HELP! my fish tank ammonia is 8ppm!

[Rhys19]

yeah so the instructions say to add 8 drops of ammonia test solution #1 holding the dropper bottle upside down in a completely vertical position to assure uniformity of drops
then it says
add 8 drops of ammonia test solution #2 with the same instructions as above except now you cap the test tube and shake it vigorously for 5 seconds then you wait 5 minutes for it to develop

I did those.

also after a 85/75% water change my ammonia just dropped to about 0.50

 

[Rhys19]

quote my text if your going to reply so I know what your replying to anyways

After I do like a 75-85% WC should I re add my leaf zone? or is it in the substrate? it's liquid drops so Idk whether it eventually sinks into the gravel or if it's always in the water

 

[Rhys19]

oh and heres my pleco if anyone wanted to see him (Common pleco) it's a little blurry ik but that's just my phone

 

[Rhys19]

after a few months he's finally not shy anymore. he comes out during the day and he'll hide in small crashed jet decoration I have its dedicated to him

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

To the misinformation...aquatic plants we have in our aquariums take up ammonia/ammonium as their preferred source of nitrogen. They do not take up nitrates, unless the ammonia/ammonium is insufficient in balance with other nutrients and light intensity. This is because plants must change the nitrate back into ammonium in order to use it, and that takes considerable energy so plants avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

Makes you wonder how the plants in a fresh tank, free from any animal life, can really grow and thrive for at least three weeks, without ammonia being artificially added?

 

[Byron]

According to the API master test kit it shows 8.0PPM I'm pretty sure I tested right I'll reread the instructions and see if I did but I changed about 75% of my water if not 85%

and my live plants weren't growing so I bought the API Leaf Zone and they started growing I saw a few green leaves pop up over the few days I had put it in.

You would be better with a complete/comprehensive supplement. Leaf Zone is only potassium and iron. It may be that these are now helping, and the other nutrients are sufficient, but I would not count on it. Flourish Comprehensive Supplement or Brightwell Aquatics FlorinMulti. Both are available in NA, in fish stores or online.

I also recall you had ich, and I can't remember how you treated it...some if not most of the so-called treatments can affect plant growth. Of if heat was used, sometimes this can slow plants, though I have never had any losses. Furan (nitrofurican) can be hard on plants, not suggesting you used it, only noting its effect.

 

[Byron]

Makes you wonder how the plants in a fresh tank, free from any animal life, can really grow and thrive for at least three weeks, without ammonia being artificially added?

I have plants remain alive in my QT for new fish, for months. If I don't happen to acquire new fish, the tank is running and I do fewer water changes (every second week) and I still use Flourish Comprehensive Supplement which does have ammonium but very little. The last period for this was some 15 months. Ammonia still is occurring from a tank without fish, but it is without question less. I can tell by the plant growth. And when I do come home with new fish and put them in, within a week the plants do show signs of improved growth.

 

[Byron]

quote my text if your going to reply so I know what your replying to anyways

After I do like a 75-85% WC should I re add my leaf zone? or is it in the substrate? it's liquid drops so Idk whether it eventually sinks into the gravel or if it's always in the water

Liquid fertilizer goes in the water. Normally, there is water movement through the substrate, so the nutrients get carried to the plant roots in the substrate.

As for adding the LeafZone, if you used a conditioner for the water change, and if it detoxifies heavy metals, it may negate the iron in LZ (iron is a heavy metal). I tend to wait until the next day to use my liquid fertilizer. Iron, copper, zinc, manganese are plant nutrients that are also heavy metals, (may be others, I'm going from memory); I asked Seachem about Prime's effect on these and they said that Prime would negate the heavy metals in plant fertilizers, as would any conditioner that deals with heavy metals, so it would be best to wait 24-36 hours. I've gone both ways, and really can't say which is better or not, but I have followed this ever since they advise it.

 

[Byron]

yeah so the instructions say to add 8 drops of ammonia test solution #1 holding the dropper bottle upside down in a completely vertical position to assure uniformity of drops
then it says
add 8 drops of ammonia test solution #2 with the same instructions as above except now you cap the test tube and shake it vigorously for 5 seconds then you wait 5 minutes for it to develop

I did those.

also after a 85/75% water change my ammonia just dropped to about 0.50

Your acidic pH may have saved the fish.

 

[Myraan]

I would be inclined to do a further water change to effectively do a 100% change (20% of 20% is 4%, so you are dumping out 96% of the ammonia without having to drain tank almost dry.
I might also check my tap water water for ammonia but perhaps that is paranoia. That would partly depend on how big your tank is though; you do not have all day to be refilling tanks and unlimited funds to be buying prime with.

 

[Guest14017]

Lol - this thread is why I said prior that this user really should have returned the remaining fish after all his prior fish died. It really was solid advice that should have been followed IMO. This spike could have easily killed the remaining fish and an 8ppm ammonia spike likely means you really aren't paying attention to your system the way you should.

 

[Fishmanic]

Assuming your tank is not cycled, even after you do daily 75% water changes to get ammonia down to .25 ppm or below, you will still need to test ammonia daily and whenever it goes higher than .25 ppm you will need to do another 75% water change.

 

[Rhys19]

Assuming your tank is not cycled, even after you do daily 75% water changes to get ammonia down to .25 ppm or below, you will still need to test ammonia daily and whenever it goes higher than .25 ppm you will need to do another 75% water change.

my tank should be partially cycled if not fully cycled, it's been a few weeks with my existing cycled filter & decorations

Lol - this thread is why I said prior that this user really should have returned the remaining fish after all his prior fish died. It really was solid advice that should have been followed IMO. This spike could have easily killed the remaining fish and an 8ppm ammonia spike likely means you really aren't paying attention to your system the way you should.

I didn't see a problem since the other fish have been **PERFECTLY** fine even with this ammonia spike the tank was normal behavior except for being cloudy, I had dropped in quite a few pellets though for my crawfish unsure if that could've caused it, but after the WC ammonia dropped pretty low and now my tank is pretty much clear, as for other questions would Aquarium CO-OP's all in one fertilizer work? and is there something to promote algae growth for my pleco?

I have just tested once again and my ammonia has dropped below 0.50 and is now at the 0.25 or lower mark I do have a marineland I forgot what model but it has the biowheel built in, I do also have this house decoration that uses the air pump to spin a wheel which pumps air out and it seems to have turned into a bio filter aswell.


As for something else I have in mind
I got this moss rock at my creek and washed it thoroughly and I've had it before when my tank was first cycled and it worked great at taking out the ammonia, etc but my pet store (petco) said it could be fiddling with my tank params should I take it out or are they just lying because if it was fine in my tank when it was cycled shouldn't it be fine now?

it's currently in my other tank because I wasn't sure what to do.


anyways everything seems to be in order after the WC

so for WC's am I supposed to do them like on a schedule or only when fish are sick? my father had a I think it was a 160 and he said he never did WC's and his tank was perfect but he eventually turned it into a salt water tank.

and then as for filters

I've read that activated carbon takes out nutrients needed for my live plants giving that most of my plants were dying should I remove it and see because I read that the bio filter is really the only thing for bacterial balances and ofc the media pads

 

[Myraan]

wait.... I just read the thread through again.

I hope I am confused - but are you adding Dr. Tims ammonia solution to a tank with fish in that you are feeding (perhaps overfeeding) with catfish pellets?

so for WC's am I supposed to do them like on a schedule or only when fish are sick? my father had a I think it was a 160 and he said he never did WC's and his tank was perfect but he eventually turned it into a salt water tank.

If you have fish in the tank you test for ammonia everyday and do a large water change every time the ammonia is more than 0.25

If you are following instructions on this forum for fishless cycling (you said the catfish is temporarily re-homed?) you will be testing for ntrite and nitrate in addition to ammonia and if I remember you only need to water change if nitrite or nitrite gets too high. When your testing implies the tank is ready for fish you do a large water change before actually adding the fish.

 

[Fishmanic]

What are your nitrite and nitrate levels?