Just got back from the fishy store!!!

[Essjay]

Yep that is what my husband said about the city water. I got some ammo lock which detoxifies. It says add every 2 days, if after 7 still shows ammonia do a 25% water change. How will that help when the city water has Chloramine in it?

Ammo lock does detoxifies ammonia but you also need a separate dechlorinator. Seachem Prime does both in one bottle.

These products detoxify ammonia for 24 hours. In a cycled tank, there are bacteria which eat ammonia and they will eat the detoxified ammonia that comes in tap water as well as the ammonia made by the fish. Assuming your tank is cycled, the bacteria will remove the ammonia in your tap water well within 24 hours.


But if you are doing a fish-in cycle, regardless of what manufacturers tell you, you need to do a water change whenever ammonia or nitrite is above zero. These products (Prime, ammo lock) only detoxify the ammonia for 24 hours so you still need to do daily water chnages, but they will protect fish between daily water changes.



Manufacturers' instructions pander to the "I want it and I want it now" way of life. They make products so that people can avoid doing water changes because that's the popular image of keeping fish - fill a tank with water, put fish in, feed them. They don't want to do any maintenance. So they make products to pander to these people.
What we must understand is that everything we add to a tank gets inside the fish so the less we add to a tank the better. Using a chemical at minimum level to keep the fish safe is important. So yes, if there is chloramine in tap water use a water conditioner which splits chloramine, removes chlorine and detoxifies ammonia to treat the new water; but during fish-in cycling, do water changes whenever ammonia and/or nitrite are above zero rather than just throw in more chemicals on a daily basis.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Thank you so much! When I tried the Prime, I was using around that, knew it was overdosing a bit, and knew it was safe to do that with Prime as far as the tank was concerned, but with Prime being relatively pricey, I was hoping for a more precise measurement so I wasn't just wasting it, you know?

Thank you for mathing for me! I really do appreciate it

More than welcome.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Ammo lock does detoxifies ammonia but you also need a separate dechlorinator. Seachem Prime does both in one bottle.

These products detoxify ammonia for 24 hours. In a cycled tank, there are bacteria which eat ammonia and they will eat the detoxified ammonia that comes in tap water as well as the ammonia made by the fish. Assuming your tank is cycled, the bacteria will remove the ammonia in your tap water well within 24 hours.


But if you are doing a fish-in cycle, regardless of what manufacturers tell you, you need to do a water change whenever ammonia or nitrite is above zero. These products (Prime, ammo lock) only detoxify the ammonia for 24 hours so you still need to do daily water chnages, but they will protect fish between daily water changes.



Manufacturers' instructions pander to the "I want it and I want it now" way of life. They make products so that people can avoid doing water changes because that's the popular image of keeping fish - fill a tank with water, put fish in, feed them. They don't want to do any maintenance. So they make products to pander to these people.
What we must understand is that everything we add to a tank gets inside the fish so the less we add to a tank the better. Using a chemical at minimum level to keep the fish safe is important. So yes, if there is chloramine in tap water use a water conditioner which splits chloramine, removes chlorine and detoxifies ammonia to treat the new water; but during fish-in cycling, do water changes whenever ammonia and/or nitrite are above zero rather than just throw in more chemicals on a daily basis.

^^ Excellent post ^^

 

[SarahBeth]

A few things
1. I wouldn't have gotten Ammo Lock if I already had a detoxifier. So Prime isn't necessary since they do the same thing.
2. Chlorine levels are good. No need for dechlorinator.
3. I did go ahead and get a couple of plants when we got the fish and got a couple more this weekend. My husband wanted them so that was one less thing for me to say we needed. lolol
4. I don't necessarily agree with the pandering to the I want it now group idea. I see it as let's make this as easy as possible because people who keep fish also have alot of things going on in their lives and want to keep this as easy as possible so it's enjoyable. Daily water changes are not and they are contrary to the directions on the product. It does seem to me that the Ammo Lock should be included in the starter pack. I still don't get what the point of the aquarium salt is. I have a box of it but not sure what it's purpose is.

 

[Essjay]

Aquarium salt used to be used routinely in fish tanks, but we now know it's not good for fresh water fish on a routine basis (it damages their kidneys). The manufacturers seem to be stuck in a time warp and still think it should be used routinely.
But it is a mild antiseptic which can be used to treat many diseases so it's worth having some in the cupboard.

Not everyone has chloramine in their tap water - I don't, just chlorine. Ammo lock in the starter pack would be useless for someone who has just chlorine.



The starter pack contains stress coat which is a dechlorinator; if you are using this it's why you have no chlorine in the tank water.

When you finish the bottle of stress coat, you'll need to buy more dechlorinator. That's the time to look for one which detoxifies ammonia as well so you don't need two separate bottles.
If the only ammonia in your tank is the ammonia from the chloramine in your tap water, the ammo lock will detoxify it until the bacteria have chance to remove it.
Fish-in cycling is a different matter.

 

[SarahBeth]

It must be a fish in cycle. I thought by using the starter pack of Quick Start and Stress Coat would cycle it because it says you can add fish right after use. But looks like that is not the way it works. I'm just testing the ammonia every other day and adding ammo lock if it still shows ammonia. I'll do a water change after 7 days if it's not straightened out by then.
In other fish news my gourami has built a bubble nest. I have no idea whether eggs have been layed or not. I'm not sure if I have two males or a girl and a boy. I thought the boy was a boy and then it started bubble nesting so I thought it was a girl but it turns out that boys build nests. However this "boy" has a rounder belly than the other gourami.

 

[Essjay]

No bacterial stater cycles a tank instantly; all they do is speed it up. And some are better than others.

You will soon find nitrite showing up. That needs to be kept at zero as well as ammonia. Ammo lock will not detoxify nitrite.


You mentioned plants - what type are they? Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they turn it into protein rather than nitrite. Slow growing plants don't take up much ammonia, but fast growing plants do - especially floating plants.

 

[SarahBeth]

I have no idea what the plants are. My husband picked them out. The ones I picked were a variety set. This is the nest. Red is the nest maker. Blue is my other gourami.

 

[Essjay]

If you have 2 male gouramis, there could be trouble down the line. keep an eye on them and be prepared to act if they start to fight.
Female dwarf gouramis are usually silver with maybe a hint of stripes, though there are females of the neon blue variant which nowadays do have stripes.

 

[SarahBeth]

A better pick of blue.

 

[SarahBeth]

So if I'm correct the red one is a boy and the blue one is a girl?

 

[Essjay]

The red one is definitely a male - he is the natural coloured variant.
But it's hard to tell from the photos whether it is a male of the powder blue variant or a female. I have never kept dwarf gouramis, but someone once said that only powder blue males have the orange edges to the fins. I don't know if that's true or not.

 

[FishGuest5123]

The water provider uses chloramine. This is an ammonia and a chlorine joined together. Water conditioners split them up and remove the chlorine part.
Many water conditioners also contain something to detoxify ammonia. This temporarily converts the ammonia to a non-toxic form, but the bacteria can still 'eat' it. After around 24 hours, the ammonia becomes toxic again, but it should have been removed by the bacteria well before it can become toxic again.


So you don't need an ammonia remover, just a water conditioner than detoxifies ammonia.

You took the words out of my mouth. Chloramine is in my tap water and couldn’t figure out why I kept getting ammonia readings. Finally learned that city had changed to chloramine and the ammonia was actually ammonium which is less toxic. I now keep an ammonia alert in my tanks to be sure I’m safe. I read .25ppm ammonia but that is safe on the alert. I also periodically test with a total ammonia kit which shows total ammonia and free ammonia. Water s always safe on this test. Here’s that kit and the monitor.

 

[SarahBeth]

It looks like it may be a neon blue dwarf gourami. Dwarf Gourami Care, Tank Mates, Lifespan & More (aquariumsource.com) I can see the stripes on my fish but they didn't show up well in the picture. Also it's color has gotten more vibrant over the past few days. I'm leaning female but I am no expert.

 

[SarahBeth]

You took the words out of my mouth. Chloramine is in my tap water and couldn’t figure out why I kept getting ammonia readings. Finally learned that city had changed to chloramine and the ammonia was actually ammonium which is less toxic. I now keep an ammonia alert in my tanks to be sure I’m safe. I read .25ppm ammonia but that is safe on the alert. I also periodically test with a total ammonia kit which shows total ammonia and free ammonia. Water s always safe on this test. Here’s that kit and the monitor.

This looks like a good idea for us since we have the chloramine in our water.