High Amonia Out Of Hand.

[Nickelback]

Hi there.My tank of Cichlids has high amonia and I have been doing a 30% water change everyday.The amonia has dropped and now the nitrite and nitrate have grown higher.Do I still keep doing a water change everyday or will I eventually stress the fish out to much.Also should I clean out the filters or wait until the bacteria settles in better. I'm fairly new to fishkeeping only started in April.My tropical tank is running superbly and my fish have grown and are doing really well but my cichlid tank is just having a few problems and I'd like to see it go as well as my tropical tank.Hope someone can help as I really am so dedicated to my fish and love them very much

 

[nmonks]

What are the cichlids? How big are they? Are there many of them in the tank? How big is the tank?

I ask because cichlids are messy fish. To keep the non-dwarf species in any numbers you need a big tank with a big filter, certainly a bigger filter than you would need for the same tank just containing regular community fish (tetras, barbs, etc.).

Assuming the tank is mature and stable, with cichlids, a fairly large water change (maybe 50%) per week will be in order. This is typical for African cichlids and things like discus.

The fish shouldn't be threatened by water changes, and if you do them regularly, will get used to it.

As for filters, I always try and space out cleaning filters as much as possible. At most, clean the filter once a month. Thoroughly clean (perhaps replace) the pre-filter under a running tap. The pre-filter is either filter wool, a coarse sponge, or coarse ceramic tubes. The biological filter medium, which will be the finer sponge or finer ceramic tubes, should be simply rinsed in a bucket of aquarium water. It should never be cleaned more thoroughly than that because doing so will kill the bacteria.

If you don't know which part of your filter is the pre-filter and which is the biological filter, then simply rinse everything in aquarium water. Some filters don't have pre- and biological filters, the medium is one solid lump of wool or sponge, and again only clean in a bucket of water from the aquarium, never under the tap.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[bobbicus]

if you are having problems with NH3 and NO2 then it is a sign of new tank syndrome adding too many fish too quickly or feeding too much as the fish are then going to produce a higher amount of ammonia then this needs to be converted to NO2 and NO3

maybe cut off on the feeding and do gravel vac's every time you do a water change??? (enusre water is clean)

fish can become "used" to regular water changes as long as the stress is kept to a minimum not like you are chasing them around the tank when doing water changes

i am relatively new to fish keeping too and many people on here have WARNED me - DO NOT THOROUGHLY CLEAN FILTER MEDIUM - as you are at the very least depleting the concentration of bacteria in this medium in order to establish adequate water chemistry

i only ever "shake" either side of the filter media lightly twice in old tank water and that is it - and then that is a month between as i do not feed a lot and i have overfiltration - as I do not want a spike of something - as this can lead to other problems

are you doing anything different to that of your tropical tank that is running "superbly" ???