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GobyGirl asked in PetsFish · 8 years ago

High ammonia is aquariums, can't get it down!!!?

I have a 55g and a 30gal. Both tanks have been established for over a year. The only fish in the 30g are 5 small (1-1.5in) African cichlids and a bristlenose pleco. I ordered 8 juvenile German blue rams and wanted the tank for just them. So I put the Africans in the 55g with 3 parrot cichlids, 6 yoyo loaches and a common pleco. The next day one of my parrots, a loach and a cichlid had died.

And the 30gal tank is cloudy with a white film covering everything. The ammonia levels are high so I did a partial water change and added ammo-lock, TLC and stress zyme. The ammonia doesn't seem to have lowered at all. Should I do another partial water change on both tanks?

And will the rams survive the bacteria bloom or should I put them in my 30gal hex? I'm scared that this will happen again in my hex tank if I put them in there.

5 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Do 50% water changes daily and add something like prime to detoxify the Ammonia .

  • 8 years ago

    Keep doing 50% water changes until the ammonia is down.

    -

    The big thing you did?

    Transferred 30 gallons of bioload to a 55 gallon. If you had done this over 1-2 weeks, the 55 gallon wouldn't have been hit as hard.

    The second big thing?

    Adding 8 juvenile bioloads to a tank that may not have had enough bacteria to handle the bioload.

    They recommend adding 5-6 fish MAXIMUM to a tank.

    I'd suggest a new tank.

    30+ for the african cichlids and BN pleco.

  • 50% water change straight away. Then 25% each day until the ammonia disappears.

    One of the things I don't recommend is using Ammo-Lock. Cause as the name states it locks the ammonia levels in. However it makes this ammonia non-lethal but it will still show up in your ammonia readings cause in reality the ammonia is still present.

    I recommend using SeaChem prime as opposed to Ammo-Lock, however Ammo-Lock has done it's job as it should now it's just a matter of removing the ammonia and honestly the best way to do this is regular daily water changes until the levels go down.

    Rams are not hardy and any sort of change in water parameters can be fatal to them. Basically only time will tell if it will kill them, it's a possibility but i wouldn't say it certainly will.

    Leave all fish in the tanks they are in and just keep doing those water changes. Try and invest in a product called Stability, this will help with bacteria to control the bio-load in the tanks. That bacteria is vital to converting ammonia into nitrate and nitrate into nitrite.

  • 8 years ago

    SeaChem Prime can detoxify ammonia for up to 48 hours. If you do partial water change every day with Prime, then you can minimize the ammonia damage to your fish.

    You can also get Tetra SafeStart to help boost the beneficial bacteria level in your tank.

    http://petskeepersguide.com/fishless-cycle-nitroge...

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  • 8 years ago

    At petsmart, this little bag of sand that soaks up ammonia. Its the only thing that has worked to bring my amonia down

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