Ammonia And Nitrate Problems

[TraceyB]

Hello

I recently bought a second hand Aqua one UFO 550 75 l tank .... I have now developed problems with bot ammonia and nitrate levels..... I have tries Aquarium salts, stress zyme and partial water changes but hasn't helped.... Against my better judgement I added ammonia remover, this seems to have helped a little bit in reducing the ammonia levels. My nitrate levels are still high reading about 20ppm which is still to high.... I have placed a nitra zorb into the filter system...... Will this help and how long do I need to keep it in for to see some results........



My community tanks has Neon Tetras, Danios, Gouramis, Red tail black shark and a cat fish



ANY HELP AND OR ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED AS I DON'T WANT TO LOSE ANY OF MY FISH

Thanks for reading


Tracey

 

[ZoddyZod]

your nitrate levels are absoloutely fine.

what is the actual ammonia level?

salts and stress zyme will do nothing to remove ammonia.

....and welcome to the forum!

 

[fluttermoth]

Nitrate at 20ppm is not high; a lot of people have more than that in their tap water, let along in their tank! Nitrate is only dangerous to fish at very high levels (like 100ppm or more), so you don't need to worry about that.

What was the ammonia level? Ammonia is dangerous at anything over 0.25ppm, so you need to get that down. Unless you have ammonia in your tap water, large water changes will reduce the level, but they normally do have to be large changes; 40 or 50%.

 

[DrRob]

OK, several questions.

How long has the tank been up and running?
What exactly do you have in the tank? Numbers help.
What cycling method did/are you using?
How are you testing the levels? i.e. what test kit?

Most importantly, what exactly are the ammonia levels? Different people have different definitions of bad or OK.

There's probably a lot more information that would help us to help you, but that lot will start us off.

You see, that's why Zoddy was made mod. He remembers to welcome people as well.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[TraceyB]

your nitrate levels are absoloutely fine.

what is the actual ammonia level?

salts and stress zyme will do nothing to remove ammonia.

....and welcome to the forum!

Ammonia level just checked and reading closer to 0.25ppm using API freshwater master test Kit

I added the salts and stress zyme in the case the fish might not be coping

Re checked the nitrate levels and reads between 20 - 40ppm must be the lighting but checked it several times against the white back ground and seems higher since I last checked............ I have water ready to change, will it be OK to leave it till the morning ??? I have been fusing about the tank all day It has brought back memories of being a new parent ..... worry worry worry.... !!!!!!

 

[TraceyB]

OK, several questions.

How long has the tank been up and running?
What exactly do you have in the tank? Numbers help.
What cycling method did/are you using?
How are you testing the levels? i.e. what test kit?

Most importantly, what exactly are the ammonia levels? Different people have different definitions of bad or OK.

There's probably a lot more information that would help us to help you, but that lot will start us off.

You see, that's why Zoddy was made mod. He remembers to welcome people as well.

Welcome to the forum.

I bought the tank from a friend and used most of his medium to keep it running I must admit though it did need a bit of clean out but nothing harsh was used to do that..... I'm wondering if I destroyed the good bacteria in the process.......

There are a total of 11 fish in the tank

The cycle currently is noodles (ceramics) along with filter pads and filter wool in one container and carbon bags, black filter and wool in the other...

I have placed a nitro zorb in one side to try and help the nitrate level ..... WILL THIS MAKE A DIFFERENCE???

Levels are as follows

PH 7.0 (nutrin test kit)
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrate level 20-40ppm
Both tested using API freshwater master test kit

I did go to my local aquarium shop for advice, the assistant said he would give me a filter he has running from his tank at home.... Will this help ???


Can you advise as to what odd behaviour I would expect to see esp in my catfish?

Sorry for all the qu's

Thanks fir the welcome

And thanks for the welcome

Nitrate at 20ppm is not high; a lot of people have more than that in their tap water, let along in their tank! Nitrate is only dangerous to fish at very high levels (like 100ppm or more), so you don't need to worry about that.

What was the ammonia level? Ammonia is dangerous at anything over 0.25ppm, so you need to get that down. Unless you have ammonia in your tap water, large water changes will reduce the level, but they normally do have to be large changes; 40 or 50%.

Levels are as follows

PH 7.0 (nutrin test kit)
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrate level 20-40ppm
Both tested using API freshwater master test kit

Thanks

 

[TraceyB]

Tested the water again and did a partial water change still no change in nitrate level sitting at about 20ppm .. My catfish isnt happy... Will this do lasting damage to him ?? or kill him???......

 

[Prime Ordeal]

20ppm nitrate isn't going to harm your cat fish at all. Did you test your tap water for nitrate...you'll probably find that it has 20ppm in it already and if so you can't easily reduce it below that level.

Also I notice you haven't given a reading for nitrIte. You already have elevated levels of ammonia and you'll probably find your nitrite is high as well. Individually or together each of those will be causing your problems and not the nitrAte. Make water change to keep both under 0.25ppm.

 

[balajake]

What are your nitrite levels ?

 

[DrRob]

OK, Ignore the nitrozorb, it's not necessary, but I'd probably try to avoid messing with your filter if at all possible and I doubt it's hurting, so I'd leave it alone unless you're messing with the filter for a reason.

Balajake is quite correct to ask your nitRITE levels. NitRATE, as said above, is not all that toxic unless the levels get very high. I have more nitrate than that in my tap water and fish are perfectly happy in my tap water tanks.

Nitrite however is quite toxic, and the bacteria that break them down can be a pain at times about growing back.

I suspect that you've lost a lot of the live bacteria and that's why you're having problems. Essentially puts you in a fish-in cycle. Not the end of the world, just harder work at the beginning. If your friend has an active filter, that's been on a tank stocked with fish, then it should certainly help, as that would take a lot of the load and pressure off.

Trying to clarify how this happened, how long was the tank empty of fish/media dried out before you took over, and how long was the tank empty afterwards? Also, what did you use to clean things? Generally the advice is to only clean filter media in water from the tank it's in. The tank itself you should be fine cleaning, so long as the cleaner wouldn't then get into the filter and kill the bacteria.

Your synodontis catfish would show signs like reddening of the gills, gasping at the surface, lying on the bottom (not really the best clinical sign to use to diagnose a problem in a catfish) and general lack of energy. It may be suffering as it's the biggest fish in the tank and therefore needs more oxygen than the other, so a gill problem would be a challenge to it. It may simply be more susceptible to the water problems that you're having at the moment.

If you read the advice on fish-in cycling in the beginners section you'll find a bit about water changes and keeping toxic levels down, ideally as low as possible. Remember that if you do a 50% water change you can only really expect a 50% drop in the toxin levels as well, so sometimes much larger water changes are needed if the tank is having trouble. I've done 90% changes before a few days running after a tank had trouble.

 

[TraceyB]

What are your nitrite levels ?

When checked both last night and this morning the levels were showing zero........

 

[balajake]

If you want lower nitrate levels then you could try cleaning your filter pads in a bucket of your tank water.

 

[TraceyB]

If you want lower nitrate levels then you could try cleaning your filter pads in a bucket of your tank water.

Would that help due to the fact the nitrate levels are high. Would I not just be recycling it?

 

[balajake]

I don't think so but someone else could answer that. You could do it in clean dechlorinated water but be careful to not destroy your good bacteria.

 

[TraceyB]

20ppm nitrate isn't going to harm your cat fish at all. Did you test your tap water for nitrate...you'll probably find that it has 20ppm in it already and if so you can't easily reduce it below that level.

Also I notice you haven't given a reading for nitrIte. You already have elevated levels of ammonia and you'll probably find your nitrite is high as well. Individually or together each of those will be causing your problems and not the nitrAte. Make water change to keep both under 0.25ppm.
[/quote


No I never even thought of trying that....... Will try it when I test the tank later tonight