Hi I've got a 29 gallon tank with guppys, platys, and mollies, and a few catfish and neons. It's been running now for about a month. I have been doing water changes pretty much daily now as I have been reading online to do but my ammonia levels won't drop and my ph stays at 7.4 and ammonia at 0.2 ppm. My fish were doing ok but now they are starting to die. My guppy started darting around the tank and crashing his body into the gravel and running into the sides last night after another water change and one of my cats died. Also one of my black mollies female prego is acting funny now she acts as if she can't see well and kind of sinks to bottom of tank. I also have baby mollies in there now and they r dying too now. What am I doing wrong? I am adding start rite water conditioner to my tap water before adding it but maybe I'm not putting enough or to much. Help stressed out and losing my favorites??
Help my ammonia levels won't drop!!!
- Thread starter luv2fish35
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sounds like your tank is accutally doing what its suppose to do, in a cycling period your tank is suppose to spike in amonia levels, but of course fish do not do well during this period, this is the disadvantage of doing a fish in tank cycle. it will start producing bacteria that will kill off amonia, the only thing you can do right now is daily water changes of about 20%, if all fish die off, just wait a few weeks for your cycle to complete before you add anymore fish
really this is all normal? I can't believe it! The people in the stores need to be more educated on this stuff and not sell to people just to make a sell. I can't believe I will lose all my fish I've gotten attached to them now. I know all their personalities and not to mention spent alot of money on them and found the prettiest ones.
So ur saying all I can do is keeping changing water every day and cross my fingers? How long do I need to do this for and then what?
Thank you for answering my question and trying to help me
So ur saying all I can do is keeping changing water every day and cross my fingers? How long do I need to do this for and then what?
Thank you for answering my question and trying to help me
really this is all normal? I can't believe it! The people in the stores need to be more educated on this stuff and not sell to people just to make a sell. I can't believe I will lose all my fish I've gotten attached to them now. I know all their personalities and not to mention spent alot of money on them and found the prettiest ones.
So ur saying all I can do is keeping changing water every day and cross my fingers? How long do I need to do this for and then what?
Thank you for answering my question and trying to help me
So ur saying all I can do is keeping changing water every day and cross my fingers? How long do I need to do this for and then what?
Thank you for answering my question and trying to help me
My advice would be to buy Seachem's PRIME as your water conditioner. It will detoxify the ammonia (as well as the chlorines) so it is not harmful to the fish.
Do you know wht the nitrite reading is? That is the next step in the nitrogen cycle, and high levels of nitrite is even more toxic that ammonia. If you do not have a liquid drop test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, I would invest in one. In the meantime, take a sample of the water to the fish store and have them test it for you. Write down the actual readings (don't let them tell you it is OK or NOT OK, get actual numbers) and post back here.
If it is high nitrites now, PRIME can detoxify that, read the label carefully on how to do it.
All is not lost. You can do it! Good luck!
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i am under the impression this tank isnt cycled yet, killing off all the amonia will prevent this tank from correctly cycling, correct me if im wrong, but i have read this multiple times, and this sounds like a classic case of adding fish after setting the tank up before a complete cycle of 4-6 weeks. I am not against this as i am currently doing this as well, but you should of been warned that your fish have a small chance to live with doing a fish in tank cycle. You can buy the stuff that will take out amonia, but dont completely kill it, or your tank will never cycle!
No I don't know what the nitrates are. and idon't have a trest kit. but I took more water to the pet store and had it tested again and they said the ammonoia is dangerously high as well as ph and everything else they told me i needed to remove all my fish and take apart my tank and start all over from beginning and put my fish in a bucket or something with an aerator and that they would probably dye anyway. So i would be back to the very start that I needed to clean my entire tank gravel new filter, plants and so on What do u think about this. I did purchase some amquel plus and applijed that tonight and the levels stgill aren't dropping much yet I have the stick on wall readers and they are reading ph 7.0 and ammonia 0.2 so help me please whats next so far no more fish have died and they are active and feeding.
I used a water conditioner from Tetra called aqua safe that elimanates chlorine, chloramines, and heavy metals and another one called Start rite I verotated between them with my water changes. My ammonia reader is called "Ammonia alert" from seachem it reads constantly levels of Toxic, free ammonia. If this helps you.
I've also added stress free to the water
I've also added stress free to the water
I've not used the Seachem's Ammonia Alert yet, but have heard great things about it. They make the dechlor I recommended (Prime) and I've used their products for years.
That measures free-ammonia, so the form it reads is the toxic kind.
You need a dechloriniator that will bind free-ammonia. I do not know the products you are using, but see if the label mentions detoxifying ammonia. If not, get one that does. Add a few drops, wait a few minutes to allow the water to circulate. If its still showing toxic, add a few more drops, etc.
If your water had a lot of chloramine in it, when the chlorine is removed, what is left will combine with water and make ammonia. That's why I like Prime (I'm sure other brands do it too), because it binds the nitrogen that is what is left when the chlorine is removed from chloramine, to prevent it from forming ammonia with the water.
That measures free-ammonia, so the form it reads is the toxic kind.
You need a dechloriniator that will bind free-ammonia. I do not know the products you are using, but see if the label mentions detoxifying ammonia. If not, get one that does. Add a few drops, wait a few minutes to allow the water to circulate. If its still showing toxic, add a few more drops, etc.
If your water had a lot of chloramine in it, when the chlorine is removed, what is left will combine with water and make ammonia. That's why I like Prime (I'm sure other brands do it too), because it binds the nitrogen that is what is left when the chlorine is removed from chloramine, to prevent it from forming ammonia with the water.
According to Seachem's website, it takes about 4 hours for decreasing toxic ammonia levels to show safe on Ammonia Alert.
I'd add a few drops, and then wait 4 hours to see what the level shows, based on their information. If it shows still toxic levels, add a few drops and wait 4 hours again. You can safely overdose Prime by 5x to detoxify nitrite.
Seachem. Ammonia Alert
I'm sure other products can do this too, but I've only used Prime and have never had a reason to try something else. (They should send me free bottles of it now! HAHAHA!) I like the 2 drops per gallon dosing. It is much smaller than 'a capful per 10 gallons' that I've seen on other dechlorinator bottles.
I'd add a few drops, and then wait 4 hours to see what the level shows, based on their information. If it shows still toxic levels, add a few drops and wait 4 hours again. You can safely overdose Prime by 5x to detoxify nitrite.
Seachem. Ammonia Alert
I'm sure other products can do this too, but I've only used Prime and have never had a reason to try something else. (They should send me free bottles of it now! HAHAHA!) I like the 2 drops per gallon dosing. It is much smaller than 'a capful per 10 gallons' that I've seen on other dechlorinator bottles.
0.2 ammonia is not 'dangerously high'. It isn't great, but over 1.0 is dangerously high. Are you sure you're reading the meter correctly?
Next time make them write down the numbers for you so we can help you properly interpret the results.
As for ph, I hope you're not monkeying around with adjusting that. That will kill your fish quicker than a lot of things, leave it alone. What did they say your pH was?
All that stuff they told you about breaking down your tank was stupid. Why don't you just do a nice 50% water change just to ease your mind, and begin now only using Prime dechlor and nothing else.
Then go get your own test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate so we can help you figure out what's going on.
Then relax. It'll be OK. Really.
Next time make them write down the numbers for you so we can help you properly interpret the results.
As for ph, I hope you're not monkeying around with adjusting that. That will kill your fish quicker than a lot of things, leave it alone. What did they say your pH was?
All that stuff they told you about breaking down your tank was stupid. Why don't you just do a nice 50% water change just to ease your mind, and begin now only using Prime dechlor and nothing else.
Then go get your own test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate so we can help you figure out what's going on.
Then relax. It'll be OK. Really.
its best to have a good test kit so you can test your water anytime you want ( and for some tests if your bringing to your LFS to test , if the sample is older than 15 min its useless.
the first thing i did, after learning the hard way was GET A GOOD TEST KIT.
i use API MASTER FRESHWATER KIT. you can measure your Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and PH. and i listed them in order of importance.
and from the last few posts ive read Prime is the way to go. lol
the first thing i did, after learning the hard way was GET A GOOD TEST KIT.
i use API MASTER FRESHWATER KIT. you can measure your Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and PH. and i listed them in order of importance.
and from the last few posts ive read Prime is the way to go. lol
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I would argue that ammonia and nitrite are relatively equal in importance; nitrite being even more important to know. But yea that master test kit is what i've been using for a while and its a great base for water testing. you can then buy additional tests for KH and GH just to have an idea of where those are. API and seachem makes good quality tests.
Were currently in your same position, .2 will probably not kill your fish, my tank is at .5 daily. lol. What you need to watch out for is when the ammonia level is going to spike. Immediatly do a water change of about 25%. and dont mess around with your PH levels. Take your regular tap water in a cup, test the PH level of this tap water before you put it in the tank. the ranges of PH you get should be the type of fish you would be keeping longterm, unless you want to spend money and time fixing your ph level every week or even daily!
*Different fish have different Ph levels they like but some can adapt, currently I have a cichlid tank with a 6.6 Ph level, some say this is impossible because they prefer 7.5-8.0, but mine seem to be doing fine. Try out different ranges at your own risk
*Different fish have different Ph levels they like but some can adapt, currently I have a cichlid tank with a 6.6 Ph level, some say this is impossible because they prefer 7.5-8.0, but mine seem to be doing fine. Try out different ranges at your own risk
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Were currently in your same position, .2 will probably not kill your fish, my tank is at .5 daily. lol. What you need to watch out for is when the ammonia level is going to spike. Immediatly do a water change of about 25%. and dont mess around with your PH levels. Take your regular tap water in a cup, test the PH level of this tap water before you put it in the tank. the ranges of PH you get should be the type of fish you would be keeping longterm, unless you want to spend money and time fixing your ph level every week or even daily!
*Different fish have different Ph levels they like but some can adapt, currently I have a cichlid tank with a 6.6 Ph level, some say this is impossible because they prefer 7.5-8.0, but mine seem to be doing fine. Try out different ranges at your own risk
*Different fish have different Ph levels they like but some can adapt, currently I have a cichlid tank with a 6.6 Ph level, some say this is impossible because they prefer 7.5-8.0, but mine seem to be doing fine. Try out different ranges at your own risk
Do you know anything about neon tetras?