Filter Problems

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I have several large fresh water tanks with mixed communities in them. they were running perfectly for over a year. about 3 months ago i over did the salt by accident which in turn killed off my filter colonies.

I replaced all my filter media and did a 50% water change in each tank. I lost only 2 fish out of about 500. I treated the tanks like a new set up again. the ammo levels were very high so i used ammo lock. still no fish loss. i stopped using ammo lock about 6 weeks ago even tho i was still getting high ammo readings but the fish were fine. they still are yet the readings are still over 10ppm. the tanks do not have that earthy smell that they should have. all my white filter material has gone a pinky/ purple colour.

this is baffling me. the ph is 6.5, nitrite 0, ammo 10 yet the filters dont SEEM to be working correctly?? what is going on?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Are you sure that your test kit is working properly (sometimes they get old and no longer work anymore)...from what I know...10 ppm of Ammonia is enough to kill everything in the tank...including the bacteria that eats it.

*Edit* Does your test kit measure NH3 and NH4 together? NH4 is the toxic form, while NH3 is much less so. Most products that "detoxify ammonia" simply convert NH4 to NH3.

 

[[email protected]]

Are you sure that your test kit is working properly (sometimes they get old and no longer work anymore)...from what I know...10 ppm of Ammonia is enough to kill everything in the tank...including the bacteria that eats it.

i thought that so i used 2 test kits, one being a new one. its the colour of the filter sponges that is concerning me too as they dont seem to have bacteria on them.
they dont smell right either. to add a strange twist all my chiclids are still breeding and the babies are surviving too.

 

[[email protected]]

Are you sure that your test kit is working properly (sometimes they get old and no longer work anymore)...from what I know...10 ppm of Ammonia is enough to kill everything in the tank...including the bacteria that eats it.

*Edit* Does your test kit measure NH3 and NH4 together? NH4 is the toxic form, while NH3 is much less so. Most products that "detoxify ammonia" simply convert NH4 to NH3.

the first one i used was the interpet freshwater test kit. i then went out and spent 60.00 on the hagen pro stuff which measures just about everything. i have 2 400ltr tanks and a few others between 100 and 300 ltrs as i intended to start breeding for my friends shop. they ALL have some amount of ammo in them from 4ppm to 10.

off to try something. thanks for your time. i will post a note to let you know what i find. thanks

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

That is very weird!

What is your NitrAte level? If it's surprisingly low that would be a good indicator that your bacterial colony is not working as intended. If you have a heavily planted tank that would also help keep the nitrAte level down...but since you have cichlids I'm assuming you don't have a planted tank (dunno what kind of cichlids you have...some are rough on plants, others are not)

Also it might be worth it to see if you can find a test that only checks for NH4 (rare, but I've heard they do exist). I'm not sure how long "detoxifying" products like Amquel keep NH3 from becoming NH4.

 

[[email protected]]

Are you sure that your test kit is working properly (sometimes they get old and no longer work anymore)...from what I know...10 ppm of Ammonia is enough to kill everything in the tank...including the bacteria that eats it.

*Edit* Does your test kit measure NH3 and NH4 together? NH4 is the toxic form, while NH3 is much less so. Most products that "detoxify ammonia" simply convert NH4 to NH3.

the first one i used was the interpet freshwater test kit. i then went out and spent 60.00 on the hagen pro stuff which measures just about everything. i have 2 400ltr tanks and a few others between 100 and 300 ltrs as i intended to start breeding for my friends shop. they ALL have some amount of ammo in them from 4ppm to 10.

off to try something. thanks for your time. i will post a note to let you know what i find. thanks

tried another test kit.....results pending

That is very weird!

What is your NitrAte level? If it's surprisingly low that would be a good indicator that your bacterial colony is not working as intended. If you have a heavily planted tank that would also help keep the nitrAte level down...but since you have cichlids I'm assuming you don't have a planted tank (dunno what kind of cichlids you have...some are rough on plants, others are not)

Also it might be worth it to see if you can find a test that only checks for NH4 (rare, but I've heard they do exist). I'm not sure how long "detoxifying" products like Amquel keep NH3 from becoming NH4.

i have tons of plants but my firemouths dont seem to bother them at all. the nitrate level is about mid range. hang on a sec and i will check that result.

Are you sure that your test kit is working properly (sometimes they get old and no longer work anymore)...from what I know...10 ppm of Ammonia is enough to kill everything in the tank...including the bacteria that eats it.

*Edit* Does your test kit measure NH3 and NH4 together? NH4 is the toxic form, while NH3 is much less so. Most products that "detoxify ammonia" simply convert NH4 to NH3.

the first one i used was the interpet freshwater test kit. i then went out and spent 60.00 on the hagen pro stuff which measures just about everything. i have 2 400ltr tanks and a few others between 100 and 300 ltrs as i intended to start breeding for my friends shop. they ALL have some amount of ammo in them from 4ppm to 10.

off to try something. thanks for your time. i will post a note to let you know what i find. thanks

tried another test kit.....results pending

That is very weird!

What is your NitrAte level? If it's surprisingly low that would be a good indicator that your bacterial colony is not working as intended. If you have a heavily planted tank that would also help keep the nitrAte level down...but since you have cichlids I'm assuming you don't have a planted tank (dunno what kind of cichlids you have...some are rough on plants, others are not)

Also it might be worth it to see if you can find a test that only checks for NH4 (rare, but I've heard they do exist). I'm not sure how long "detoxifying" products like Amquel keep NH3 from becoming NH4.

i have tons of plants but my firemouths dont seem to bother them at all. the nitrate level is about mid range. hang on a sec and i will check that result.

test still showing high ammo. no nitrite ph 6.5 and nitrate
100. all the fish are happy enough. it is just that this has been going on for ages now. water changes dont seem to change the results either. baffled!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

What is your typical water change schedule like? Nitrates of 100 is really high...so unless you had extremely high levels before that were simply only diluted my guess is that you still have some kind of bacterial colony left.

Honestly I'm just as baffled as you, I would keep up the water changes as much as possible to get that nitrate level down, and of course to help cut down the ammonia levels.