Ammonia taking off

[longdrinkofwater31]

I just added another fish to my tank two days ago and at the same time i cleaned the sides of my tank from all of the algae. Now my ammonia is starting to go up. It is at 0.5 ppm last i checked. what do i need to do so that it will go back down and not kill all of my fish. ANd what should i do to prevent this from happeneing again. I know that i probably have too many fish in my tank with it only being a 7 gallon, but there is nothing that i can do about it now. I just need to get this under control.

 

[J-Money]

first off, have you cycled your tank? or are you tryin' to cycle the tank with the fish?

next...your tank is small, so any addition will prolly show a change in readings until your filtration can overcome the additional nitrates and such provided by a new fish. saltwater fish actually produce the ish when they breathe, not just poo, unlike freshwater fish. What kind of fish do you have in your tank? The only things i can think of to help the spike are either a skimmer if you don't have one and lots of water changes for a minute until the parameters level off

 

[jimdogg187]

Get some amquel or prime. Put it in the tank. Don't add anymore fish. Please a buy a book and read it. This is not like freshwater (if that is your background). These fish come from the ocean. You are trying to recreate the OCEAN in a 7 gallon tank. God himself might have difficulty doing this. I'm not trying to be rude so please don't take this the wrong way. There is much research to be done. Saltwater is an expensive hobby and 7 gallons is pushing it for even the best hobbists out there. Remember, you want to create an optimum environment for these beautiful creatures. Please take this advice without offense and good luck to you. This is a great forum with lots of help. Everyone here wants to help. But you can't put more than one SW fish in a 7 gallon tank. I hope this helps, Jim