# Ammonia still to high help!!



## logan22 (Sep 6, 2010)

okay so my ammonia is still tohigh i just did a 50 percent water change two days a go and the same just before that one and it is now even higher then it was before iam so confused on this..i have and amo carb in my filter for about one week now using amo guard too!! does anybody out there know how im supposed to fix this ? because its getting really frusterating!! i dont know what iam doing wrong? tested my ammonia this morning and its reading at2.0 that is extremely high...please helppp


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## Rayne (Jul 12, 2010)

Is this a new tank? Are you feeding too much? Overstocked? Size of tank? Are you using a liquid test kit? How old is it?


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

i'd recommend daily water changes until it settles down, feed your fishies every 3 days, and feed them sparingly until the media establishes properly. as to why it spiked, it could be rather new media or media got fried somehow.

normally if your media got fried its due to rinsing it with hot or too warm water, or a water source with chlorine above normal thresholds here. Technically we are supposed to only rinse in tank water or dechlorinated water.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hi Logan22, I have never used amo guard or amo carb so I don't know whether those are useful in this situation or not. Is this a new tank situation? If so, maybe the nitrifying bacteria haven't built up in your filter yet. A filter bacterial booster might be useful. There are a few available by different manufacturers. I've heard good things about Seachem Stability. And I've been happy with API Stresszyme in the past. I have a brand new large bottle of that, unopened, that I'd be happy to give you, if you'd like to try it.

I'd look around the tank to see if there are any dead fish or if there's a cache of rotting food, then do another water change (I'd keep changing the water until the ammonia went to zero). I'd probably remove the ammonia treatment carb that you've put in, in case it's interfering with the development of healthy bacteria. (But that's because I've never used that product.) And I'd pour some bacterial starter into the filter and/or water.

I hope that your tank cycles quickly, as it seems to be either new or going through a mini cycle.


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## logan22 (Sep 6, 2010)

Well the funny thing is i cleaned my filters with cold water iam now sifting through my substrate and rinsing off all of my plants. Itested the water this morning and it was frightening!...iam using api test kit!..and im using stress coat as my dechlorinator. MY filters are two biowheels.. size of my tank 90 gallons...i dont have alot of fish.. I tested my water from my tap only to find that it has ammonia in it according to my test kit 0.25 out of my tap??i dont know what to do?


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hi Logan22, that is really weird. If you'd like my bottle of API Stresszyme, you are welcome to have it, you just have to send me a PM and pick it up. It's not the same as stress coat; it claims to have 300 million live bacteria in a teaspoon -- which is not something that I can verify. I had good results with it once when I had a newish tank that went kaflooey.
Stress Zyme® - API

Usually, I'd recommend rinsing the filter in the tank water (in a bucket) rather than in tap water, but with your tank I'm just not sure. If you do come by for the new bottle of API Stresszyme I can give you some filter media, if you'd like. In the meantime, water changes are the best that you can do, most likely.

If your 90 gallon tank is a new setup and you added the fish quickly, then it will take some time to stabilize and water changes are just part of that. A little bit of ammonia will help the bacterial cycle get going, and that's why I wouldn't add the ammonia-removing products. But it's really important to keep the ammonia as close to zero as possible with frequent water changes.

Why would there be ammonia in water just out of the tap? Perhaps someone here can answer that. I have never tested my tap water for ammonia. But, is there anything in your tank that could be releasing ammonia? Perhaps a plant in a pot that doesn't come from an aquarium store and has fertilizer in it? Soil? Some kind of ornament? These are wild guesses, of course. I think that once your filters are established and you've got a good cycle going, your tank will settle down.

If you don't want my bottle of StressZyme, then I'd recommend picking up some Seachem Stability if you can find it. There's also Sera BioNitrivec. It clouds the water for awhile but promises that it will cycle your tank in a few days with your fish in it.


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## TCR (Jul 13, 2010)

i would leave the filter, substrate and plants alone seeing as bacteria build up on them that break the amonia down.. you need the ammonia to feed the bacteria.. a well cycled tank has no ammonia because the bacteria are breaking the ammonia down... you can try adding bacteria tho some people seem scheptical if it works or not..


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

logan22 said:


> Well the funny thing is i cleaned my filters with cold water iam now sifting through my substrate and rinsing off all of my plants. Itested the water this morning and it was frightening!...iam using api test kit!..and im using stress coat as my dechlorinator. MY filters are two biowheels.. size of my tank 90 gallons...i dont have alot of fish.. I tested my water from my tap only to find that it has ammonia in it according to my test kit 0.25 out of my tap??i dont know what to do?


did you clean your filters with cold tap water? If so you killed the beneficial bacteria in your filters . So your tank is going through the cycling process again. You should get a bottle of stability and add that I wouldn't use the other ammonia stuff it won't help. I clean my filters in tank water that i'm taking out during water changes.


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## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

yeah theres chlorine in the tap water. you need to rinse filter media with tank water. best bet is to take your fish back to the store as you are in for a full cycle again.

i also dont believe in using ammonia removers - the bacteria need the ammonia to live, and if theres no ammonia to begin with, the bacteria wont establish.


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## hgi (Jun 13, 2010)

Or if there's a member near you on the forums who can lend you some beneficial bacteria....


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## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

hgi said:


> Or if there's a member near you on the forums who can lend you some beneficial bacteria....


 only if they get to have it back!!

A very good idea though. Sometimes your lfs will help you out too. Just need someone to give their scrungy filter media a good squeeze/rinse in your tank. Will make it nasty for a bit, but it will give those bacteria a place to settle to start their work.


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

whoa whoa..ok call me crazy.but i thought you can rinse the sponges from your filter in cold water & the biostars in your tank water??



bonsai dave said:


> did you clean your filters with cold tap water? If so you killed the beneficial bacteria in your filters . So your tank is going through the cycling process again. You should get a bottle of stability and add that I wouldn't use the other ammonia stuff it won't help. I clean my filters in tank water that i'm taking out during water changes.


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

beN said:


> whoa whoa..ok call me crazy.but i thought you can rinse the sponges from your filter in cold water & the biostars in your tank water??[
> 
> Yeah you can do it that way but from she said she rinsed her filter in cold water . I assumed she washed all the parts of her filter in cold tap water and that can cause you to kill your filter.


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## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

All that should be done to a filter is to squeeze the super gungy stuff into a bucket of tank water you took out on a water change. Otherwise, the filter media itself lasts forever and a day, and then you never have to question if you accidentally killed bacteria.


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## flannel (Apr 21, 2010)

My first thought is a mini-cycle because of how your filter got cleaned, but I want to throw two other possibilities out there too. It's possible your test kit is wacky...take some tap and tank water to your fish shop and have them test it and compare the two. The other thing that happened to me once was false ammonia readings when I started using Prime as my dechlorinator. I read that you were using stresscoat, I don't have any experience with that and whether it'll give you false readings but it might be something to look into as a possible cause.


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## logan22 (Sep 6, 2010)

well my ammonia went down from 1.0 to 0.25 so iam very happy with that...but it is still high...im going to continue my water changes every few days..and im feeding my fish every two days..to see if that will help..cross my fingers.. hope this problem goes away


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

you could always keep the fish to that feeding schedule, they become much less picky and tend to eat uo the food more quickly


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

My tank water has held at 0.25 Ammonia a fair while in the past without problems, mostly from over feeding, but that in itself doesn't usually bother the fish.

If you really want it fixed fast, the seachem SStability as mentioned or possibly StressZyme would be the quickest. I've used stability multiple times on multiple tanks and it has always brought the ammonia down to 0. Also make sure you know that any water conditionner that removes ammonia, will only remove it for 24 hours usually. Bacteria has to be used to remove it completely.


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## logan22 (Sep 6, 2010)

okay so i bought stability..and ijust put it in. i am going to test my ammonia tomorrow and see what its at...lets hope all goes well


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Sounds like things are going better now, Logan22. The Stability might take a couple of days to kick in. Your nitrates should go up when your ammonia levels go down, if your tank is cycling. I am sure that your fish appreciate the water changes!


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## logan22 (Sep 6, 2010)

okay so i switched my my water conditioner.. to prime..stability went in the tank yesterday..i checked my ammmonia this morning..it says 0?? cant really belive it...im happy with that...is this really happening? what should i test for now to make sure that its right??


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## Sandy Landau (Jun 4, 2010)

Great news! Time to celebrate.


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