# amonia at 8.0ppm HELP!!!!



## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

I do tests every week, this week i found that my ammonia is at 8.0ppm, i changed 30% of my water and today(2 days later) i did tests and again 8.0ppm















what should i do? water is clean and fish is ok.
i know best think is change water but it didnt help







what else should i try?


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## nataz (Mar 31, 2006)

Check the date on you test kit.
You could also take a sample of your water to your lfs to be tested.


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## AE Aquatics (Bong) (Jan 7, 2008)

wizardslovak1 said:


> I do tests every week, this week i found that my ammonia is at 8.0ppm, i changed 30% of my water and today(2 days later) i did tests and again 8.0ppm
> 
> 
> 
> ...


How long is the tank running, what size is it and whats in it. Is there any left over food in there? If you have some ammo lock use it, That will help but it won't solve the problem


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## Demon Darko (Jan 28, 2007)

For now, I'd keep up with the water changes and throw a little Ammolock in there. Was the tank cycled properly?


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

follow the instructions posted above as well as being sure you gravel vac well when you change water. lastly clean your filter media with tank water but dont over clean just kind of dip it in tank water that has been placed in a bucket. this will keep the beneficial bacteria and remove any left over food that may have been suckedup into the filters.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Has to be a bad tesk kit or something. If not wouldn't his fish be dead?


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

^ I would think so....Bring it to the LFS and also...take out ALL drift wood and ornaments to assure there is NO left over food.

I wish you luck.


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## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

test kit is new tank is 55gallon and running 6 months
tank was cycled properly n, i had good results
i clean tank again and because i have sand its pretty hard to do it, is there way i can precisely clean sand ??might be that i got some left overs in sand.
so it might be that left over food can increase rapidly amonia levels??


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## Demon Darko (Jan 28, 2007)

If you are using sand, there is no way for food to get trapped in your substrate unless it is getting caught under driftwood, or whatever else you have docrating your tank. Lightly run the gravel vac over the surface of the sand to remove any solid particles, you may remove a small amount of sand, but it's not a big deal. Leftover foods can increase ammonia, try removing everything from the tank when you vac it and see if it helps. As far as an ammonia reading killing the fish, though it is extremely unhealthy, and ammonia should always read "0", I hve seen fish survive in water alot worse for a longer period of time. Some fish are just hardy as hell.


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## Tensa (Jul 28, 2008)

houston we found the problem. when you have sand you need to mix it up a little every now and then to make sure nothing is caught in it like left over food. also nitrites i believe get caught in sand if not sifted every so often. your best bet is to just us a very fine net to net out any debri. if you search on sand there are a few ways to siphon out garbage but its hard for me to explain them hopefully someone else chims in.

edit: sly beat me to the punch barely


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## cobrafox46 (Jun 2, 2008)

It is hard for me to believe that a little left over food could raise the ammonia that rapidly and that much. I would think there is some other problem somewhere. Do you leave a lot of food lying in the sand for a while? I could be wrong though?


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## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

ok so now i got my amonia in 2.0ppm. its getting down
ill post you updated cheers


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## Demon Darko (Jan 28, 2007)

AS fan said:


> houston we found the problem. when you have sand you need to mix it up a little every now and then to make sure nothing is caught in it like left over food. also nitrites i believe get caught in sand if not sifted every so often. your best bet is to just us a very fine net to net out any debri. if you search on sand there are a few ways to siphon out garbage but its hard for me to explain them hopefully someone else chims in.
> 
> *edit: sly beat me to the punch barely
> 
> ...


HA HA AS. It's about time, you usually are quicker than me.








I wouldn't bother kicking up the sand. I have never done it and I don't think that it's causing the problem you are having right now. You must have had some of your itrifying bacteria die off for some reason. That is the only logical explanation I can think of. Have you cleaned your filters recently.


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## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

well since tank was sett up i didnt clean filters.filter is running nonstop but i add chemi pure pillows for clean water tho.


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## cobrafox46 (Jun 2, 2008)

Well if you did not clean the filters that is good. A lot of people clean them completely, not knowing they are destroying their bacteria. Just keep an eye on the params and keep upi the water changes. Why do you add the chemi pure pillow? I would stop using it and just keep up on the maintenance. Your water will stay clear without it. Good Luck and I hope all is well!


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## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

i didnt clean it cause i didnt want to destroy bacteria








why did i put those chemi pure in? well friend of myne told me its really good so i did try it and it works tho
i gotta go to work, tomorrow ill do tests and change water
i bought pimafix and used it, smells nice and will see how it goes.


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## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

update
i did test today
ammonia 8.0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
ph 6.0
nitrate 0ppm
jeez everything goes bad,i used pimafix yesterday and today i changed water 25% used stress coat+ and pimafix, after work 12 midnight i did test and thats what i got







:
everything was good , now everything is going bad








what should i do??
caribas dont wanna eat, they ate only 4 hikari medium cichilids pellets,they swim normally (usuall behavior )
i have no clue what to do next, i dont wanna loose them


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Do water change everyday until its down.. Also clean the substrate and filter media.

What size tank is it? How many fish? What is your filtration?


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## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

its 55gall
2 caribas 4"-4.5" 
cascade filter for 75gal(dont know name)
i dont wanna clean filter media cause i dont want to kill bacteria in it.


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Okay well the stock is okay. Might think about getting another filter. Common rule of mine is, what the box of the filter says it can filter, divide that by 2.. So your filter really is for like a 30g tank. Lack of filtration and media can cause ammonia problems.. I would concider a bio-wheel filter like Emperor, or a canister filter so you can get some good media in it.. As for now, just do some water changes daily to help lower it slowly... It will take a few days. If the tank is new, then dony clean it, if its been running with the fish in it for over a month, its safe to clean the media.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

wizardslovak1 said:


> update
> i did test today
> ammonia 8.0 ppm
> nitrite 0 ppm
> ...


You're sure the fish are normal? No cloudy eyes, whitish patches on their skin, nothing?
This can't be right. Any fish expsoed that high an ammonia level for this long would be dead. Is there maybe something in your water that could be causing a false ammonia reading?


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## wizardslovak1 (Mar 10, 2008)

update
ammonia 2.0ppm 
ph 6.4
nitrate and nitrite 0 
i did tests twice and i got same results
55gallon i changed water yesterday + added salt and pimafix cause i have seen cloudy eye in one of them,today i can clearly see that cloudiness is decreasing and she seems very fine.
i did quarantine one of the fish to other hospital tank , other stayed in 55gall(swims normally) other in hospital tank swims slowly,her tail is really small and she got what looks like burn, probably amonia burn.
hospital tank has 0ammonia so its good,


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## Yanfloist (Oct 1, 2007)

anyone here use those ammonia remover bags or chips??


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