advice please?

Question

hi basically ive done a ammonia test today and the results are off the chart... the nitrite and nitrate levels are both zero.. could there be a problem with the breakdown of the ammonia... i had to do a full water change nearlly 2 weeks ago because my 2 year old found the fish food and fed all of it in one go... it was so bad i couldnt see the fish.. anyway since then its been hard to keep the levels of ammonia down ive done partial water changes and the last one was 2 nights ago... is there anything else i can do (other than adding amnolock which doesnt seem to do anything) i would be grateful for some serious replies... im no expert but have some experience... thankyou

Answer 1

What everyone else missed is that you did a complete waterchange, which explains your high ammonia as well as no nitrates

Stop using ammo lock, it's doing more harm then good

Your tank is going through cycling, that means nitrites will be converted into nitrates, and you're stopping that to happen by using ammo lock

you will need to do partial waterchanges of at least 10%-15% daily until your cycle is completed

Which means you will see a raise in ammonia as well as nitrites, but once your nitrites fall you will see nitrates to start showing, which is a good sign and shows that your tank is almost done cycling

in the end you should have
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate below 25

here is a site with a grafic which explains it really good
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php




Hope that helps
good luck



EB

Answer 2

Well first, Ammo-Lock is a curse in disguise. It does neutralize the ammonia, but it does not break it down, so it will continue to show up on your tests for weeks to come, regardless of the level of actual toxic ammonia in your tank.

My suggestion is to do very small partial water changes once per week, ditch the Ammo-Lock, and being adding liquid bacteria supplement and water conditioner (this contains compounds which coat the fish's skin and can help protect it from ammonia burn). Add both liquids once per week, when you do the changes. Try not to clean your gravel or change your filter in the mean time, you need to let the good bacteria replenish itself there. It's going to take a while for your tank to recover, but if the water is clear and the fish seem okay, you're probably not as bad off as you think.

Next time, lock up the fish food. :-)

Answer 3

Hi hattie-milly,
I second what Alyssa and Christian have already said but would like to add another thought to help explain the situation:

EDIT

....removed...

Sorry, I was in too much of a hurry and didn't check my facts, but I think what I said initially was wrong; I had a quick look at the instruction booklet that comes with my test kit and according to them, the bacteria can still break down the ammonia once it has been neutralised by ammolock.

Many apologies!

Regards
chirpy

Answer 4

If you added ammo-lock, it is more likely that you would have a higher reading because ammo-lock just breaks neutralizes all that ammonia and you might thinks it's ammonia.

Don't add any ammo-lock and do some water changes and try to feed your fish instead of everyday feed them every two days like monday, wednesday and friday.