Ammonia help.

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WWD

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 20, 2009
13
0
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Utah
I can not rid my 55 gallon of ammonia. I set the tank up a little over a month a half ago. I have a AC 110 with one sponge and two levels of bio media one level that came with the filter and one level of ceramic rings, 1 large bubble wand, fake plants a piece of driftwood purchased at the LFS. Carib sea cichlid sand. I ran it empty with nothing done for a week just adding food to get some ammonia built up. Then did the 7 day cycle with stability. This worked as planned. No ammonia, no nitrites and very minor nitrates. I then added 3 small black female Mollies and 1 larger male Molly and 2 smaller columbian sharks(just under 2 inches each) as this will eventually be a brackish tank. Ammonia went up a little as expected but then dropped back to nothing. A week later added 2 more female mollies. Then chaos ensued ammonia spikes through the roof 2 days later. I have been since doing 15 to 20 gallon water changes daily adding only Tetra water treatment to remove chlorine. This ammonia level will not lower. I lost one of my sharks today he looked like he was getting ick but I believe the spots were from the high ammonia. I have been doing the water changes for 2 weeks and gaining no ground. Any ideas how to get this down? :nilly:

I bought another test kit to make sure my readings were right and they were. I have tested the tap water to make sure this is not the source and it is not.:confused:
 
Do a head count, make sure every thing is still alive. I hope you know that those columbian sharks get about 20inchs.
 
Will do a head count when I get home in the morning. My understanding was the sharks would get 12 to 14 inches I have never heard 20 before may have to go with a bigger tank. They were suppose to go in a 150 gallon along with some monos once they all had grown a little. I have not put the monos in yet to afraid of the ammonia. I am going to buy some Purigen tomorrow and give it a try. I used to run it in a 30 gallon never for ammonia though and that tank ran flawlessly.
 
Check the tank thoroughly for any dead fish or uneaten food. Hold off feeding for several days -- your fish will be fine. Add more filtration if possible.

If all else fails, buy some "RightNow Bacteria". That product is a must for anyone with ammonia trouble and/or large volume aquariums.

Good luck
 
Well I figured it out no dead fish in the tank. However, one of the mollies must have had babies. I found about 20 dead baby mollies in the filter. I am going to do a water change and give it a dose of Prime today and see how that goes. Decided not to do Purigen for a while due to it saying not to use it with slime coat prods. and the Tetra stuff has slime coat stuff in it. Thanks for the help. I will keep you updated.
 
Could be the dead babies decomposing; lot of organic load !!! You could also dose on a daily basis the tank with Prime, letting time to the BB establishment. This product will permit your fish to live a normal life until the BB is strong enough. However, Prime will false your ammonia readings, must trust the product. It always worked marvelous for me, but it is a short term solution. Good luck !
 
How does Prime give false ammonia readings? so I know what to expect. I did a 20 gallon water change and a full dose of Prime today we will see what happens tomorrow.
 
I do not know exactly. It transforms the toxic form of ammonia NH3 in its non toxic form NH4. Won't starve the BB since ammonia is still available. Most test kits read the total ammonia (NH3 + NH4). Prime decompose within 24 to 48 hours so don't need to worry about overdose by accumulation.
 
tetra chlorine remover will remove chlorine from your water but not chloramine, thats probably what killed your fish. chloramine water treated with prime will give a high ammonia reading because it breaks the chloramine bond releasing free ammonia but then binds it into a safe form of ammonia that wont harm your fish. ignore the ammonia readings when treating with prime.
 
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