I have well water, and it is extremely hard. There's a lot of iron in it, and it makes brown stains in everything it touches. However, I've not had a problem with it in aquariums in the year and a half I've been living here. In fact, it's worked wonderfully for me- plants seem to absolutely flourish in it.
So, I picked up a 2.5" bichir and a 3.5" spotted/Florida gar, and both appear to be doing great. I have them in a 20 gallon grow out and put an established sponge filter in there, and the media out of another established filter, as well. And I put some freshwater TLC in when I filled the tank. A couple days later I gave them some Endlers as feeders, and several Endlers died in about 24-36 hours. I noticed the rest gasping, and did a water test. My ammonia levels were around 4ppm, which didn't make sense to me, since I had two established filters going. I tested my tap water just out of curiosity and found that straight out of the tap I'm showing almost 2ppm ammonia!
I've never tested my tap water before (never saw a need to), but I'm guessing this is a new development. When I set up my axolotl tank the cycle went fine, and my betta have all been fine as well. Ammonia never went over 2 ppm during the cycle except when my biowheel stopped spinning on the axolotl tank.
So, I grabbed my emergency zeo-lite, and put some in the filter on my new tank (and on the axolotl tank, since I upgraded him to a 20 gallon and his ammonia levels are pretty high, too! I did a 25% water change, although this won't be TOO effective, since there's already 2 ppm ammonia in my water, added more TLC, and a dose of Ammo-Lock, as well. The fish all appear to be fine now, but my ammonia is still sky high.
Apparently, zeolite isn't working in my tank. Does anyone know why this would be? I know it's not as effective in hard water, but I'm using about 1.5 the dose suggested, and it doesn't appear to be bringing down my ammonia at all. I've been using zeolite for 48 hours, and the ammonia hasn't come down at all. It's not rising anymore, either, which makes me think either the zeolite is absorbing some and just not enough to bring it down, or my two established filters going (marineland 200 and a sponge filter) are doing something to help.
But what do I do about this? Even if I get the ammonia down without losing my fish (and btw, the gar & bichir are fine- neither have been seen gasping at all, both are active & still eating. only the Endler's died.), what do I do about water changes? I'd use zeolite in a bucket to fix the ammonia in the water, but it apparently isn't working in my water. Or, is it just taking longer than I thought it should?
Thanks,
Ronnie Nocera
So, I picked up a 2.5" bichir and a 3.5" spotted/Florida gar, and both appear to be doing great. I have them in a 20 gallon grow out and put an established sponge filter in there, and the media out of another established filter, as well. And I put some freshwater TLC in when I filled the tank. A couple days later I gave them some Endlers as feeders, and several Endlers died in about 24-36 hours. I noticed the rest gasping, and did a water test. My ammonia levels were around 4ppm, which didn't make sense to me, since I had two established filters going. I tested my tap water just out of curiosity and found that straight out of the tap I'm showing almost 2ppm ammonia!
I've never tested my tap water before (never saw a need to), but I'm guessing this is a new development. When I set up my axolotl tank the cycle went fine, and my betta have all been fine as well. Ammonia never went over 2 ppm during the cycle except when my biowheel stopped spinning on the axolotl tank.
So, I grabbed my emergency zeo-lite, and put some in the filter on my new tank (and on the axolotl tank, since I upgraded him to a 20 gallon and his ammonia levels are pretty high, too! I did a 25% water change, although this won't be TOO effective, since there's already 2 ppm ammonia in my water, added more TLC, and a dose of Ammo-Lock, as well. The fish all appear to be fine now, but my ammonia is still sky high.
Apparently, zeolite isn't working in my tank. Does anyone know why this would be? I know it's not as effective in hard water, but I'm using about 1.5 the dose suggested, and it doesn't appear to be bringing down my ammonia at all. I've been using zeolite for 48 hours, and the ammonia hasn't come down at all. It's not rising anymore, either, which makes me think either the zeolite is absorbing some and just not enough to bring it down, or my two established filters going (marineland 200 and a sponge filter) are doing something to help.
But what do I do about this? Even if I get the ammonia down without losing my fish (and btw, the gar & bichir are fine- neither have been seen gasping at all, both are active & still eating. only the Endler's died.), what do I do about water changes? I'd use zeolite in a bucket to fix the ammonia in the water, but it apparently isn't working in my water. Or, is it just taking longer than I thought it should?
Thanks,
Ronnie Nocera
