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Urgent fish tank help! Why are my ammonia levels spiking?
Okay, I have two tanks at home. One is tiny (3L) with a filter that is the home of 1 solitary Siamese fighting fish. The other is 30+ litres with a filter, heater, a fighter and 4 neons (they get along exceptionally well, no lectures about putting fighters with tetras).
The bigger tank is fine with its chemical levels, while the small tank has huge amounts of ammonia (approx 6 - 8 mg/L or ppm). Why??? I do regular water changes using a syphon (to get food out of gravel), have a filter, and have never had problems with it before. I took the tank off a friend (he originally kept 4 neons in it, too many I know, which is why i moved them into a bigger tank) but even then ammonia was fine.
The filter is set up so water passes through a fine, fibrous white layer, then activated carbon, then a coarser black sponge/mesh stuff. Would the ammonia levels rise coz the carbon is running out?
Also, is it ok if when doing water changes to replace the old water with water from the larger, established tank? It has no ammonia, almost neutral pH,no nitrites and no nitrates and should contain the bacteria that reduces ammonia.
Please help with my fish, he's starting to look really sick!
And yes, I know fish poo, which causes ammonia. But 4 neons have lived in this tank with no problem or increase in any nasty chemicals. And I'd bet anything that 4 neons would poop a bit more than one betta.
So, I highly doubt the high ammonia levels are caused by excrement alone.
I've done a 50% water change, got the ammonia down to 2ppm but the next day it rose to 8ppm. It's climbing really quickly.
Also, I've used ammo-lock which i know still registers as ammonia on tests, but my fish is looking sick =(
I'm gonna try replacing the carbon, hopefully that'll help
5 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Okay do a 50% water change immediately put 1 teaspoon per 10-20 gallons of amquel plus into the tank after you do the 50% water change also replace your carbon. After you do all of this you shouldn't have any ammonia. now once a week do a 10-20% water change a change the activated carbon monthly
- 1 decade ago
If your ammonia is that high you should move your fish somewhere else temporarily while you get the ammonia to come down. Otherwise your fish will probably die in that level of ammonia. I would replace the filter cartridge if you want but you should also do water change (maybe 50% or more) and get some of the gunk out of the gravel. Use Ammo-lock or ammo- chips to bring down the ammonia levels.
Source(s): Fishkeeper for 4 years Owner of 4 tanks - 1 decade ago
try a big ball of (java moss) it absorbs the ammonia. if that doesn't help put lots of beneficial filter bacteria.(make sure your filter is an appropriate size) also Don't check the quality of your water as often you can make things worse by trying so hard to keep it perfect (trust me). just feed once a week for a month or two and plenty of bacteria and only a 15% water change every 2 weeks for a couple of months. hope this helps you it sure helped me
Source(s): years of experience - ?Lv 45 years ago
you could desire to do a a million/2 water exchange. additionally, be certain you have no ineffective plant life or fish in the tank using fact will make your ammonia spike (ineffective fish) or throw off your pH (ineffective plant life). once you do your adjustments, attempt to not push the syphon each and each of ways with the aid of your rocks (or in spite of is on the backside of your tank) using fact's the place your micro organism lives and you will get rid of them. additionally, in the experience that your clear out has a biowheel, never exchange it!!! That helps your micro organism and you will get rid of all of it in case you put in a clean one. you will desire to do a 50% water exchange now and for here couple of days, do partial water adjustments daily (i are conscious of it sucks, even yet it works). in the experience that your ammonia tiers are not occurring, pass on your community fish keep and notice in case you may get stay micro organism. it would be refridgerated, so in the event that they combat to sell you something at as quickly as off the shelf, that's not what you want. maximum puppy shops have it in the lower back using fact they use it while they start a clean tank. as properly, in case you get the stay micro organism, are not getting ammonia remover using fact's what your micro organism is eating and you will starve them and that they are going to die off. that's going to take some days once you upload the micro organism on your ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite tiers to even out, yet you will desire to be secure. good success!! i'm hoping it works out. in case you have from now on questions, merely e mail me using fact i know how complicated that's.
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