Help. Really high ammonia!
- Thread starter DebzN
- Start date
Weekly water tests are a waste of time if they don't accompany weekly water changes of 25-30%. You should lock into that routine once the crisis has passed.
The thought of the filter media did cross my mind. My filter broke a few days ago and my partner threw the whole thing away. He thought he was helping. I soaked the new filter media in current tank water but I'm wondering if it wasn't enough good bacteria. I've done a 75% water change and levels are lower now but still higher than they should be. Not sure now if I should do another water change tomorrow?
I think you've identified the problem. Discarding seasoned filter media is taking the express train to a cycle crash. The recycling of your tank would then cause the ammonia spike. Keep doing big, frequent water changes.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean every day until the levels are 0ppm
make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank
Keep an eye out for nitrite as well. That will appear once you have enough ammonia eaters to make nitrite.
BadHairDay
New Member
As you're in the UK it might be worth looking at Goop (nothing to do with Gwyneth Paltrow!) from the Tropco company, it's effectively a bag of the sort of bacteria that you have lost by discarding the old filter, you squidge it into you new filter medium and the bacteria start on the ammonia immediately (keep up with the water changes though). I have used it successfully to set up a new tank without any need to cycle, so it might just save your bacon here. For the suspicious among you, I know this is my first post, but I don't have any affiliation with the company!
I forgot about Goop. The company claim they make it and ship it immediately and it must be used within a very short time. A few members say they have used it and found it worked well.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
There are two articles on this site that deal specifically with a Fish in cycle gone wild, But the information also applies to you situation.
What actiaon one should take depend on the actual readings and parameters which the article explains. If you age an ammonia spike you will likely follow it with a Nitrite spike. For nitrite there in no need to change water as we can use a bit of salt which is sodium chloride and the chloride blocks nitrite from enter fish.
Ammonia in water goes into two forms. One is ammonia (NH3) which is very toxic. The other is ammonium (NH4) which is way less harmful especially short term. The article explains is all.
Depending on your parameter and test readings, the article will show you what you need to know and do. Most ammonia levels can be too high for doing anything besides water changes and/or using an ammonia detoxifier.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il.433778/
As far as I am concerned anyone who claims we need automatically to do big water changes in reaction to any reading of ammonia or nitrite is misinformed and what they say should be taken with a grain of salt.
I have been helping members on this site dealing with this sort of issues for a number of years. However, I will not do in a thread like this one. I will work one on one with folks via site PMs, Email or voice over the phone. I do not text however. I have one rule for working with folks and I always suggest it.
On sites like this one it is easy to get advice from different sources which is not the same from each person. That often confuses people trying to solve a problem. So I will always suggest that one with issues pick one voice only and lisen to it. That way one of two things will happen. That preson will know what they are talking about and you will fix the issue. On the other hand, if the advice you get is bad and it doesn't help, you will have leaned whose advice to ignore in the future.
Just as an FYI as to my experience- I have been keeping fish going into my 25th year. Over that time I have cycled close to 100 tanks. I usually had to cycle multiple tanks all at the same time and I would do this by setting up a bio-farm and cycling filters. As an FYI- it takes me about 10 days to 2 weeks to get all the filters cycled for 8 tanks holding a total of 220 gals. I do things this way as it is much faster and a whole lot less work.
What actiaon one should take depend on the actual readings and parameters which the article explains. If you age an ammonia spike you will likely follow it with a Nitrite spike. For nitrite there in no need to change water as we can use a bit of salt which is sodium chloride and the chloride blocks nitrite from enter fish.
Ammonia in water goes into two forms. One is ammonia (NH3) which is very toxic. The other is ammonium (NH4) which is way less harmful especially short term. The article explains is all.
Depending on your parameter and test readings, the article will show you what you need to know and do. Most ammonia levels can be too high for doing anything besides water changes and/or using an ammonia detoxifier.
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il.433778/
As far as I am concerned anyone who claims we need automatically to do big water changes in reaction to any reading of ammonia or nitrite is misinformed and what they say should be taken with a grain of salt.
I have been helping members on this site dealing with this sort of issues for a number of years. However, I will not do in a thread like this one. I will work one on one with folks via site PMs, Email or voice over the phone. I do not text however. I have one rule for working with folks and I always suggest it.
On sites like this one it is easy to get advice from different sources which is not the same from each person. That often confuses people trying to solve a problem. So I will always suggest that one with issues pick one voice only and lisen to it. That way one of two things will happen. That preson will know what they are talking about and you will fix the issue. On the other hand, if the advice you get is bad and it doesn't help, you will have leaned whose advice to ignore in the future.
Just as an FYI as to my experience- I have been keeping fish going into my 25th year. Over that time I have cycled close to 100 tanks. I usually had to cycle multiple tanks all at the same time and I would do this by setting up a bio-farm and cycling filters. As an FYI- it takes me about 10 days to 2 weeks to get all the filters cycled for 8 tanks holding a total of 220 gals. I do things this way as it is much faster and a whole lot less work.
I've just retested the tank water. Ammonia now reading 0.50 ppm. It was right at the top end this morning 
Checked nitrites 0ppm and nitrates are 5.0 ppm. Hopefull going in the right direction. Will keep doing the water changes and look into the other suggestions on this thread.
Checked nitrites 0ppm and nitrates are 5.0 ppm. Hopefull going in the right direction. Will keep doing the water changes and look into the other suggestions on this thread.Similar threads
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