Ammonia help, please

[Danam314]

Hi there. I'm new to the forum. I'm having an ammonia problem and need some guidance, please.

I have a 37 gallon freshwater tank. I bought it in November. I started out with 3 zebra danios. In early January I added 1 port hoplo catfish, 3 sunset platys, 6 cardinal tetras, 1 Crowtail beta, 4 black phantom tetras, and 3 Lyretail mollies. Last Friday (jan 24) I noticed the platys were laying at the bottom of the tank (still alive) so I took some water in to get tested. Everything was "ideal" but the ammonia was dark dark green. About 8 ppm. I bought some Prime conditioner and did a 50% water change. In 48 hours there was no change. I also stopped feelings for 3 days. I did a 30% water change and used a gravel vacuum on jan 27. The ammonia was at a 3 to 4. On jan 28 I did another 30% water change with more Prime. And yesterday I did another 25% water change with Prime. My ammonia is still at 3 to 4 ppm. Still high!

I'm not sure what else to do! Please help me figure out how to get the ammonia down.

 

[Newman]

your tank just started to cycle properly. i guess 3 danios was not enough initially so when you added more fish the tank cycled again.

just follow the procedure for cycling a tank with fish now. you can read about it online. basically just keep using prime. keep doing water changes and keep getting weekly readings on your water. i would say you should be cycled in one month or two at most. you may lose some fish.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Danam, welcome. You've come to the right place!

Like newman said, you did the right thing by starting this 37g with just 3 ZD's and running it that way for ~8 weeks. Normally you'd be good to go in regards to beneficial bacteria at that point, and go ahead stocking a few fish at a time.

That is kind of a heavy bio load stocking plan you have, and might be the cause of your issues. 6 bigger live-bearers is too much for a 37g IMO. I'd go with no more than 4.

Keep doing BIG water changes if you're showing any ammonia and keep dosing big doses of Prime to neutralize the ammonia for now. Eventually, enough beneficial bacteria should build-up in your gravel, decor and filtration, so you'll see nothing but nitrates from then on.

Big water changes (and often) for now.

What type of filtration do you have.

 

[NeonFlux]

I agree with above posters. Keep at it with large water changes and dosing prime to help detoxify any ammonia, nitrite. Live plants could also help cycle if you could afford and plan to keep some. Anacharis, java ferns, anubias, mosses, ludwigia repens just to name a few are all pretty easy to keep and help absorb ammonia, nitrates thus support completing the cycle.

 

[Danam314]

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and the assistance.

The filter is a Penguin 200. There's a slot for another filter cartridge. I'm only currently using 1 filter. Would adding another help at all?

Today, I gave the mollies to a coworker who has a great aquarium set up. Hopefully that will help with the bio load.

Any other tips? I appreciate it VERY much!!

 

[NeonFlux]

I'd say the more, the merrier! Another filter would be good. The extra filter will make sure you have a bit more than enough, which is good just in case one of the two filters fails, or you can use the extra filter to instant cycle a small new tank to quarantine new fish. *thumbsups

 

[FreshyFresh]

If you don't mind bubbles and some splashing, you could add a sponge bubbler filter or two. Sponge bubblers are cheap, super simple and add excellent mechanical and biological filtration to a tank. Another option is add an aquaclear 50 filter. I personally like aquaclears when it comes to hang-on-back filters. Run it along with your existing penguin.

I've got a gold lyretail mollie in my 55g. A nice peaceful fish, but she's BIG and amazes me at what she can consume. It's probably best not to have more than one in a 37g.

FWIW, I tend to keep my heater dialed to the lower temp range recommended for the fish I have.

Once you get your water params stable, keep up on your weekly water changes and you'll be good to go. Once a tank is stable and your not adding stuff or making changes, I rarely measure the water params.