding it to your tank.

Answer 7

your tank isnt cycling with all that ammonia junk. no more chemicals. the chips should be more than enough.

the only other guess would be you are way over feeding. but i think if you stop using the ammonia chemicals your tank will start to settle down.

you can increase your ph with some limestone or other sedimentary rock. it will increase the hardness too though. don't use ph chemicals.

please stop relying on chemicals.

Answer 8

I've read that with Ammo Lock, your ammonia readings will stay high because the NH3 is still detected even though it has been converted to a non-harmful form.

Answer 9

well i had ammonia in my tank once so i took all my decorations stones gravel filter and rinsed them out carefuly with warm water then i went to my local fish store and boaght
some stuff call ammo chips i put it in the tank and all the ammonia went away