# CRAZY AMMONIA LEVELS!!!! AH!



## bc_buddah (Dec 18, 2005)

so all my midas are dying and they look all torn up and fungusy, like their slime coat is being attacked.

i did a water test and my ammonia is 8.0 and/or over. ph is 6.0 or under. nitrite is 0 and niTRATE is 10-15.

so my question is . . WHAT DO I DO?!?! i'm planning to do daily 80% changes and put a #%$& load of "prime" by seachem in there.

my tank WAS cycled . . . dunno about that now . . . i'm confused . . what should i do?

oya which reminds me, i should throw those ammonia chips back in there. oya i and have a CRAP LOAD of planaria, those little worms, SICK!

135 gallon - river cooter (turtle) , 20 midas, 1 orange pike cich, 1 lepitoda pike cich, 3 pink convicts, 2 GT's, sailfin pleco

VIDEO OF MY TANK : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkzssfDNSAU...re=channel_page that IS a lepitoda right? i dunno
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135 gallon - 12" pleco, 60 small Midas, 4 Pink Convicts, 1 Orange Pike Cichlid (xingu), 2 Green Terrors, 1 River Cooter Turtle


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## roccov12345 (Sep 26, 2008)

The Planaria and high Ammonia levels to me sounds like you might of been feeding pretty heavily or you haven't done a water change in a while. I don't think I would change 80% of the water, you may cause more damage then help. I would stick to like a 30-40% water change every day until those levels come down. Throw in some aquarium salt to reduce stress and cut back on the feeding entirely until you get it under control. Definitely looks like you're going to have another cycling phase so I wouldn't be surprised if you see your nitrite levels rise in the near future. I would ask if your positive that the ammonia is correct but you're giving symptoms of fish issues which to me, seems like its probably accurate.

Stop feeding, daily water changes, salt dosage for the amount of the water change, and constant monitoring. You should have it cleared up shortly.

Oh and in addition, I just took a look at your vid, very nice, how old is the tank and have you changed the filter media lately? I noticed you have no substrate which would leave your filter as the only inhabitable area for bacteria. If you changed out a cartridge or blasted the filter media clean, there's your answer.

The low PH levels could very well be due to your poor water quality at the moment. Where is your PH usually stable?


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## bc_buddah (Dec 18, 2005)

roccov12345 said:


> The Planaria and high Ammonia levels to me sounds like you might of been feeding pretty heavily or you haven't done a water change in a while. I don't think I would change 80% of the water, you may cause more damage then help. I would stick to like a 30-40% water change every day until those levels come down. Throw in some aquarium salt to reduce stress and cut back on the feeding entirely until you get it under control. Definitely looks like you're going to have another cycling phase so I wouldn't be surprised if you see your nitrite levels rise in the near future. I would ask if your positive that the ammonia is correct but you're giving symptoms of fish issues which to me, seems like its probably accurate.
> 
> Stop feeding, daily water changes, salt dosage for the amount of the water change, and constant monitoring. You should have it cleared up shortly.
> 
> ...


nice. great reply. very helpful and straight forward. thank you.

YA!! I DID CLEAN *ONE* OF THE FILTER BOXES!! grrr!!! regret it . . . it was getting SOOO DIRTY so i decided to clean one . . .biggest mistake i've ever made lol.

i've been told 50% or more would be ok for water changes daily . . especially with my monster ammonia levels. my one friend even told me to do a few water changes a day.

i was feeding rather heavily because i had SO MANY fish and wanted them all plump and fat and growing fast







and figured the left overs will be eaten by my turtle because he eats everything! including his own poop.

i don't have aquarium salt, just table salt. i want to use salt but . .i'm unsure how it will effect the turtle that lives in that tank.

thx for viewing the vid. HAS TO BE BARE BOTTOM, cuz my turtle eats all the substrate. if he continues to do so he'll die. so now it's bare.

i never really check my ph, but i'm pretty sure that it's not 6.0 and under . . it's usualy 7.0


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## roccov12345 (Sep 26, 2008)

bc_buddah said:


> The Planaria and high Ammonia levels to me sounds like you might of been feeding pretty heavily or you haven't done a water change in a while. I don't think I would change 80% of the water, you may cause more damage then help. I would stick to like a 30-40% water change every day until those levels come down. Throw in some aquarium salt to reduce stress and cut back on the feeding entirely until you get it under control. Definitely looks like you're going to have another cycling phase so I wouldn't be surprised if you see your nitrite levels rise in the near future. I would ask if your positive that the ammonia is correct but you're giving symptoms of fish issues which to me, seems like its probably accurate.
> 
> Stop feeding, daily water changes, salt dosage for the amount of the water change, and constant monitoring. You should have it cleared up shortly.
> 
> ...


nice. great reply. very helpful and straight forward. thank you.

YA!! I DID CLEAN *ONE* OF THE FILTER BOXES!! grrr!!! regret it . . . it was getting SOOO DIRTY so i decided to clean one . . .biggest mistake i've ever made lol.

i've been told 50% or more would be ok for water changes daily . . especially with my monster ammonia levels. my one friend even told me to do a few water changes a day.

i was feeding rather heavily because i had SO MANY fish and wanted them all plump and fat and growing fast







and figured the left overs will be eaten by my turtle because he eats everything! including his own poop.

i don't have aquarium salt, just table salt. i want to use salt but . .i'm unsure how it will effect the turtle that lives in that tank.

thx for viewing the vid. HAS TO BE BARE BOTTOM, cuz my turtle eats all the substrate. if he continues to do so he'll die. so now it's bare.

i never really check my ph, but i'm pretty sure that it's not 6.0 and under . . it's usualy 7.0
[/quote]

That's right can't forget about the turtle, I would probably hold off on the salt then (don't know much about turtles). I would say to just stick with a 40% water change per day, slow down on the feeding and monitor your test readings until things get back on track. The heavier the water change the less concentration of ammonia you will have, I've just had some kick backs in the past with heavy heavy changes effecting the over all cycle (slowing it down, throwing things in a loop). It can't hurt to keep that water fresh until your filter builds up the bacteria it needs to handle the bioload again. Good luck!


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

Also, stay away from the ammonia chips. You are going to have to go through a cycle again until the bacteria catches up.


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