Ammonia creeping up...

[Laughncat]

High all. I needs some help/suggestions concerning the rising levels of ammonia in my tank. I know, everybody gets tire of seeing these questions and I really did try to handle it on my own using the advice previously posted on here before asking. Much to my regret, I believe I did indeed stock my tank a litle faster then I should have.

*Sigh*

I was just worried that my little cory cat would be lonely with out two buddies (And he has indeed calmed down since I added them). I tried to redistribute my fish to keep from overloading the tank, but it hasn't seemed to help.

I originally had the following in my twelve gallon tank:

2 yellow fancy tail guppies
2 powder blue male dwarf gourami
1 reticulas cory cat

When I added two more Cory cats, I moved the two guppies to a five gallon tank that had just become stabilized.

Which left me with this composition:

2 powder blue dwarf gourami
3 reticulas (sp?) cory cats

Within three or four days, my ammonia levels were beginning to creep up. To try and slow ths down, I started doing 30-40% daily water changes and I moved one of the dwarf gourmi in with the guppies in their five gallon tank (Neither of the gouramis seem to like this. Both of them have become much more active and are constantly roaming around their tanks. i think they are looking for ezch other ).
Also I've cut the food I've been giving them as well. I feel terrible, but I haven't fed the fish in about two days in effort to cut down on the ammonia filled poop. Unfortuantely, things don't seem to be getting any better. In fact, I just did a water change and I'm still at about 1.5 - 2.0ppm of ammonia. I will say that my nitrites have been rising, but only a little. Maybe about .25 the last time I checked (yesterday).

Do you all have any suggestions one what else I can do? I worried that some of this might be part of an effect I've been reading about in some of the posts where people who have a planted tank will eventually experiance severe ammonia spikes

Alos, I was reading about something called Bio-spira (Ammonia and Nitrite bacteria suspended in solution that are supposed to help cycle a tank much faster)at marineland.com and I've also had a dealer recommend it to me. Does anyone think this might help? Has anyone used it before?

I'm jsut worried about my poor little fish suffering because of my mistakes

 

[Lithril]

Hiya. Rightie you'll have to excuse me I ask any really obvious questions but need a bit more info. how long has the tank been setup? Do you add a dechlorinater to the water when you do a partial change?

Adding plants will help as they can consume ammonia directly out of the tank.

Biospira provides bacteria for your filter and substrate but its not a cure, the bacteria still need time to grow and multiply to sufficient levels, if the tank has been running for a while then I can't see how it'll help unless you've lost your colony of bacteria, if the tank is new then it might be worth a shot.

It might also be worth putting an air stone in there to try and raise O2 levels.

 

[Alien Anna]

If you haven't done so already, please follow the link in my sig and read about cycling new tanks.

As for Bio-spira, I'm not at all sure about it but given the situation is quite desperate, it might be worth a try and I know several people I respect who use it.

 

[Laughncat]

Thank you Alien Anna and Lthril for your speedy replies.

Anna,

I have indeed read your link concerning new tank cycling (first thing I read when I found this forum ), but I had forgetten that you had info in there about the accidental uncycling of a tank.

Lithril,

My tank has been set up for over a month now, and it's only recently I began having problems. I ALWAYS use a dechlorinator on my water (Aqua Plus) and my tank is fairly well planted. Mostly with Cabomba and a little bit of Pennywort. I will add that I cleaned my filter media (activated charcoal insert for an Eclipse 12) about a week ago, but I only dunked it in AQUARIUM water, so that shouldn't have killed any of the extra bacteria that grows in it...right?

I realize that Bio-Spira is not going to be the magic soution to my problem, but I was wanting to know if it might be of some use in aiding me until I can get things back the way they should be. I probably going to go visit one of my LFS today and see what I can find.

I've been considering adding an airstone or a bubble wand for awhile and I'm probably going to look into this as well.

 

[bgraber]

Yeah, grab the 1oz package of biospira.. Add it all.. you can't "over-dose". There will be enough bateria in no time.. i might ease off with the water changes for a few days at least while the bacteria are multiplying.. But I've read that within a few hours they can multiply into the billions! :0 It worked for me..

 

[lgreenmk]

I've used Cycle in all three of my tanks and they all read within limits within one hour of starting them. The first and third tanks were completely from scratch and the middle one I used the filter from my first tank since they take the same one. These were also all BioWheel filter systems, so I'm not sure if that had something to do with them.

 

[Laughncat]

Alright, gang, I went out and bought some swag. I bought an Rena 50 air pump and an air stone, some Bio-Safe to help get rid of any ammonia that may already be in my water system as well as get rid of chloramin and chlorine, and lastly, a packet of Bio-Spira. The LFS told me to only use half of it for now (refrigerate the other half until my next water change) and to lay off the water changes for a couple of days unless things get really bad. He said that it will take 24-48 hours for me to get the full results and that water changes could hinder the process.

I've got my fingers crossed and I hope this works. I really want to get my two gourami back together in the same tank so they'll calm down. They've been acting really wierd ever since I seperated them.

In the mean time, I guess I can enjoy the pretty bubble mist that my new airstone puts out. It looks very pretty...maybe I can find a nice way to back light it to enhance the effect

 

[Debo]

Hi,
Be patient. I know it's hard to do and to not be concerned, but I went through this last summer. My ammonia levels got REALLY high and I was worried about my fish. What I did was to just leave it ans let nature take its course. The levels went way up............I stopped doing the water changes every day as I had been and in a week and a half everything stabilized. All the fish survivied..........They are now called "the survivors". It is a bit scary, but if you can just leave it alone and try not to be overly concerned it will take care of itself naturally. Hope this helps.
Deb

 

[Lithril]

Just been reading through, wondering if the charcoal could be your problem? Charcoal is only any good for short periods of time and can actually start leaking toxins back into the water again. A lot of people on this forum have stopped using charcoal except for the removal medication. Filter floss is much cheaper and IMO can give much better results.

 

[Laughncat]

I could always replace the fliter with a new one, I guess. I've been reluctant to do so right now though, since I was under the impression that helpful bacteria can colonize in the filter as well and I didn't want to suddely reduce my tanks ammonia/nitrite fighting ability at this time. My Eclipse tank uses a premade filter that just drops in the slot and I don't think I change the type of filter I use because of this

BTW, I was looking at my tank before I left for work a little while ago (I work third shift) and I noticed that my plants seemed to be perking up. The pennywort has been looking a little blah and unhealthy the last couple of days, but it seems to be turning a nice shade of green again. Wonder is this has anything to do with the Bio-Spira or the airstone I added today. Or course, it could just be my imagination....

 

[aquamanis]

I noticed that my plants seemed to be perking up. The pennywort has been looking a little blah and unhealthy the last couple of days, but it seems to be turning a nice shade of green again. Wonder is this has anything to do with the Bio-Spira or the airstone I added today. Or course, it could just be my imagination....

[/QUOTE] Not your immagination, probably the bacteria has converted the ammonia and nitrite into nitrates which plants love.

 

[Laughncat]

Thanks aquamanis! Glad to know that I may not be just wishing things to be better then they are.

In the past month, when I've dealt with issues relating to my aquatic plants, it seemed to me that they responded very quickly to changes in their enviroment, but I always thought I was just imagining it. Glad to know that I haven't been (and that my plants may be a living indicator of the health of my tank ).

 

[Laughncat]

Just checked my tank. I'm fairly sure the ammonia is going down. looks to be 1 ppm now and the nitrites are definately rising (up to .5 ppm from yesterdays barely .25 ppm). Hopefully, this is a sign my tank is finely starting to cycle itself again.

A new problem seems to be cropping up though. It looks like some sort of whitish plaque is begining to form in spots on the front of my tank and no amount of scrubbing seems to be taking it all off. Any ideas? My tank is acrylic...could that have anything to do with it. It's not real noticable yet, but I concerns me....

 

[bgraber]

Whitish stuff Could be bacteria colonies.. Now on the glass? Hmm. i just read someone that added the Bio-Spira noticed a little cloudiness for a few days, but not necessarily on the glass.. Maybe it's colonizing in tiny scratches on the inside of your tank? Have you ever cleaned the inside of it using anything other than a soft cloth?

 

[Laughncat]

Have you ever cleaned the inside of it using anything other than a soft cloth?

Nope. Today was the first day I tried anything rougher then a very soft sponge I was wondering if it might be some sort of mineral build up??