Fish Tank problem.. Help ASAP?

Question

Heres the story. I have a 29 gallon fish tank with 8 - 1 inch tetras, two small angelfish ( 1-1.5 inches each), 2 small (1.5 inch rams) and two barbs ( 2 inch). so total is about 18 inches or so. I am planning on upgrading to a bigger tank eventually so i figured that since i still had about 11 inches of space left, i bought 2 -3inch clown loaches. Before i did this, i asked 3 peple from 3 different sources and they all said it wolud be fine so i did it.
- Since i did the tank cycle process for the chemical stuff when i set up my tank, I have been doing regular water changes every week and doing everything properly for about 5 months now. - I have never had any chemical problems such as ammonia nitrate or nitrite. ever.
Problem. One week after i bought the loaches, my ammonia shot up and has ben really high for about 4 days now, so i have been changing 10% of the water daily. Tonight, i changed the water again and still high ammonia.
QUESTION
What went wrong, what do i do

oh ya , and i cant get rid of any of the fish cause none of the stores take fish back, and i am definately not flushing them and also, i cant get the bigger tank until next year or so so that cant be a solution.

Help Greatly appreciated

keep in mind that clown loaches actually grow really slow ( no offense to first person who anwered ) And thrre fish specialists told me that it would be fine to add two clown loaches.

I think its just a shoot and will go down soon but im not sure. Thats why im here trying to find out for sure.

Answer 1

The addition of the loachs would add more ammonia to the tank (and you're probably adding more food because of having them). But it's surprising that it took a week for the level to rise - it should have done this within a few days, and be on it's way down by now.

My first question to you would be if you've taken a water sample and had it tested by another source to confirm your own results (test strips go bad quickly, and liquid reagents go after 4-5 years, but can also be touchy if you don't clean the tubes well, and don't hold the bottles of reagent properly so you get uniform-sized drops).

I'd also wonder if the problem is with your water conditioner or water source. If your conditioner only removes chlorine and your water company uses (or recently changed to) chloramine, the conditioner will only break the bond between the chlorine and ammonia molecules, leving this in your tank. Same with any product that says it "breaks the chloramine bond". You want something to neutralize or removes chloramine. You can test this by doing a test just on a container of tapwater and reading your conditioner label (since you may not be able to contact your water company until Monday). Also, if you use a conditioner that "neutralizes ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc." while these may be neutralized, they will still show up on water tests. You would do better to get the level down through water changes, then you know if it's treated ammonia or untreated (toxic) that you're dealing with.

You don't mention if your fish are showing signs of ammonia stress (gasping at the surface, loss of appetite, lethargy, split fins, red streaking on fins or body) - if so, you may need to do 1-2 larger water changes to bring the ammonia down to acceptable levels and go from there.

NOTE: Clown loaches grow big, but they grow slowly, so you have a little time to get them moved. But if I were you, I would stop using the one-inch-per-gallon "rule" which has been outdated for some time. This was only meant to be used with smaller fish to begin with, and there's a big difference in the amount of wastes produced by 14 one-inch neon tetras and 1 fourteen-inch clown loach. The "rule doesn't take into consideration things like filtration, tank surface area (for oxygen/CO2 exchange), aggression/territoriality of the fish, activity level of the fish, your feeding habits, your committment to cleaning and maintenance, etc.

Answer 2

First of all, the once inch per gallon is crap. Second, if you were to use it, you need to take into account the maximum size, unless you plan on getting a much larger tank in a few months as the fish grow.

You angels also get large, so you would need a new tank for them too.

Its not that the fish grow slow, its that they can't grow much in the tank their in now.

What went wrong--you have too many fish. You didn't do your own research. Don't trust the pet store employees, most of them know nothing. Instead, get a book and read it, or go online and look up each individual fish.

You also probably added too many fish at once and could have caused the tank to cycle again.

Answer 3

ok so far ur doin good the clown loaches get to 1-2 feet(1.8 personal record) clown loaches are big time problems for ammonia keep doin 10 percent water changes and in about 1-2 weeks you can have stable ammonia also you need at least a 55 gallon for the whole setup now so if ur plannin on gettin 1 ur already maxed out best bet try to look for fish clubs in ur area, clown loaches are pretty high in demand right now they will understand and probably gladly take ur loaches
if you must have loaches get 3 zebra loaches look em' up they have the nice personality of cories with the snail controll of a dwarf puffer fish and only grow to 4 inches

heres a biggy NEVER BELIEVE THE PET STORE PEOPLE
they take a 4 hour class and are thrust on the floor not only are they uneducated but probably stressed out too.

Answer 4

You are on overload! those gold fish get Big (mine grew to 6 in. in 3 months) and they produce a lot of ammonia from their waste. the loaches over did it. You shouldn't have the angels in that tank because of other species you are keeping. That is past over doing it.

P.S. do a lot of research because i could write an essay on everything you have screwed-up!! Sorry!

Answer 5

do a 30 % water change instead of the tens and wait a few days. change the charcoal and get some amquel dont feed the fish for two days and then feed them sparingly. also put an airstone and get the air to help cirulate the water. good luck.

Answer 6

this is a bit beyond my knowledge of fish...but it sounds like you threw off your levels when adding the loaches.

loaches grow pretty big, and i think you have overstocked your tank. fish grow somewhat quickly, and will outgrow that tank before a year.

i suggest going to the pet store and getting some treatment or the ammonia will kill your fish.

Answer 7

it is probably NTS. (new tank syndrome). sometimes it happens if you add more than 1 fish at a time. best thing i can think of is to get some "stress zyme" and "stress coat" at the pet store it helps the bacterial cycle and as the name says it is for stress.

Answer 8

get some waste control and see if it helps