# High Ammonia



## Sylvie (Aug 10, 2010)

Stats 
32 Gallon tank
Two 2&#148; piranhas
Ammonia: 2.0
pH: 7.6

I recently bought 2 juvenile piranhas about 2 weeks ago. We noticed the ammonia was at 4.0 after only 4 days of putting them in their new home. We decided to do a 90% water change, treated the water with NUTRAFIN cycle as well as the NUTRAFIN aqua plus. My ammonia stayed at 0 for a few days but slowly started to climb once again. I did my weekly 15% water change yesterday, treated the water... and the ammonia is still at 2.0. I don&#146;t over feed them...The first week i started by alternating with flakes one day and frozen cubes of blood worm the other day (which i dissolve in a glass of their tank water then add 3 times a day to avoid waste at the bottom). The second week i tried feeder fish (which they seem to enjoy) about one fish a day. I&#146;m new to piranha care and don&#146;t have a local store that carries them so their knowledge on the subject is very limited. Is this all part of the cycle process of my new tank? If so will the high ammonia levels afect my reds? Any feedback would be much appreciated!!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

So its safe to assume the tank isnt cycled?

Ammonia followed by nitrites and nitrates are normal in a cycle though you cycle the tank BEFORE adding your fish. All three of these things are toxins that can KILL your fish in large enough quantities. With that said they should probably be fien as they are hardy fish, but less hardy fish could die if they are in a cycle. It is at least setressing them though. 90% water changes wont help as thats too much water changed at once and that could shock them alone and stress them further. You can still do smaller waterchanges, but no more then 40$ as if you keep doing huge water changes the tank will not cycle fully. Ideally you let the levels go as high as they want as when you cycle you should have no fish in the tank. Since i dont think you have much of an option unless you can move them to another cycled tank i would just do a smaller waterchange when the ammonia is getting too high.

I also wouldnt ude feederfish. Do a search here and you will find a ton of better alternitives. I also hope the 32g is temporary as they will soon outgrow it.


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## Sylvie (Aug 10, 2010)

CLUSTER ONE said:


> So its safe to assume the tank isnt cycled?
> 
> Ammonia followed by nitrites and nitrates are normal in a cycle though you cycle the tank BEFORE adding your fish. All three of these things are toxins that can KILL your fish in large enough quantities. With that said they should probably be fien as they are hardy fish, but less hardy fish could die if they are in a cycle. It is at least setressing them though. 90% water changes wont help as thats too much water changed at once and that could shock them alone and stress them further. You can still do smaller waterchanges, but no more then 40$ as if you keep doing huge water changes the tank will not cycle fully. Ideally you let the levels go as high as they want as when you cycle you should have no fish in the tank. Since i dont think you have much of an option unless you can move them to another cycled tank i would just do a smaller waterchange when the ammonia is getting too high.
> 
> I also wouldnt ude feederfish. Do a search here and you will find a ton of better alternitives. I also hope the 32g is temporary as they will soon outgrow it.


Thanks for your feedback!! When I bought the lil guys they told me to run my tank for 3 days prior to introducing them and they would be fine since they are known for being hardy. But then again these are the same ppl that told me a 20g tank would be fine and I didn&#146;t need a ammonia and pH test kit(which i got anyway). So needless to say I gave up on my local pet store for advice on how to care for them and tried my luck here. I hope they make it through the cycle since I don&#146;t have much more options at this point. I&#146;ll look into what to feed them instead of feeders (this is a great site!) and to answer your question, yes the 32g is temporary lol


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## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

First







, the best thing you can do is get/beg/steal some established biomedia from someone to speed up the process...

You can feed: tilapia, smelt, sole, haddock, worms, squid, pellets and fish like convicts, platies, swordtails...


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## Sylvie (Aug 10, 2010)

Soul Assassin said:


> First
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What do you sugest i feed them while they're juvies? I looked up what ppl where feeding here but it's pretty much to each their own.... some believe in feeders and some are against it completly... i like the idea of replacing my flakes with pelets... and maybe krill and worms? I'm not giving them goldfish feeders anymore... like you said i'll stick with the convicts, swordtails, etc...


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Sylvie said:


> So its safe to assume the tank isnt cycled?
> 
> Ammonia followed by nitrites and nitrates are normal in a cycle though you cycle the tank BEFORE adding your fish. All three of these things are toxins that can KILL your fish in large enough quantities. With that said they should probably be fien as they are hardy fish, but less hardy fish could die if they are in a cycle. It is at least setressing them though. 90% water changes wont help as thats too much water changed at once and that could shock them alone and stress them further. You can still do smaller waterchanges, but no more then 40$ as if you keep doing huge water changes the tank will not cycle fully. Ideally you let the levels go as high as they want as when you cycle you should have no fish in the tank. Since i dont think you have much of an option unless you can move them to another cycled tank i would just do a smaller waterchange when the ammonia is getting too high.
> 
> I also wouldnt ude feederfish. Do a search here and you will find a ton of better alternitives. I also hope the 32g is temporary as they will soon outgrow it.


Thanks for your feedback!! When I bought the lil guys they told me to run my tank for 3 days prior to introducing them and they would be fine since they are known for being hardy. But then again these are the same ppl that told me a 20g tank would be fine and I didn't need a ammonia and pH test kit(which i got anyway). So needless to say I gave up on my local pet store for advice on how to care for them and tried my luck here. I hope they make it through the cycle since I don't have much more options at this point. I'll look into what to feed them instead of feeders (this is a great site!) and to answer your question, yes the 32g is temporary lol
[/quote]
Learn quick to not listen to most lfs employees. A cycle will usually take around a month to complete not 3 days. They are hardy and should survive, but it will add unnessisary stress so its good have the tank fully cycled first. You may also want to look into getting a nitrite and nitrate test kits


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Sylvie said:


> First
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What do you sugest i feed them while they're juvies? I looked up what ppl where feeding here but it's pretty much to each their own.... some believe in feeders and some are against it completly... i like the idea of replacing my flakes with pelets... and maybe krill and worms? I'm not giving them goldfish feeders anymore... like you said i'll stick with the convicts, swordtails, etc...
[/quote]

When juvies feed frozen brine shrimp, bloodworms... Just check your lfs freezer for what they have. As long as its for fw fish it will be fine, but brine shrimp and bloodworms alone will be fine.

When they are large enough I would try to get them on a small pellet like hirikarki gold small pellets.

For feeding i would just do a combo or brineshrimp and blood worms as juvies and eventually move onto things like shrimp, talapia, haddock, cod, pellets, smelt or most sea food should be ok. Something like shrimp, talapia and pellets are usually used farily commonly then some other seafood is occationally added in when available. You may also want to look into vitamins and such to soak fillets/shrimp in like boyds vitachem or kent fw zoe. This along with pellets can help give your p's good colour and make them healthy


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## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

I concur with Cluster, you can also mince the food like tilapia for them...


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## Sylvie (Aug 10, 2010)

Sounds good... i went to buy pellets yesterday but they seemed kinda big for their lil mouths... soo i stuck with my blood worms and brine shrimp that i have now... Ohh and i also bought a nitrite and nitrate test kits when i was there yesterday







... You guys are awesome, thanks for all your help!


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## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

Sylvie said:


> Sounds good... i went to buy pellets yesterday but they seemed kinda big for their lil mouths... soo i stuck with my blood worms and brine shrimp that i have now... Ohh and i also bought a nitrite and nitrate test kits when i was there yesterday
> 
> 
> 
> ...


no problem, you can always crack the pellets in half or quarters...


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