Myznada08 Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 HELPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!! I have a 10 tank with 5 guppies, 5 neon tetras and a mystery snail. I've been battling ammonia in this tank and I just can't seem to get it down! It's on the darker green end between 1 & 2 parts per million. I did a 50% water change yesterday and 50% today and it barely moved! I add bacteria with every change to help with the cycle. This tank has been running for months tho! I just can't make it make sense! Should I just do a 100% water change? I don't want to stress my guppies out too much. By the way I have 3 other tanks and they're all perfectly balanced. 40 gallon breaded, 20gal long, and 5 gallon. Only the 10 gallon gives me issues😫😫😫 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myznada08 Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 This is the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Is there ammonia in your tap water? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigrantor Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 You're certain that your test kit is giving you accurate results? Have you tested the ammonia in your other tanks? What parameters have you changed in the last couple of months that could lead to an ammonia increase? Increase in fish, different fertilizer, different food, switching filtration set up, ect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myznada08 Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 7 minutes ago, Gigrantor said: You're certain that your test kit is giving you accurate results? Have you tested the ammonia in your other tanks? What parameters have you changed in the last couple of months that could lead to an ammonia increase? Increase in fish, different fertilizer, different food, switching filtration set up, ect. Yep I'm pretty sure. It only reads ammonia on this tank. I haven't changed anything that I can think of..... I added a few shrimp on accident. They slipped in on the Java fern I took from the goldfish tank....... Oh wait I added more Java fern lol! Could that be it??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myznada08 Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 29 minutes ago, CT_ said: Is there ammonia in your tap water? Nope. I live in Florida so no ammonia but our water is crazy hard. I thought that would be good for the guppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigrantor Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 I don't claim to be an expert, but I have an OK understanding of the nitrogen cycle. The java fern shouldn't add any ammonia, unless it is heavily dying and decaying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myznada08 Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 Should I do a 100%water change to get it to zero? Will that freak my guppies out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigrantor Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Personally, I would continue to do 50% water changes and test frequently. Test, do a 50% change, then test again. See if it moved the direction you wanted it to. If not, I feel like something is being over looked testing wise. If it did bring it down (theoretically by half), then something is adding ammonia at an incredible rate. Is that hang on the back filter running properly? What type of media do you have in it? Has that been overloaded or cleaned recently? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myznada08 Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 1 minute ago, Gigrantor said: Personally, I would continue to do 50% water changes and test frequently. Test, do a 50% change, then test again. See if it moved the direction you wanted it to. If not, I feel like something is being over looked testing wise. If it did bring it down (theoretically by half), then something is adding ammonia at an incredible rate. Is that hang on the back filter running properly? What type of media do you have in it? Has that been overloaded or cleaned recently? I think that's what I'll try.... What you see is a small internal whisper filter. It just has some sponge in it. I basically use it to hold the pothos plant lol. I clean the sponge about once a month. With the two sponge filters I have in the tank I technically don't need the internal. I might take it out, but the ammonia problems have me terrified to change anything. It's something wrong with my cycle.... Like the tank just won't produce enough bacteria to convert the ammonia. I have no nitrites and the tiniest amount of nitrates...... It's so weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 I would not do more than 50% a day doing more than that can affect you beneficial bacterial 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudreyB Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 (edited) Are you using Prime or something else to detoxify the ammonia while you get your cycle back up and running? I crashed a cycle once. So I did the water changes daily ( maybe 25%) with Prime and added a sponge filter to one of my other cycled tanks. I waited two weeks then put the sponge filter in the crashed tank. In a few days the cycle slowly started back up again. Now I keep a spare sponge filter in both my tanks. also when I test my water out of the faucet, it tests positive for ammonia. Edited February 2, 2021 by AudreyB 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealAlan Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 When adding water back to the tank when doing a water change, do it very aggressively over the plants there might be a dead something hidden in the plants or somewhere. That is what usually messes me up when my tank goes out of whack. Good luck, I'd move the fish if possible till you get this under control. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealAlan Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 I haven't used this sort of thing but there are ammonia removing media which might help till you figure out what is causing it. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/filter-media/products/ammonia-reducing-filter-pad https://www.amazon.com/Fluval-Ammonia-Remover-180-gram-Nylon/dp/B0002AQKK2#:~:text=Fluval Ammonia Remover is a,higher than average fish stock. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyIce Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 (edited) Are you still feeding your fish? If so I would stop for around 4 days while you continue with the water changes. If you are still feeding them they are putting the ammonia right back, and if you stop feeding them, they are going to continue adding ammonia for a few days while they digest the food, so that is why I say about 4 days of fasting. of course if you see any aggression while fasting them, feed them to help with it. For water changing if I need to get toxic levels down, I do a 60-70% water change first thing in the morning and a second in the evening, usually spread 8 or so hours apart. Once ammonia gets to around .25, I stop with the water changes and monitor that the tank gets the rest of the way to 0 on its own. Edited February 2, 2021 by MattyIce 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myznada08 Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 Thank you guys for the great tips! I'm going to test again tonight and possibly do another 50% water change today. I'll try to rinse my Java fern bunches in the tank water to make sure no one died inside. I does it with API bacteria to help. I think I'm going to take the wood out if I don't see improvement by the weekend. I'll keep you guys posted! Thank you for all your help! I was so discouraged last night, but I feel much better now! ❤️ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Definitely test your tap water also. Many, many years ago I had an Oscar in my fifty gallon tank and Oscars are very messy fish. He had an undergravel filter and an old Super King HOB. The UG filter handled the biofiltration and the HOB did the mechanical. HIs water quality was typically perfect. After doing a gravel vacuuming one day and replacing the water I'd vacuumed out, I checked his levels the next day and saw the ammonia was a bit high. I assumed I'd disturbed the gravel bed too much and that was causing the rise. So, I did a twenty percent water change and assumed things would be okay. The next day the ammonia levels were a bit higher yet. I then did a fifty percent water change. The next day they were higher yet. I was starting to get a bit confused. They should have been coming down, but they were going up. I did another 50% change. The next morning the levels were even higher. As I sat there staring at the test results it occurred to me that maybe it was the tap water. (We have a well and not municipal water.) I tested the tap water and the ammonia was sky high. That was the problem. No more water changes for the big fella and in a couple of days the ammonia was gone from his tank and his levels were perfect again. If you find high ammonia levels after a water change, always check your source water. It changes on a routine basis, especially seasonally. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myznada08 Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 You guys were right! It was my tap water!!!! I tested it originally when we moved in and it was fine. But when I tested it tonight it's between .5 and 1. Ppm! I was shocked! It's weird that it doesn't mess with my other tanks though. Maybe because they're larger and I only do small water changes every other week. 🤷🏾♀️ Sooooooo what do I do now? How do I safely do water changes without hurting my tank? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 (edited) You can get ammonia removeing media to put in your filter Edited February 3, 2021 by Colu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myznada08 Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 4 minutes ago, Colu said: You can ammonia removeing media to put in your filter Great reason for me to place an order with the co-op!!!!!!!! 🤣🥳 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charose Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 (edited) Don't ammonia tests also measure ammonium? Isn't ammonium less of an issue? Edited February 3, 2021 by Charose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 You won't an ammonia test kit that only test NH3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 8 minutes ago, Charose said: Don't ammonia tests also measure ammonium? Isn't ammonium less of an issue? Yes. However it is my understanding that in water with high temperature and pH (such as a guppy tank) ammonium becomes ammonia without a catalyst like prime subduing or reversing that natural reaction. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tami Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 @Brandyso does lower the water temp also help with dealing with ammonia spike? sadly I have a spike out of nowhere (last new fish 12/27) and I have done everything everyone is saying but I can't get it below 0.5 - I do use prime in my changes and added it to the entire tank while i figure it out - not sure the reason but I believe the cycle has crashed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 (edited) Have you tested your tap water for ammonia @Tami Edited February 5, 2021 by Colu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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