High Ammonia Levels In My New Tank

[kellydee]

Hello ive had my first tropical tank for three weeks now, i purchased several fish as recommended by the shop owner, evrything was going fine until a few days ago i noticed a film on the surface water and within the last 24 hours ive had 6 neon like fish die. Ive tested by ammoina and other levels and everything is high. Please can somebody p;ease help me !!!!!

 

[kellydee]

please can someone help i have high ammonia levels in my new tropical tank, ine had it for three weeks and was informed which fish to buy to put in my tank. I noticed a film on top of he water and 6 neon fish have died with the last 24hrs. Can someone help ?

 

[CezzaXV]

Okay, first things first, do a massive water change immediately. So large you only leave just enough water for the fish to swim upright. This will reduce your ammonia (and nitrite if you have it) to a more reasonable level for the time being. I'd recommend testing the water afterwards and doing another water change if there is still any detectable ammonia/nitrite.

Your levels are high because you haven't cycled your filter - this is the process by which we cultivate a bacterial colony to convert the poisonous ammonia (which comes from fish waste) into nitrite (which is still poisonous) into nitrate (which is only poisonous in very high quantities).

Unfortunately because you already have fish the cycling process is much more difficult. In essence, you need to be testing you water at least once a day and doing a big water change like I described above whenever there is detectable ammonia or nitrite. You certainly never want to let it go above 0.25ppm as a maximum. You can do some more reading on fish-in cycling in the My New Freshwater Tank forum, specifically the Beginner's Resource Centre.

If at all possible, I would recommend seeing if you can return the fish to the shop you bought them from and doing a fishless cycle, which is long and boring but much less hard work and doesn't put any fish in toxic situations.

 

[kellydee]

i took a water sample down before i purchased the fish and he said the water was fantastic so i got a mixture of fish 12 in total. All the other fish are seem to be o.k. As im new could you please if poss tell me what i should do next step by step x

 

[CezzaXV]

Exactly what I wrote in my first post.

Of course your water was perfect when it was tested at the start - there was nothing in it to cause it not to be yet. The ammonia comes from fish waste and rotting plants, and you need to grow a bacterial colony to deal with it (cycling) or you'll forever have problems.

Read my first post and act on it immediately. A large water change is the only thing right now that has a chance of saving your fish. Once that is done you'll want to do some more reading on cycling - what it is and why it's important. You can do that in the beginner's resource centre (http/www.fishforum...esource-center/)

If you've got any more questions after that then fire away, but a very large water change needs to be done as a matter of urgency. Don't forget to temp match and dechlorinate!

 

[kellydee]

ok thanks im doing a huge water change now? do i add the tap safe in this time ? As when i done my 25% water change the shop man said i did not need to add tap safe ?

 

[CezzaXV]

I'm not going to confuse you with the times when need to and when you don't because it's a topic of debate. For your tank, especially in the delicate state it's in now, you should always use a declorinator of some kind. The chlorine that is in tap water will kill (or at least damage) the bacteria that you're trying to grow.

 

[Memz]

Hi Kellydee,

I'm new too, and I did exactly the same, the shop gave me 'beneficial bacteria' (which doesn't work) and said after two weeks the fish could go in. I lost 2 lots of Cardinals, 7 in total with 1 remaining, having been told by the shop it was my tap water which killed the first lot!!! It's not the tap water at all, it's all down to getting your filter filled up with good bacteria the proper way. And that's the 'Cycling' CezzaXV is talking about.

These fish shops are utter sharks (pardon the pun) and I'd love to know if anyone on these forums have ever been told by a fish shop about fishless cycling? The only advice I can give you is to read, read and read some more in all the beginner threads on these forums. I've learnt loads in a couple of weeks, feel horribly bad that some of the problems I've had could have been so preventable, but know some/most of this is due to bad advice from my local fish shop (lfs).

Good luck and keep us updated.