High Ammonia Levels And White Spot. Help!

[Gidge]

The gourami had been moved to a 4ft tank with other gourami's.

Also on saturday, before I did a water change, the ammonia was at 0! So I left the water change. Tested again on Sunday, was still at 0. Today I have tested and the ammonia is at 0.25

Should I do a partial water change rather then a 95% one?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

With a 0.25 ammonia reading, I would change ~75% and overdose a little on the dechlorinator if it has ammonia locking properties like Seachem Prime.

 

[KittyKat]

95% because any ammonia is harmful to fish and the filter can cycle with unreadable amounts. In fact, I would probably be adding a dose of prime on your next third day after 0 ppm ammonia regardless of the reading as you're likely to see one on 4-5th day from now.

 

[Gidge]

Okay, so it has been a few days since I last spoke to you. I am STILL doing 95% water changes.

Each day the readings are at .25 and on the off day they are slightly higher, between .25 and .5
I have been feeding them VERY sparingly.

The fish do not seem bothered at all. They are all happy and zooming around. No flicking or rubbing up against ornaments, though we did lose a ram a couple of days ago. I was watching him the night before, and he was fine, looking healthy, coloured up and eating. The next day he just disappeared and I found the body soon after.

I have not changed or washed any of the filter pads, but I did add a zeopad to the under gravel filter to try and help with that ammonia!
Also there is no salt in the water anymore. This is starting to get a little tedious, and I'm dreading the water bill. I know all this hassle is my fault, I should have stepped up and said 'NO!, no fish until the tank has cycled'.

 

[KittyKat]

Did you already test tap water for ammonia and nitrite pre- and post dechlorination?

The fish do not seem bothered at all. They are all happy and zooming around. No flicking or rubbing up against ornaments, though we did lose a ram a couple of days ago. I was watching him the night before, and he was fine, looking healthy, coloured up and eating. The next day he just disappeared and I found the body soon after.

I expect that the ram's death was caused by the ammonia

I have not changed or washed any of the filter pads, but I did add a zeopad to the under gravel filter to try and help with that ammonia!
Also there is no salt in the water anymore. This is starting to get a little tedious, and I'm dreading the water bill. I know all this hassle is my fault, I should have stepped up and said 'NO!, no fish until the tank has cycled'.

Aye, you should have. I am surprised the zeolite is not making more of a difference… have you changed the pads at any point?

 

[Gidge]

Did you already test tap water for ammonia and nitrite pre- and post dechlorination?

I sure did, both came back 0.

Aye, you should have. I am surprised the zeolite is not making more of a difference… have you changed the pads at any point?

I only put the zeolite in yesterday, I am yet to test today, so I will get back to you with the results.
The only time I have changed the pads was when I was treating for ich with the salt, i removed the zeolite from the filter, but kept the remaining carbon in there. Other then that, nothing has been changed.

Im not sure if I mentioned, that when I took the cracked tank back, I got to keep the filter. So I now have 2 filters running in the tank. When I did a water change yesterday, I checked the pads in the old filter, and they weren't even dirty, which is good I guess. Dont have to clean them!

Okay, just tested. Ammonia is still at 0.25! arghh.

 

[KittyKat]

Im not sure if I mentioned, that when I took the cracked tank back, I got to keep the filter. So I now have 2 filters running in the tank. When I did a water change yesterday, I checked the pads in the old filter, and they weren't even dirty, which is good I guess. Dont have to clean them!

That's good, because the new filter would not have had any bacteria in it, while the old one did.

Okay, just tested. Ammonia is still at 0.25! arghh.

Fish-in cycle -> you are a water changing machine If your cycle goes according to what I most often see, it will probably be about 2 more weeks before you're down to few water changes.

 

[Gidge]

Fish-in cycle -> you are a water changing machine If your cycle goes according to what I most often see, it will probably be about 2 more weeks before you're down to few water changes

2 weeks. I think I can handle that

 

[Gidge]

Okay. So I have just tested the water, have not performed a water change just yet.

Ammonia: 0.25-0.50
Nitrite: 0-0.25 (This is new! The test has always come back 0, the colour being that very clear light blue. But today it's sort of a cloudy slighty darker blue)

I'm assuming bacteria must be munching on the ammonia?

Anyhooo off to do a 90% water change.

 

[KittyKat]

Yes, you're right do try to never let ammonia reach 0.25… reduce feeding further or do bi-daily water changes maybe? Any ammonia in the water will harm fish (although the extent to which it does depends on the species and individual fish).

 

[Gidge]

Okay, so the cycle seems to be coming along nicely. Tested today and came up with the following results;

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:1.0
Nitrate: 40

Immediate water change.
Also, there seems to be some brown algae forming on some of the ornaments and bottom gravel. Algae bloom?

 

[KittyKat]

…and try to never let nitrite reach 0.25 ppm either: it is also harmful to the fish.

The algae are diatoms, they may be encouraged by ammonia in the water, from what I have seen. I would recommend scraping all of them off, large water change and filter clean as a method of fighting them. Plants also seem to help prevent it. If you are interested in interesting, but not particularly relevant information about them, have a look at http/aquariumadventure.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/diatoms/

 

[Gidge]

I know it has been a long time since I have updated this, but I'm happy to say that the tank is fully cycled Thanks for all your help!

 

[KittyKat]

Glad to hear that you got it sorted