# ammonia prob, help asap



## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

hey everyone so about a week ago i did a water parm test on my tank with my gold spilo, the ammonia was .25, nitrate 30, nitrite 0, ph 6.4. i have an aqua clear 500 filter and i have a whisper 60 on a 55 gallon tank. the ac 500 has the ammo chips and foam, and the whisper also has filters with some ammo chips in it. they are all new. i just got the whisper filters about 2 weeks ago and last weekend i got new filters for the ac. i bought some ammo lock and i starter to use that for about 3 days. i came home tonight from work and the water is cloudy, i do another water test and my ammo: 1.5, nitrate: 10, nitrite: 0, ph 6.4. what do i do why is the ammonia getting worse with all these ammo chips? i did 8 gallon water change and put more ammo lock in. should i keep doing more water changes or is doing water changes making it worse?


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## delegat (Mar 22, 2007)

well, if you changed all the filter media in both your filters in 1 week, then you're tank is going through the cycle again, because you took out most of the benefitial bacteria. i'm not sure what the ammo chips are supposed to do, i would stick with biomax, and keep up with the water changes to keep ammonia level low so it doesn't hurt your fish. and add some salt when nitrite starts spiking. good luck!


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

darn it! i thought that could happen but it's never happened before so i wasn't sure if it was true or not.. at this point i should keep doing lots of water changes or how often should i do them/how much water should i change? how long should it take? should i just get some bio spira or something to help? ive used that on 2 tanks so far and it's worked great, should i just get some of that to speed it up?


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

If you have established media in other filters, by all means, use some of them. Or you might want to check any mom and pop LFS in your area and see if they have some you can purchase as well.

When it comes to ammonia spikes, I start out by doing one 25% water change per day and test the water twice daily. Once in the morning and once at night. I adjust how much water I take out by what my test kits are reading, meaning if levels increase, then increase the percentage of water coming out per change.

Keep an eye on it and those levels will come down.


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

ok good idea. i have another ac 500 on another tank i'll swap the one filter media for now. this has never happened to me, my FAVORITE fish is in this tank. sheesh

ok good idea. i have another ac 500 on another tank i'll swap the one filter media for now. this has never happened to me, my FAVORITE fish is in this tank. sheesh


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## Plowboy (Apr 9, 2008)

definitely through some established media in from the other tank and keep up on water changes. the fish will be fine as long as you keep a good eye on the tank


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

I've used those ammonia chip things your talking about and they really are only sale gimmicks/ short term solutions. They also need to be recharged after they have been in use for awhile. If you put the ammonia chips in a salt solution or place salt over them and rub them together and run water over that it should recharge them. It has worked for me in the past i just dont remember what gave me the idea. They become less effective over time. I have used them on long road trips transporting fish from state to state over extended periods of time and they definitely work when they are recharged in that process. In reality a cycled tank will not need the ammo chips. i suggest that you recharge them using a heavy salt solution and then put it back in your tank until it is done cycling. in the future just change a litle media at a time and rinse it in tank water and you will be fine. Rarely does media need to be completely replaced.


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## boiler149 (Oct 31, 2007)

see above for good suggestions


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)




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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

so adding bio spira will help right?


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

injection11 said:


> so adding bio spira will help right?


If you can find it. marineland no longer makes it. It has been replaced with Tetra Safe Start.


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

Biospira will speed the process up quite a bit and as someone already suggested you should test your water for ammonia and nitrites then figure out how much water to change then repeat the process each day.


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

well guys i got home from work, the tank is even worse now. ammo: 8.0, nitrite 1.0, nitrate: 10, i'm going to do a big water change, my gf drove out to a pet store for me today and got me bio spira, so i'm going to do a water change and add some bio spira, i really hope this fish will be ok, it just keeps getting worse


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

so heres an update my gf came with the bio spira, i did a15 gallon water change then i put the bio spira in, so far the water is much less cloudy than it was. it's been about 2 hours since i've put the bio spira in and i'm going to do a water parm test tomorrow afternoon before work to see where i'm at. hopefully it's getting better. the fish was acting a big weird his mouth was open alot and he was breathing fast, he's acting alittle better now.


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

ok so 12 hours later after bio spira and 15 gallon water change,

ammo: 6
nitrie: between 0-.25
nitrate: 0
ph: 6.4


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## cobrafox46 (Jun 2, 2008)

Just keep up what you are doing and do small water changes everday to keep for fish as comfortable as possible. It will balance out eventually. I went through the same thing. Just keep up on it!


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

So far it looks like your getting what you need.
Keep doing as you are and remember never replace all of the materials from your filter(S) at the same time.
I never change anything in mine...maybe rinse it off thats about it.

Good luck and get some pics in here when your settled!


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

thanks guys! yea i'll never do that again, i've never had this happen before. i figured it was good to change the filter media.. oh well i hope everything comes out, i'll post pics of my favorite fish when his tank gets alittle better.


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

hey guys heres an update tonight after work i come home, do a water test, same parms. tonight i'm noticing alittle skin pealing (ammonia burn?) i gave up, this is my favorite fish, so i did another water change on my 20 gallon tank tested the parms and took my small oscar out and put my spilo in the 20 gallon tank, i put some salt in there. 1 tablespoon for each 5 gallons, so 4 tablespoons. i hate to net my fish and put him in a new tank, and the tank is small for a 9 inch gold spilo, but i rather him in a small tank than die. so now i can really focus on doing lots of water changes. i think the ammo-lock killed the bio spira because they said ammonia detoxifiers will kill bio spira, so i think thats what happened. he's in a tank with good water parms now with some salt to help with his stress, cause i'm sure he's really stressed. well i'll post updates as i go.

do you all think this was a smart move?


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

the same thing will happin to the 20 that took place in the larger tank because he is going to have a larger boiload on the tank then the oscar would if the oscar is a smaller fish. also you need to keep a ammonia source i.e. the appropriat number of fish and size of fish to make sure you have enough beneficial bacteria to keep the ammonia and nitrites at 0. i dont use ammo lock i use a different conditioner so im not really sure whether it killed the bio spira but i do know if you remove the ammonia source by using a product like that it would cause the beneficial bacteria in your case the bacteria in the bio spira that you added to die off. If you have any left just do a water change the next day or two and then add the rest of what you have directly to the filter media. usually when you treat water you are only trying to remove chlorine because it is bad for the fish and kills off beneficial bacteria. i was going to say a little more but i forgot what i wanted to say so if i remember i will post it later.


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

ok thanks as fan,

i just tested the 20 gallon tank, nitrite: 1 ammo: 0 nitrate: 10

i did another 20 gallon water change on the large tank, i'm going to wait an hour and do a water check on that, but i did it before the wc and the ammo is getting lower, so hopefully before the 20 gallon tank gets ammonia spike the other tank will be ready for him. his tank is reading

ammo: between 2.0 and 4.0 so maybe 3?
nitrite: almost 0 it has a tiny hint of purple
nitrate: 0

hopefully within a day i'll be able to put him back in.. i'll test water in about an hour and post the new parms if the wc did anything.

heres a pic.. looks like the spot is ammo burn or something?


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

My pleasure. looks like he caused a ammonia spike in the 20gallon which is making you read nitrites in that one for now the nitrates seem good so make sure you do do the water changes on the 20 daily too just to be safe. unless you have some extra bio spira it is going to be more then a day for the larger tank to cycle. what fish do you have in the large tank right now?


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

This is a great learning experience for you if you keep up with testing the water and doing the appropriate changes but I would say if the fish are worth less than your time at 10 bucks an hour (labor of love) then just say f*ck it and let it cycle. That's just my approach as a business man rather than a home aquarium enthusiast.


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

yea negativespin you have a point but you also have to factor in the entertainment fact of learning and the value of the fish to you personally its like going to a car dealership and buying a prius over a ferrari at the same price. someone is going to choose the prius no matter how many choose the ferrari because they love their prius.


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

well my spilo was 140 bucks and he is my favorite fish if he dies i'd be upset. iu already added bio spira in the larger tank 2 days ago, it went from 8.0 ammonia to 2.0 in 2 days. i have a small oscar in the large tank i got for 7 bucks, he was in the 20 gallon tank but i switched, i care too much for my spilo to let a 7 dollar fish live and him die, although i think the tank will be ok. yea i'll continues daily wc on the 20 gallon tank until i switch him back to the other tank. like i said before i put ammo lock in the tank and that might have killed off the bio spira, i did the large wc today.. tomorrow i'll do another large wc and hopefully the ammo lock will be all out or mostly diluted and i'll try somem ore bio spira, unless the ammo is gone by then of course.

edit: also as far as testing the water, i was keeping a close eye on it because a few days before the ammonia got really bad i had .25 ammo in it and i started water changes then, but i guess it was too much and it over powered the tank.. but i will definitely never change all the filter media at the same time again.


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

your on the right track stick to your plan and the ammonia will be zero soon


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## injection11 (Aug 30, 2007)

so i'm very happy with the water parms today. last night before i went out i did another 10 gallon wc. i'll be able to put my fish back in there tomorrow.

ammo: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
ph: 6.4

i'm gonna do one more wc later and let it sit overnight and double check tomorrow, and if all is the same tomorrow i'll put him back in his tank and post a picture! thanks for all the help guys.


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

im glad everything is under control but double check your nitrate reading when you do your next test you should have atleast some showing of nitrates.


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