I have been having a real problem with Ammonia levels in my new (2.5 months old) tank. I never overfeed my fish. Sorry that i do not have any exact reading on my ammonia levels except that ammonia is present.
After 1.25 months I did a small 15% water change and all my fish suffered for about 5-7 days sucking air at the top of the tank and heavily working their gills and i lost 1 Cichlid on the first day and 5 survived and returned to normal behavior and activity after the week... While they suffered i stopped feeding them for about 4 days because they had lost all appetite.
Now one month after that whole ordeal my water level was maybe 1 inch down so i topped off my tank and the SAME issue occured, however i did not change any water this time only a top off. Again i lost 1 Cichlid on the first day and 4 survived. It is now 3 days later and 2 fish have returned to normal behavior & gained their appetite back while the other 2 fish are sucking air at the top and flappin their gills. Im guessing that since it was less water added the symptoms are not as bad... Of course both times i treated my tap water with conditioner.
So thats the situation here comes the question, I'm using my tap water that must be high in ammonia and i am treating the water with Kordon AmQuel Ammonia/Chloramine Remover & the AmQuel Stress Coat. My question is is it safe to double or even triple the dosage of amquel to treat my water to remove ammonia? I have had success with AmQuel with my 5 year old tank and never had a problem like this in that tank.... I understand part of the problem is that this tank is only 2.5 months old and still becoming established im assuming....
Sorry i dont have exact number readings but PLEASE HELP with whatever advice you have.... i cant stand loosing another fish =(
Ammonia Poisoning
30 posts • Page 1 of 3
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Alasse - Posts: 993
- Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
- Location: QLD Australia
Hiya
How do you know its ammonia? Especially if you cant give the readings to conclude this. Do you have a test kit? Please either test it yourself (liquid test kits are more accurate) or take a sample in to your lfs and get them to do it. Sample both your tanks water and the water straight from your tap. Get it tested for Ammonia, NitrAte & NitrIte
Also can you give us
Tank dimensions?
Substrate?
How often you do water changes?
Do you gravel clean?
Live plants?
Filtration?
What fish are in it?
Temperature?
Give as much info as possible, something not good is happening in your tank, and we can certainly try to help, but more info is required :)
How do you know its ammonia? Especially if you cant give the readings to conclude this. Do you have a test kit? Please either test it yourself (liquid test kits are more accurate) or take a sample in to your lfs and get them to do it. Sample both your tanks water and the water straight from your tap. Get it tested for Ammonia, NitrAte & NitrIte
Also can you give us
Tank dimensions?
Substrate?
How often you do water changes?
Do you gravel clean?
Live plants?
Filtration?
What fish are in it?
Temperature?
Give as much info as possible, something not good is happening in your tank, and we can certainly try to help, but more info is required :)
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tekneb - Posts: 211
- Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 3:45 am
Several things:
1. Do not double or triple your dosage, ammonia lowering agents are already stressful enough on fish (i'll explain why in a second) in their normal doses.
2. Your tap water does not have ammonia in it. Ammonia is a poison to most living things, including human beings, so if your tap water had any level of ammonia in it the media would be having a field day about it.
3. When establishing a tank, you need to to many, many more water changes then one 15% change every 1.5 months. Some people would even tell you a 15% change every week when cycling your tank is not enough. You need to keep ammonia levels low so that the beneficial bacteria that are growing in your tank can keep up with the levels.
4. Which brings me to why I believe your fish are acting the way they are. Fish hate ammonia, but they inconsistency even more. Fish can tolerate low levels of ammonia and PH levels that are to high/low, as long as the tank is maintained at that high/low level. When you added new water, you changed the PH of the water fairly dramatically after it being the same for over a month, which can be seriously stressful. Thats also the reason why I don't like ammonia lowering agents, the dramatic shift they cause can put more stress on the fish then the ammonia alone. My suggestion is to buy a test kit for PH and for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and see where your at. For all you know your ammonia levels are fine and its a whole different problem in your tank. Hope this helps.
1. Do not double or triple your dosage, ammonia lowering agents are already stressful enough on fish (i'll explain why in a second) in their normal doses.
2. Your tap water does not have ammonia in it. Ammonia is a poison to most living things, including human beings, so if your tap water had any level of ammonia in it the media would be having a field day about it.
3. When establishing a tank, you need to to many, many more water changes then one 15% change every 1.5 months. Some people would even tell you a 15% change every week when cycling your tank is not enough. You need to keep ammonia levels low so that the beneficial bacteria that are growing in your tank can keep up with the levels.
4. Which brings me to why I believe your fish are acting the way they are. Fish hate ammonia, but they inconsistency even more. Fish can tolerate low levels of ammonia and PH levels that are to high/low, as long as the tank is maintained at that high/low level. When you added new water, you changed the PH of the water fairly dramatically after it being the same for over a month, which can be seriously stressful. Thats also the reason why I don't like ammonia lowering agents, the dramatic shift they cause can put more stress on the fish then the ammonia alone. My suggestion is to buy a test kit for PH and for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and see where your at. For all you know your ammonia levels are fine and its a whole different problem in your tank. Hope this helps.
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theFISHsaysMOO - Posts: 34
- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:37 am
I got some bad information from my LFS, they told me to do nothing until the fish return to normal and also told me that changing the water would only prolong the problem, yikes. I took my tank water to the LFS and was told ammonia was present but he did not give me any readings....
I will be buying a test kit after work in a few hours..... will give a reading in 2-3 hours. Thx for the help on this
I will be buying a test kit after work in a few hours..... will give a reading in 2-3 hours. Thx for the help on this
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Alasse - Posts: 993
- Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
- Location: QLD Australia
Actually tap water most defiantely can contain ammonia. At my last place i had my tap water tested and yep it tested positive to ammonia.
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theFISHsaysMOO - Posts: 34
- Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:37 am
I allways treat the water before i put it into the tank.... Soo it was a long night last night, I completley dis-assembled my 60 gallon fish tank and i moved my 4 cichlids to a smaller 30 gallon that i had set-up which was fish-less. The cichlids showed dramatic improvement instantly and they seem extremly happy in their new home. I am going to restart my 60 gallon from scratch and i will post some numbers along the way... This all happened perfect timing anyways since i just purchased a new dresser which my fish tank is now on and i had to empty it before i could move it. Even with like 10% water in the tank it still seemed like 150-200 lbs when moving it from dresser to dresser ^_^ The Journey begins...... again! YEAH!
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yasherkoach - Posts: 1306
- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm
without a test kit for ammonia you will not know the true cause of your ailment
reason fish go to the surface is very simple: little oxygen in the water column (you should get a liquid test kit for oxygen)...reason for little oxygen is you may not have enough water agitation at the surface (the oxygen is literally produced at the water surface by agitation and the oxygen in the air (reason you should have at least 2 inches between the water surface and anything overhead (lighting, hood, etc), the chemical reaction between the gasses mixed between you providing water agitation (via aeration) and the pure oxygen (in the air), produces the rich oxygen, understand?
so if you move the fish to a new tank, you will still have the same problem if there is no surface agitation
get liquid test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, oxygen and ph..let us know the results
reason fish go to the surface is very simple: little oxygen in the water column (you should get a liquid test kit for oxygen)...reason for little oxygen is you may not have enough water agitation at the surface (the oxygen is literally produced at the water surface by agitation and the oxygen in the air (reason you should have at least 2 inches between the water surface and anything overhead (lighting, hood, etc), the chemical reaction between the gasses mixed between you providing water agitation (via aeration) and the pure oxygen (in the air), produces the rich oxygen, understand?
so if you move the fish to a new tank, you will still have the same problem if there is no surface agitation
get liquid test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, oxygen and ph..let us know the results
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Alasse - Posts: 993
- Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
- Location: QLD Australia
I have only approximately 2cm between my water level and lids, and i have absolutely no surface agitation. My fish do not come to the surface gasping.
Though i have no ammonia, nitrate, nitrite or other possible issue
Though i have no ammonia, nitrate, nitrite or other possible issue
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yasherkoach - Posts: 1306
- Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm
Alasse, very surprising...as we know water agitation equals oxygen in the water column...somehow the water column in your tank is receiving oxygen, possibly from the abundance of plants in your tank (the only other way around this)
have you ever done a liquid test on oxygen in the tank?
Alasse, once again, you always surprise me (((smiles)))
have you ever done a liquid test on oxygen in the tank?
Alasse, once again, you always surprise me (((smiles)))
