High Reading Of Ammonia

[Michaela521]

I just did a test for ammonia in my fish tank(I have fish in it already) and got a very high reading of 6 ppm. What is the best way to lower it. I plan on doing 50 percent water changes continually until it is down to about .5 ppm. I am concerned that moving so much water out and placing so much in might desturb the fish. Thank you.

 

[Tolak]

Any disturbance to the fish is minimal compared to being exposed to ammonia. 50% daily should be done, make sure it is dechlorinated water as close to the same temperature as the tank as possible.

What size tank, and what type & how many fish?

 

[Michaela521]

I meant 50 percent continual water changes in one day. So do a 50 percent water change then measure for ammonia and if it still isn't down then do it again and again until I get a .5 ppm reading. Might be alittle extreme but I plan on adding bio-spira immediately after I do these water changes to keep the ammonia down. The idea is to not have to do any water changes after I have added the bio-spira for along time so the bio-spira has a chance to colonize in the biological filter. It is a 36 gallon tank. This is what I have
1 angel fish, 3 discuss, 1 butterfly goldfish, 2 small dwarf african frogs, 4 gold snails, 6 german blue rams, 1 pictus cat, 1 gold nugget pleco, 1 trinidad pleco, 1 gold algae eater, 2 boesemani rainbow, and 2 praecox rainbow. ya, I know I think I overstocked some and moreover I think some of those might need a larger tank to fully mature but what can I say I was totally ignorant when starting this. I thought fish tanks where simply but when the tank starting looking bad that is when I started do some research of which should've been done before I started that tank. I have found the people here though to be the best of help. Thanks.

 

[carrera]

you have 3 discus in an overstocked community tank with 6ppm ammonia? and they are alive? though im surprised any of those fish can tolerate such levels of ammonia.

you are really in a mess with all those fish in an uncycled tank.

 

[GaryHug24]

I meant 50 percent continual water changes in one day. So do a 50 percent water change then measure for ammonia and if it still isn't down then do it again and again until I get a .5 ppm reading. Might be alittle extreme but I plan on adding bio-spira immediately after I do these water changes to keep the ammonia down. The idea is to not have to do any water changes after I have added the bio-spira for along time so the bio-spira has a chance to colonize in the biological filter. It is a 36 gallon tank. This is what I have
1 angel fish, 3 discuss, 1 butterfly goldfish, 2 small dwarf african frogs, 4 gold snails, 6 german blue rams, 1 pictus cat, 1 gold nugget pleco, 1 trinidad pleco, 1 gold algae eater, 2 boesemani rainbow, and 2 praecox rainbow. ya, I know I think I overstocked some and moreover I think some of those might need a larger tank to fully mature but what can I say I was totally ignorant when starting this. I thought fish tanks where simply but when the tank starting looking bad that is when I started do some research of which should've been done before I started that tank. I have found the people here though to be the best of help. Thanks.

If you can get the level down to almost 0 and add the Bio-spira with the last change it would normally take hold in 2 to 3 days but with that many fish...ouch...don't know how long until you overwhelm the tank again. Got room for another tank?

 

[Michaela521]

Ok how about this one. If the biological filter that I have on there right know isn't adequate then add another biological filter and so on until I have enough biological fiters to support this amount of fish.

Another thought, I was thinking about shuting off the pump for about 30 minutes when I feed the fish. The pump can somewhat scatter the food around the tank and I am sure that it sucks in some uneaten food that could've been eat by the fish into its mechanical filter where it just sits and rots. I am not too sure what effect this will have on the bacteria living on the Eheim Ehfisubstrat pro in the canister filter. I have about 4 cups of Eheim Ehfisubstrat pro in the canister filter. I removed the carbon and put this stuff in there. The pump is the magnum 350 convertible canister filter. Marineland always recommends biowheels but I decided to just take the carbon out and put in some eheim ehfisubstrat pro.

I guess I really do have a big mess to clean up though don't I. Thank you for helping me know how to clean it up. My fish and I thank you.

 

[GaryHug24]

Ok how about this one. If the biological filter that I have on there right know isn't adequate then add another biological filter and so on until I have enough biological fiters to support this amount of fish.

Another thought, I was thinking about shuting off the pump for about 30 minutes when I feed the fish. The pump can somewhat scatter the food around the tank and I am sure that it sucks in some uneaten food that could've been eat by the fish into its mechanical filter where it just sits and rots. I am not too sure what effect this will have on the bacteria living on the Eheim Ehfisubstrat pro in the canister filter. I have about 4 cups of Eheim Ehfisubstrat pro in the canister filter. I removed the carbon and put this stuff in there. The pump is the magnum 350 convertible canister filter. Marineland always recommends biowheels but I decided to just take the carbon out and put in some eheim ehfisubstrat pro.

I guess I really do have a big mess to clean up though don't I. Thank you for helping me know how to clean it up. My fish and I thank you.

Could you be feeding them too much? When I feed (about 2 flakes per fish once a day) the food rarely hits the bottom let alone get near the filter intake.

 

[Michaela521]

Big pump to size of tank I have

 

[mark.w.jones]

Big pump to size of tank I have

Youve pretty much answered most things yourself. Over filtering to compensate for overstocking can help to a certain extent but to be honest I doubt you'll ever have good water quality, especially the quality those discus need it's miracle their still soldiering on. If you want things to improve in your tank then you need to deal with the cause rather than the effect. I would highly recommend giving away some of your fish or buying a bigger tank asap. Im afraid this is the only real solution but it's up to you in the long run.

Good luck