Constant High Ammonia Levels In Established Tank - Help!

[KittyKat]

Get your LFS to test your water or try a different test kit, if you haven't already.

At pH 6.5, there will be more ammonium, which plants would use up.. so might be well worth investing in some which can tolerate ammonia.

 

[Tizer]

Kind of skim read the thread, but did wonder if anything has made it into your filter and died, or if you have any snails in there rotting. It does sound very odd. a 95% water change should really reset it to tap water quality and that should last at least 24 hours before you can measure any ammonia again. its probably something stupidly simple thats been over looked.

 

[marcybeth0281]

Kind of skim read the thread, but did wonder if anything has made it into your filter and died, or if you have any snails in there rotting. It does sound very odd. a 95% water change should really reset it to tap water quality and that should last at least 24 hours before you can measure any ammonia again. its probably something stupidly simple thats been over looked.

I'm feeling the same way. Like there's some phantom dead fish wedged somewhere. We took apart the whole filter a month ago because we had the same idea (The very first fish that died when this began, a platy, we came home and he had been half eaten by the other fish).... but alas, no half-fish in the filter.

We have decided that after this week, if the problem is not solved, we're going to take all the decorations and plants out and just have the fish and the water....that way we can at least rule out the minute possibility that it's something ornamental causing it.

UGHHHHH.......

 

[Zyden]

It sounds like there is something currently in the tank causing the ammonia release.

Plant matter/ fish / food pile wedges somewhere in the tank. Something is leeching.

I wouldn't wait to remove all the decor and carefully use a gravel vacuum on the entire bottom, turning the gravel as you go incase something is underneath it all. Honestly the smallest little body can ruin a tank.

You may need to remove the fish depending on how big a job this is. I once had a danio behind my filter casing, so even after taking out the filter, I didn't spot the poor might until I got a suspiciously high spike (I take a weekend reading before my water change).

Good luck and let us know if you find anything, no matter how small.

 

[marcybeth0281]

It sounds like there is something currently in the tank causing the ammonia release.

Plant matter/ fish / food pile wedges somewhere in the tank. Something is leeching.

I wouldn't wait to remove all the decor and carefully use a gravel vacuum on the entire bottom, turning the gravel as you go incase something is underneath it all. Honestly the smallest little body can ruin a tank.

You may need to remove the fish depending on how big a job this is. I once had a danio behind my filter casing, so even after taking out the filter, I didn't spot the poor might until I got a suspiciously high spike (I take a weekend reading before my water change).

Good luck and let us know if you find anything, no matter how small.

The only things I would say to this are that I have sand, not gravel - so things really don't get wedged. I turn the sand over all the time. And also, my tank is barely stocked. There's no way a fish could be stuck anywhere. I have 1 gourami, 5 rasboras, 4 hatchets, and 4 tetras. They are all accounted for. =/

But thanks so much for your ideas.....

I'm going to remove the decorations soon. Everyone is doing OK right now - but the ammonia won't go away completely.

 

[KittyKat]

Have you tried a different test kit and adding plants?

 

[fish.mw.breeder]

I would put in some Ph Stabilizer... This may help. Do not take my word for it.

 

[fluttermoth]

I fail to see how a pH stabiliser can help with raised ammonia levels?

 

[KittyKat]

I recommend that you avoid pH buffers because if there is a pH problem in the tank, eventually, you will get a bad crash because you'll forget to redose on time or it will get used up too fast and this can kill fish. If there is no pH problem in the tank, buffers are a waste of money and can cause the KH to be too high for some fish.

It is almost always better to either let the pH in the tank settle at whatever it naturally does or to use long term buffering methods like rocks or peat.

 

[volleyg08]

In my opinion I would stop doing the 95% water changes. At MOST I would do 50%. When you keep talking out all of the water, the "good bacteria" in your tank is also being taken out. This is the bacteria you need for a healthy established tank. By doing 95% water changes every day or even every week, it's as if your starting a brand new tank every day. This alone will cause ammonia spikes. Try 25% water changes every week and put in something called AMGUARD by Seachem.

 

[fluttermoth]

I disagree, I'm afraid. There are virtually no bacteria lose in the water coloumn and a negligable amount on substrate/decor. As long as the filter is untouched by raw (chlorinated) water, there's absolutely no problem doing large water changes. I frequently do 75/80% changes and have never had an ammonia spkie.

 

[KittyKat]

I disagree, I'm afraid. There are virtually no bacteria lose in the water coloumn and a negligable amount on substrate/decor. As long as the filter is untouched by raw (chlorinated) water, there's absolutely no problem doing large water changes.

+1, the vast majority of the bacteria are on the filter media in a filtered aquarium, or on surfaces in unfiltered aquariums.

 

[rainbow-a-holic]

marcybeth0281, it might be thinking slightly outside of the box but did you buy your declorinator online? There is always the possibility that a seller on a site such as ebay could have bought non-genuine products. If your product is not declorinating the water correctly it could be killing all of your good bacteria...and hence high ammonia levels....??!

 

[fluttermoth]

Well, it's worth a try!