ammonia problems AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

[yzf450motoxrider]

iv had my tank set up for about a year now everything was fine until about a week ago when i cleaned both the filters i think i somehow killed the good bacteria three days after a 70% water change my water perameters are: PH 6.0, Amonia .5, nitrite 0, nitrate 0. and the water is a cloudy white classic sign of ammonia. Tank is a 125 with 10inch oscar 10inch pbass and a 14inch pbass, filters are 1 rena xp3 and a FX5. They dont eat like they used to. what would you guys do?!?

Thanks in advance guys

 

[DDFishPets]

Try and cut down on feedings for a while and add more bio-media to your filters and possibly a sponge/moving bed filter. You can also pick up anyone of those tank cycling products (Cycle,Bacteria Boost, etc) and use that to help jump start your tanks cycling process. And keep your water changes the same. Another alternative is to buy any bio media your lfs has that is already being used for a tank. It's fully colonized with beneficial bacteria as is.

 

[hmoobvwj]

You mentioned you cleaned both filters out. By doing so did you rinse them in tank water? Or tap water? Tap water will basically nuke your BB colonies into nothing, and rinsing with tank water will be the way to go but not advised to do all your filtration systems at once. Just stop feeding, and do 30% WC a day, would be my best bet and the way I will go. Best of luck and I've done this multiple time before I learned the ways of the pros...lol.

 

[tcarswell]

Try and cut down on feedings for a while and add more bio-media to your filters and possibly a sponge/moving bed filter. You can also pick up anyone of those tank cycling products (Cycle,Bacteria Boost, etc) and use that to help jump start your tanks cycling process. And keep your water changes the same. Another alternative is to buy any bio media your lfs has that is already being used for a tank. It's fully colonized with beneficial bacteria as is.

Any colonized Bio media would be a good idea. Just be sure to draw it from clean healthy tanks. Adding fresh bio media IME would not speed it up at all there is definitely enough bio media in your two filters as is. Unless they are empty
Just be sure to use clean tank water to clean your bio media in the future and stagger filter cleanings apart at least a month and you should be ok in the future.


P.S Adding any surface agitation (Bubbles etc) To the tank helps the BB reproduce faster. A new filter unfortunately will not unless your somehow severely lacking in surface area (highly unlikely since your tank was cycled before)
As far as a quick cycle product the best one ive used has been seachem stability. Just be sure to turn off any UV if you have one for a small amount of time after adding it.
Hope this helps,

Tcarswell

 

[Options]

I've used seachem stability in the past with success.
Do you use prime? It helps detoxify ammonia.
I would feed sparingly and do daily waterchanges.

 

[KaiserSousay]

Water Change...
And more water change to keep the toxins in check, while the BB that is in the tank can reestablish itself in your filters.

 

[BODYDUB]

Next time clean one filter then the other about 2 months later. But yeah, the ammonia is effecting your fish which is why they arent eating. Do daily w/c's for about the next month until the good bacteria get back in your filters.............And no need to buy any bacteria products from your LPS, it's already in your tank.

 

[yzf450motoxrider]

thanks for the imput guys. I think im going to do more frequent water changes until the ammonia level starts to drop

 

[GermanRam]

I've used seachem stability in the past with success.
Do you use prime? It helps detoxify ammonia.
I would feed sparingly and do daily waterchanges.

Only one thing I would add to this and other post. It is do smaller water changes, more often rather than a 70% at one time. I even do them on different days than I do filter changes to help everything stay as stable as possible</SPAN></SPAN>. Good Luck!

 

[jschall]

Only one thing I would add to this and other post. It is do smaller water changes, more often rather than a 70% at one time. I even do them on different days than I do filter changes to help everything stay as stable as possible</SPAN></SPAN>. Good Luck!

You can do 95% water changes without affecting the BB.

Bigger water changes are more effective (meaning, a 50% every 2 weeks is better than a 25% every week)