Will Rcs Tolerate 0.6 Ammonia?

[aaronnorth]

I use the hagen mini master test kit which shows 0.6 ammonia, there is a table next to it but along the bottom there is no 0.6 on the scale so does this equal 0,

ph 8
n/rite 0
n/rate 25
Kh 170ppm/ 9.5 deg

tankmaates - endlers, catfish (bronze corys)
anything else wrong with water, tank, please say.

What is the max they will tolerate?

(i have also posted this in invertabrates section but only 1 reply so i need more answers to make my decision)

 

[rdd1952]

Any level of ammonia is bad. When you say "tolerate", I assume you mean will it harm them. The short answer is no they won't tolerate it. Even low levels of ammonia will have negative effects on fish and shrimp over time. Not only will it harm the shrimp but also the corys and endlers. And with a pH of 8.0 it is even more harmful than if it were in acidic water. I would suggest doing water chagnes to get it least down to .25 ppm and then as needed to keep it there until the tank fully cycles. And although I'm not a proponent of using chemicals, I would also get a product like Ammo-Lock to detoxify the ammonia that is present until the tank cycles.

 

[darknirvana217]

Any ammonia is too much. You need to do some water changes to eliminate it.

 

[Minni3]

IMO I would say that the 0.6 ammonia will do little damage in a short period of time, but like rdd1952 said, it will do damage in the long run.

Some people actually use shrimp instead of cheap hardy fish to cycle their tanks...personally fishless cycling is the way to go.

Hope that helped

 

[chicklette]

Any ammonia or nitrites is very stressful on all fish. I would start doing water changes and test the water daily. I would also feed very lightly.

A suggestion if you can get your hands on a cycled tank you can use the filter media in there to help it cycle and you can also grab a chunk of gravel, put it in a stocking, tie it up and put it n the bottom of your tank.

This really does help. I’ve used this method before and was surprised that it actually did work.

 

[Shrimper]

IMO I would say that the 0.6 ammonia will do little damage in a short period of time, but like rdd1952 said, it will do damage in the long run.

Some people actually use shrimp instead of cheap hardy fish to cycle their tanks...personally fishless cycling is the way to go.

Hope that helped

They may use dead shrimp (or prawns) to cycle a tank but i've not heard of anybody using live shrimp as they are quite sensitive to Ammonia and Nitrite and don't produce much waste (ammonia).

I would try and lower any bad stats like that with a big water change, shrimp really don't like poor quality water.

 

[aaronnorth]

Thanks everyone, tank cycled 1wk ago so may just be a small rise, i cycled by using 2 sponges and biomax out my large tank, i'll get some corys first to help with ammonia to 'feed' bacteria as i only have about 5 endlers (1") so that will/ may be the cause.