Ammonia Emergency, Desperate for Advice!

[supergirltnt]

Normally I just enjoy reading everyone else's posts and learning from the responses, but now I'm desperate. So here's my first post. A very long story short:
30 gallon freshwater tank established Feb.14, 2005, after we completed cycling everything was perfect (6 gouramis, 1 cat, 1 pleco). We moved the tank into our bedroom the second week of May (requiring a huge water change to move the tank). The last week of May the ammonia was so high the fish started dying and the scent of the ammonia was like cat pee all over the room! The other labs totally normal. I started doing a 20% water change every other day to give the fish some fresh water to breath, conditioned the water with prime; 2 weeks later, no change. A bacterial infection set in to some of the gouramis so I had to remove the carbon and add mirafix everyday for a week until it cleared. The first week of June I upgraded my filter system to Aqua Clear with the Biomaxx filter and added Biospira to cycle quicker and only did a 20% water change once a week. Now it's July 20th and my ammonia is still dangerously high and I'm left with only 4 gouramis. I am the only feeder of the fish and it's just a tiny pinch in the morning. I checked the water from the tap and it is free of ammonia, and I add water conditioner before adding it to the tank. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[FroggyFox]

so the tank was completely cycled....had ammonia spike, had nitrite spike and then both were at 0?

Now your ammonia has been high for over a month...actually almost two. Did something die that you didn't take out of the tank??

Do you have anything in the filter that supposedly reduces ammonia or makes it "less harmful"?

Just doing a big water change on your tank when you moved it shouldn't have upset things so drastically...

When you changed your filter did you make sure to move it over slowly and keep the filter media from the other filter? Or is your tank completely cycling again?

Biospira should have helped....but with high levels of ammonia its not designed to be a problem solver and take care of that instantly...its meant to be put in before you have a problem.

Will keep thinking on this...seems odd to me.

 

[supergirltnt]

Thanks for a quick reply. We did have two tiny angels die that we technically never found in February, but that shouldn't cause a huge ammonia spike in May right?
The Aqua Clear filter has a Biomaxx filter and that is supposed to target ammonia. I left the old filter on the back of the tank for two weeks while the new filter got a start on cycling, then I removed the sponge but left the carbon to add extra filtering.
This mystery is crazy! Send more thoughts if possible.

 

[FroggyFox]

Well...it could have caused it if they were inside of a decoration or something, and then your move disturbed where they were, but it doesn't seem likely that they're the cause. When you moved did you find their bodies?? Ammonia is usually pretty 'easily' taken care of so having high levels for a long time doesn't make sense. Do you do regular gravel vaccuuming?

My thought on asking you about the 'ammonia reducing' chemicals is that sometimes they will cause your test kit to get a false positive. Biomax I believe is just media for your bacteria to colonize on...unless you specifically bought the insert for ammonia, it shouldn't screw with ammonia readings.

 

[Iggy]

Hey Supergirl - welcome to the tank!

Hmmmm. Froggy covered some of the things I look for like dead decaying bodies (rotting fish and food increases ammonia pretty significantly)

If you can, post the following:
a) Ammonia Level (ppm)
b) Nitrite Level (ppm)
c) Nitrate Level (ppm)
d) PH reading

The nitrifying bacteria that processes the ammonia/nitrite waste fish produce (pee/poo) lives on the surface of everything on your tank, but has higher concentrations where water flow (ie: food source), lots of Oxygen and dark areas (these bacteria are photo-sensitive a). So, basically your filter media, like sponges or bio-wheels are ideal locations for the bacteria to colonize.

It can take weeks to grow a large enough colony to process all the waste fish and food produce. If your filter media was replace, or sanitized it can dramatically reduce your bio-filter capacity.

The following will kill-off nitrifying bacteria:
Using tap water (chlorinated water)
Using soap, vinegar or bleach
Using very hot or very cold water
Drying out the bio-media surface
Stale water (ie leaving your filter off for a few days)
Excess light or UV
To high or too low pH

Something is outta wack in your tank, so try to elimiate any of the above issues.

Gouramies are pretty tough when it comes to Nitrite poisoning (because they breath atmospheric air), but high ammonia causes open sores for other nasty bacterial infections.

I wonder if during your tank-move your bio-filter was sanitezed or dried-out? Also when you replace a filter, its good to keep the previous filter running as well for a few weeks till the new filters bio-filter gets well seeded.

For now, do a larger water change, like 50% to start and test for ammonia. Try to get it as low as possible. The nitrifying bacteria live on surfaces, not the water, so water changes will not hurt your existing colony.

Prime is a great conditioner, and it 'neutralizes' ammonia, but it does not remove it, so your test kit will still show positive. Don't bother with Zeolite, it does not do a great job at removing ammonia and your bio-filter will do that in the long run.

Live plants will help remove ammonia a bit, so maybe get a few easy low-light plants (java fern) to help buffer your ammonia levels for now. Plants also help keep Nitrate levels down in the long run.

Keep us posted!