Help... dirty tank = ammonia

[Meghan]

Okay so, being the newbie I am, I did fish-in cycling (not that I meant to). With the help of a few of you, we decided that even though I was showing no nitrates, that I had finished cycling. I have always shown a reading of 0.25 ammonia (0 nitrite) throughout all of this- even now, and still show no nitrates, no nitrites either.

I did my last water change Thurs 5/22: 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 0.25 ammonia before changing. I have also previously tested my tap water to see if it has ammonia- it was 0. Friday & Saturday everyone/thing looked fine. Sunday we were out all day.

Monday am, I got up and both of my guppies were dead. My betta was fine, and my cory cat was barely moving (he's still hanging on though).

I tested my water, and my ammonia was at 1.0 (0 nitrite & nitrate still). Obviously, they died of ammonia poisoning. I just didn't understand where all the ammonia was coming from.

So, I prepared for a water change. Typically I leave the decor and plastic plants in the tank and just move the decor and vacuum around the plants. Yesterday I decided to take out the plants and decor and vacuum all the gravel really well. I thought I did a pretty good job as it was. Apparently not. My gravel was full of old food and poo. It was disgusting. I also took the filter off and rinsed it out with clean conditioned tank water. I'm not sure if it was the best thing to do, but I continued to vacuum the gravel and added clean conditioned water as I did so. I took out about 8 gallons of water.

Okay, does anyone know how my gravel got so gross? I don't.

I feed my betta about 4-5 granules a day. I fed the guppies a sprinkle of flakes every other day, and I would drop in a 1/4 of an algae wafer every 2-3 days for the guppies and cory. If anything, I have always felt like I was starving my fish.

All my plants are plastic. I've never really had an algae problem. I had 2 male guppies, my cory cat, my betta.

I do water changes twice a week, and before I do, I test my water. I most always show .25 ammonia, sometimes .50; 0 nitrite; 0 nitrate.

I honestly thought that I was being pretty thorough with my gravel vacuuming. My water has always stayed pretty clear.

I think my filter totally sucks. Of course, I bought it a couple years back from WalMart and it was a complete cheapo so you get what you pay for.

Anyone understand how my gravel can get so gross? I'm at a loss and I don't want this to happen again, or with my new tank. Thanks for reading.

 

[TabMorte]

Gravel gets gross. In all honesty now that I have sand in two of my tanks I"m going to change out the gravel one too because the sand keeps all the yuck right on top so you can easily clean it up where as with gravel it falls down under neath where you can't see it until it builds up. (If you do go sand though RINSE THROUGHALLY, when you think you're done, keep rinsing, you're not )

That said if you put some real plants in your tank they'll use some of the yuck for fertalizer and consume a lot of the extra nitrate in the tank which will help a lot too.

 

[Meghan]

Gravel gets gross. In all honesty now that I have sand in two of my tanks I"m going to change out the gravel one too because the sand keeps all the yuck right on top so you can easily clean it up where as with gravel it falls down under neath where you can't see it until it builds up. (If you do go sand though RINSE THROUGHALLY, when you think you're done, keep rinsing, you're not )

That said if you put some real plants in your tank they'll use some of the yuck for fertalizer and consume a lot of the extra nitrate in the tank which will help a lot too.

Yeah, when I get my new tank, I'm going sand for sure. Even if it takes me 2 days to rinse it, haha. I'll also be putting real plants in the new one.
It's just frustrating, I thought everything was going pretty well. *sigh*
Oh yeah, do you have your plants directly planted into the sand Tab?

 

[TabMorte]

Yeah I have plants in gravel and sand. Just make sure that you have ones that don't have high fertalization demands and you should be good. It's MUCH easier to plant them in sand then it is in the gravel (they always need to be weighted down in gravel until their roots grow.)

You do have to be careful with the sand though, it can hurt your filter if it gets tossed up too much which is one of the reasons you need to be very good about rinsing it. You also need to 'stir it up' every now and then cause gas bubbles can get trapped in it and need to be released, turn your filter off when you do this though and make sure you leave it off until it settles again. I just do a little bit of the tank every time I do a water change, digging my fingers into the sand bed and stirring it up and it settles down within 45 min or so.

 

[Meghan]

Okay, so updates:

I still have my betta & albino cory in my 10g, and I added 2 peppered cories to it as well. Thursday of last week I think.
I had just done a water change the day before.
I did another water change on Saturday.
Then Wednesday (of this week) I noticed that my water was kinda cloudy, but it was 11:30 by the time I got home and so I didn't test it or anything.
So, Thursday am, I tested for ammonia & nitrite- both were 0. Did a water changing after testing, didn't help.
Did another water change last night, hasn't helped. Levels still 0.
Just as bad this am as it was last night.

My water has always stayed extremely clear. Any ideas as to what is going on? I can barely see to the back of the tank, which has a white background and shouldn't be hard to miss.

 

[kay-bee19]

Specifically, do you know what brand or model your filter is? Do you use carbon in your system? Carbon is effective at improving water clarity (though I personally find the small quantity of carbon included with many filter cartridges to be inadequate).

I know you stated your ammonia and nitrite levels were 0ppm, but what about your current nitrate level?

When you do water changes, what percentage of the water is changed out?

The cloudiness may be due to a algae or bacteria of some sort. This may eventually dissipate on its own whether carbon is used or not.

 

[Meghan]

Specifically, do you know what brand or model your filter is? Do you use carbon in your system? Carbon is effective at improving water clarity (though I personally find the small quantity of carbon included with many filter cartridges to be inadequate).

I know you stated your ammonia and nitrite levels were 0ppm, but what about your current nitrate level?

When you do water changes, what percentage of the water is changed out?

The cloudiness may be due to a algae or bacteria of some sort. This may eventually dissipate on its own whether carbon is used or not.

My filter is an old cheapo and I know it sucks. That is why I try and do 2-3 water changes a week now. It does have carbon, and its a hob.

I've never had nitrate, always been 0.

I take out 3g from a 10g- about 30%.

Thats what I was thinking- algae or maybe bacteria bloom. I can't really see anything weird going on.

Thanks Kay bee, I appreciate your input!