ammonia problem

[fred1985]

Here are the new test results after water change I waited 2 hours and then checked
ph-6.5 staying stable
ammonia- 0.25
Nitrite-0.8
Nitrate-10
also I cant get that prime additive here and by the time I order it online and get it my problem could be gone so i still have been using aqua plus and cycle.

 

[brian1973]

Here are the new test results after water change I waited 2 hours and then checked
ph-6.5 staying stable
ammonia- 0.25
Nitrite-0.8
Nitrate-10
also I cant get that prime additive here and by the time I order it online and get it my problem could be gone so i still have been using aqua plus and cycle.

not sure where your at but Petsmart carries Prime. Even if you cant get Prime right now it is the only product I trust for chlorine/chloramine removal so I would still recommend ordering it, it will cost abit more but IMO it is the best product out there.

 

[OrangeCones]

also I cant get that prime additive here and by the time I order it online and get it my problem could be gone so i still have been using aqua plus and cycle.

If your local water contains chloramine, then using Hagen Hagen Nutrafin Aqua Plus tap water conditioner will ADD ammonia to your tank. Chloramine is a molecule made up of chlorine and ammonia. The product breaks the chlorine off the molecule, leaving ammonia behind. What Prime does (there are other brands that do this too), is also bind the ammonia so that it is not in a form toxic to your fish. This binding only lasts a few days, usually enough time for a healthy biological filter to consume it.

Check with your local water company. If they use chloramine to disinfect drinking water, you will NEED a product like Prime as long as you have an aquarium.

 

[fred1985]

Thanks for the advice and info. I jest spoke to the water department here in our city and they use chloramine in the water I guess that is where my problem is. I also found a fish store that carries prime but they are out of stock and wont have any in till Wednesday so I need to find another water conditioner till then. When I get the prime I will post back my new readings.
Thanks

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

Be aware that when using prime, you will still see an ammonia reading, it will just be the "won't harm the fish kind".

Maybe OC can chime in on what type of readings you will see?

 

[fred1985]

Awesome news the fish store called me and they found a 8oz bottle of prime an d got it on hold for me thank god. so what readings will I get of the good ammonia ??

 

[littletankbigworld]

If you can, see if you can re-home some of the fish in the 20 gallon or return them to the store. I would re-home at least the 3 mollies and the corydora.

Also, if you download the Firefox web browser (the best in the universe), it has a spell check feature.

 

[fred1985]

Yea I don’t think I can transfer the fish to my 30 gal tank because of the ammonia problem and right now the 20 gal levels are all low and I jest did a water change and used the prime. so the 20 gal is not my main concern right now. when I get my 30 gal cycled then I might add them to that or I might sell off my barbs when the 20 gal is cycled and see if I can get the mollies to mate. BTW thanks for all the hints that my spelling sucks LOL im typing in Microsoft word and using the spell check in that.

 

[aakaakaak]

Yea I don’t think I can transfer the fish to my 30 gal tank because of the ammonia problem and right now the 20 gal levels are all low and I jest did a water change and used the prime. so the 20 gal is not my main concern right now. when I get my 30 gal cycled then I might add them to that or I might sell off my barbs when the 20 gal is cycled and see if I can get the mollies to mate. BTW thanks for all the hints that my spelling sucks LOL im typing in Microsoft word and using the spell check in that.

LOLWHAT?

Unless you have all males or all females, one of your mollies is pregnant. It's the law. Heck, you can take the males out and the females will still probably be pregnant for the next two months. (Note that the females hold sperm for somewhere around 2-4 months.)

 

[fred1985]

Well then I must have all males I was told how to sex them was by looking at there anal fin(guess that’s what it is called) shape. Is that how u sex them??? I never noticed any small baby fish swimming around yet LOL

 

[aakaakaak]

They can give birth every 30 days.

Females have fins and males look like they have a small stick up their butt.

Have a diagram:

 

[fred1985]

Yea looks like I got 2 female and 1 Male mollies.
Here are my new test levels from my 30 gal after a 50% water change with prime as the conditioner.
ph-6.5
Ammonia-0
nitrate-5
nitrite-0.3
And I am happy to say that all fish seem to be happy and are swimming good.

 

[littletankbigworld]

You don't really want livebearers like mollies to breed unless you have a separate tank for the fry and a place to re-home them when they grow. Breeder's boxes are not ideal and mollies breed like crazy. My last molly spawn was a small one; I had 40 babies and all but 2 survived into adulthood.

 

[aakaakaak]

I hear the fry makes good snacks for smaller meat eaters.

 

[fred1985]

well i got a 5gal i can put the fry in for now if they do have baby's

 

[littletankbigworld]

I made the mistake of holding fry in a 5 gallon. I had to change the water at least every other day and most weeks I changed it once a day. I lost a few platy fry and a couple molly fry to ammonia spikes. Mollies are like a small, tropical version of the goldfish; they produce a ton of waste. It also took a few months to find homes for all the fry. A 5 gallon tank is not a suitable home for mollies, even if you are only keeping them in the tank for a couple months. Plus, fry grow so quickly. Most of my mollies were over an inch long by the end of the first month, and one molly was three inches after two months. Personally, I wouldn't hold fry (unless you only have a couple) in any tank less than 20 gallons. Plus, livebearers store sperm for months and will have many babies each month until all the sperm is gone.

 

[fred1985]

Ok I got some questions about the molly fry. Will the Cory cats eat them ? Also will the tiger and gold barbs eat them ???

 

[fred1985]

What do I need to do to set up a tank for them to give birth in????? I would like to experience seeing the fish give birth

 

[littletankbigworld]

Any fish that have mouths bigger than the fry will eat them. So yes, it's possible that those fish would eat them. You need at least a 20 gallon tank. It needs to have a bare bottom and have java moss, hornwort or other floating plants. You also need a ratio of three females to one male.
It is highly unlikely that you will see the fish actually giving birth. My mom once sat in front of our one tank for a few days when she returned home from work because she really wanted to see the fish give birth. Even if you sit at home all day, it is unlikely that you'll see it.
I would work on cycling and making your tank healthy before you even think about breeding fish and setting up another tank. You will have to cycle the breeding tank as well.

 

[fred1985]

Ok thanks for the info. so if they happen to have baby’s I will jest let natural selection take over and if they survive well so be it if not then oh well my main concern is the fish in the tank now. I must say that prime conditioner works like a charm all levels are still low there is 0 ammonia and 10 nitrate 0.8nitrite and ph has been stable at 6.5 and all fish are looking good.