High ammonia... can't get rid of it .. someone please help

[Colin_T]

An 80% water change is sufficient to reduce the ammonia. The reason there is some left is because you only diluted it by 80%. The 20% of the water that was left behind still had a very high ammonia level and that was diluted into the new water, leaving you with 1ppm ammonia after the water change.

Just do another 75-80% water change tomorrow and it should be pretty close to 0 after that.

Check the tank for dead fish and do a gravel clean when doing water changes to remove uneaten food that could be rotting in the gravel causing the ammonia.

 

[Ryan231211]

Thank you very much.. I will do another 80% tomorrow to see how that goes fingers crossed it works

 

[Colin_T]

If you lose a fish, post a pic of it and start a thread straight away. The sooner we get the call for help, the sooner we can help and hopefully save the fish

 

[Ryan231211]

Thank you very much appreciated

 

[Ryan231211]

I am so so so sorry to be back and pester everyone again... my ammonia is still getting high even after all my water changes.. I have been given some advice from a friend and wanted to know what you guys thought before I do it.. so she suggested that I don't do a water change for 2 weeks no matter how high the ammonia gets... this scares me for my fish that I have left.. she thinks maybe my tank is not cycled yet... and that I need to not water change and let the tank cycle and let the tank do it's job and to let it get rid of ammonia it self. What do people think if this idea? I'm worried about it and not sure it's the best idea.. but I must admit it's the only thing I have not yet tried... nothing seems to be working I'm honestly just so stuck on what to do.. as I love my tank and I really don't want to get rid of it.. I really want to keep it. But I'm really struggling with it.. so sorry again to pester people would just like to know what everyone thinks of not doing water changes no matter how high ammonia gets

 

[Colin_T]

If you have an ammonia problem and you leave it to get higher, you will kill the remaining fish.

Can we start at the beginning.
How big is the tank?
How long has it been set up for?
What sort of filter do you have on it?
What filter materials are in the filter?
Is the filter run continuously (24/7)?
What fish do you have in there?
How often are you feeding them?

 

[Ryan231211]

It's 117litre tank....

It's been up and running for 6 months now

I'm not sure on the make of the filter but it's 1000 litres per hour...

It's got filter wool
Rings
Bio balls

It's up and running constantly I never turn it of apart from when I do a water change

I have 2 corys
1 platty
1 small flash pleck

I now only feed them a small amount once every 2 days...

I have had ammonia from the start from when I first put fish in.. ammonia has gone a couple of times but then returns again after a day or so.. I do admit I done a beginners mistake and put fish in to early.. but at the time I knew nothing about keeping fish.. I just got told by someone it would be fine to put them in... but I was wrong.. I have learnt so much since the start...

Hope this helps you

 

[Colin_T]

You shouldn't be having an ammonia problem with 4 small fish in 100 litres of water with an established filter. I'm guessing the current filter media is not developing or holding sufficient bacteria to keep the water clean.

I would find a sponge to go in 1 or 2 compartments of the filter and put a round sponge over the intake strainer of the filter. I never had much luck keeping fish in tanks with only bioballs or ceramic beads and found sponges were more effective for housing bacteria and filtering gunk out of the water.

I would replace either the bioballs or ceramic beads (probably the bioballs first) with a sponge and wait a month and see how the ammonia levels go. If they haven't settled down after that, replace the filter floss with another sponge and see how it goes over a month. Don't clean the filter during the month after you put a sponge in it.

Make sure the filter is not turned off for more than about 30 minutes when you do a water change and depending on the filter (I assume it's an external canister filter) you might be able to leave it running while you do a water change. But that will depend on how low the intake tube sits in the tank.

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You can reduce the feeding to 2 times a week for a month and it won't harm the fish. This will reduce the ammonia levels more while the new sponge gets established in the filter. After that you can feed once a day for a few days and see how the ammonia goes. If the ammonia stays at 0 then problem solved and you can continue feeding daily after that.

 

[Ryan231211]

Thank you very much for the advice. I'm guessing part of my problem is that it's a new filter.. and you have reminded me.. I took the 2 old filter sponges out of my old filter and put them in this new filter.. sorry I forgot all about it till you mentioned it

 

[Colin_T]

So how old is this particular filter and how long has it been running for?

Does this filter have sponges in it?
If yes, do they completely cover the filter compartment?
If the sponges do not completely cover the compartment (from left to right) then water could be bypassing the sponges and not being filtered by the bacteria. You want the sponges to fit snuggly in the filter so the water has to pass through them to get out.

 

[Ryan231211]

This new one has been running for about 3vweeks now.. something like that anyway.. my old filter has filter sponges I took them out and put them in my new filter.. but no they don't fit nice and tight but I filled the gaps with filter wool.. I thought that would fill the gaps okay.. but I might be wrong.. I put them in to get the bacteria in my new filter.. but unfortunately they was spotless hardly and much on them at all but I still put them in anyway... I made sure the 3 trays in the filter were packed full so there were no gaps in there

 

[Colin_T]

Filter wool should have filled the gaps and help force the water through the sponges. But if the compartment wasn't filled completely, the wool might have moved up and some water could be bypassing the sponges.

Clean sponges (sponges without a lot of gunk) will still have bacteria in and on them. And as long as the sponges had been in the other filter for a couple of months before you moved them into the new filter, they should have taken some good bacteria with them.

Is the other filter running on this tank too?
If not then I would say you are cycling the tank and the filters need a couple more weeks to finish developing the good filter bacteria.

Under these circumstances I would not clean this new filter until it has been running for at least 6 weeks and 8 weeks would be better. After it has been run for 6-8 weeks, then you can clean it every couple of weeks.

In the mean time, reduce feeding to a couple of times a week and do a partial water change about 4-8 hours after you feed them. Keep checking the ammonia and nitrite levels and when they have been on 0 for a week, then increase feeding to once a day and see how the ammonia levels go.

 

[Ryan231211]

That's great thank you very much... how many water changes a week would you say? And how much water should I take out in a water change

 

[Colin_T]

75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading.

Once the filter has settled down I would do a 50-75% water change and gravel clean once a week. I prefer big water changes (75%) but it depends on where you live and if you have water restrictions.

 

[Ryan231211]

That's brilliant thank you very much for your advice