SOS!! Ammonia!!

[batang_mcdo]

thanks for the help nick. i'll clean my canister. its been a few months already , and i haven't cleaned it yet. will update you tomorrow.
really appreciate the help.

 

[batang_mcdo]

Here's an update.
When i woke up this morning my aro had cloudy eye again
I tested the ph and it was below 4.5 again
ammonia was at .5mg/l
what i did was i redose with ammolock. Also added 2 tbsp baking soda which brought up the ph to 5.5 , also dosed with melafix.

I also removed my huge driftwood.

here's my silver which is the most affected

and here's my other aro. no symptoms , hope he's ok.

Since i don't have KH tester and can't find one. how do i know when to redose with baking soda?
won't it be dangerous?
i've already added some crushed corals.

 

[Nick660]

Here's an update.
When i woke up this morning my aro had cloudy eye again
I tested the ph and it was below 4.5 again
ammonia was at .5mg/l
what i did was i redose with ammolock. Also added 2 tbsp baking soda which brought up the ph to 5.5 , also dosed with melafix.
I also removed my huge driftwood.
Since i don't have KH tester and can't find one. how do i know when to redose with baking soda?
won't it be dangerous?
i've already added some crushed corals.

If you've removed the main factors causing acidification then this should help to stabilize the pH. One other thing I can think of that may also acidify your water would be a build up of carbon dioxide, due to a combination of lack of aeration, big fish and no plants. In this case, if you add strong aeration to the tank you could well see an increase in pH (sometimes this can be quite dramatic).

Baking soda itself is not dangerous to your fish. However, the big pH swings it can cause if dosed incorrectly can be.

If daily water changes alone are not having the desired effect on pH then I would also dose with baking soda daily. You could maybe add 1-2 teaspoons at a time, wait 30 mins, then re-test pH - continue this pattern until the pH has increased by the desired amount i.e. no more than maximum 0.4 in 24hrs. Go carefully until you get a feel for it.

I would try aeration (if you feel it's necessary) for a few hours first and see what the pH is doing. If no difference then do a large water change, again test pH after an hour. If still no adequate change in pH finally try the baking soda plan.
Remember ultimately your aim is to match your tank water pH to the tap water pH and then keep it stable at that level.

The crushed coral will help but only over the long term as it will only dissolve relatively slowly. Bear in mind that the coral will also become ineffective over time and will need to be replaced to maintain it's buffering effect. Basically you can only maintain a stable pH with adequate carbonate hardness (KH buffering) in the water.

Good luck.

 

[batang_mcdo]

thanks Nick, When i woke up this morning/ the ph was low again. I added a tbsp of baking soda again.
tanks aeration is quite good. i have lots of powerhead and an air pump in the tank.
I'm planning to get some filter media from my other tank to seed the bacteria in my big tank.
but still haven't done that since my ph keeps dropping Will update again later

 

[batang_mcdo]

Its been almost 2 weeks. but ammonia is still present
was already able to fix the ph. ph now at 6.5
I've added 3 kilos of coral chips to my tank.
also seeded my filter with old media from other tank.
but still has ammonia? 0 nitrate 0 nitrite
also can i dose with melafix while cycling? I'm worried my silver aro has damaged eyes due to extremely low ph. so i'm not sure whether to treat now or when tank fully cycled.

 

[Nick660]

Its been almost 2 weeks. but ammonia is still present
was already able to fix the ph. ph now at 6.5
I've added 3 kilos of coral chips to my tank.
also seeded my filter with old media from other tank.
but still has ammonia? 0 nitrate 0 nitrite
also can i dose with melafix while cycling? I'm worried my silver aro has damaged eyes due to extremely low ph. so i'm not sure whether to treat now or when tank fully cycled.

How much ammonia? Is it getting worse or better? Large daily water changes should help to keep this under control.

How much are you feeding? I would feed minimally while ammonia is still present.

What is your tap water pH? If it's higher than your tank pH I would continue to try to achieve the same level. I believe acidic water inhibits the growth of beneficial bacteria to some extent, which would prolong the time it takes for the tank to cycle fully.

I don't think Melafix would have a significant effect on the beneficial bacteria.

I still think daily, large water changes are your best approach until things settle down.
Good luck.

 

[batang_mcdo]

How much ammonia? Is it getting worse or better? Large daily water changes should help to keep this under control.

How much are you feeding? I would feed minimally while ammonia is still present.

What is your tap water pH? If it's higher than your tank pH I would continue to try to achieve the same level. I believe acidic water inhibits the growth of beneficial bacteria to some extent, which would prolong the time it takes for the tank to cycle fully.

I don't think Melafix would have a significant effect on the beneficial bacteria.

I still think daily, large water changes are your best approach until things settle down.
Good luck.

thanks for the help nick
ph of tapwater is 7.5, ammonia is still at .5mg/l
I only feed a few pieces of superworms to my fish. sometimes i skip feeding them.

 

[batang_mcdo]

my tank still has ammonia no nitrite and nitrate after almost a month

 

[Nick660]

I was wondering how things were going.

What is your tank pH now? Hopefully it's now somewhere close to being the same as your tap water i.e. 7.5?
I suppose if your pH is still relatively low then that will inhibit the activity of the beneficial bacteria to a certain extent.

Another possibility is your ammonia test kit. Depending on the type of chemical the kit is based on and the type of chemical you use to remove chlorine etc., it is possible to get false positive readings!
Here's a quote from the Seachem website http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime_faq.html

Q: I am using Prime™ to control ammonia but my test kit says it is not doing anything, in fact it looks like it added ammonia! What is going on?
A: A Nessler based kit will not read ammonia properly if you are using Prime™... it will look "off scale", sort of a muddy brown (incidentally a Nessler kit will not work with any other products similar to Prime&#8482. A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime&#8482, so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away. However, the best solution ;-) is to use our MultiTest: Ammonia™ kit... it uses a gas exchange sensor system which is not affected by the presence of Prime™ or other similar products. It also has the added advantage that it can detect the more dangerous free ammonia and distinguish it from total ammonia (which is both the free and ionized forms of ammonia (the ionized form is not toxic)).

I know the old API liquid test kit was Nessler based (1 bottle) and they have fairly recently changed it to a salicylate based (2 bottle) type.

Are your fish still looking sick or have they improved?

 

[batang_mcdo]

Hi Nick,

My tanks ph is now at 7.5 will have to do daily testing
fish doesn't seem to have any problem, since i try to make daily water changes and keep ammonia below .5ppm
also dose with ammolock if i'm not able to make huge water change.

I'm not really sure why the cycling is taking so long
My API test kit has 2 bottles. but i think its correct since i don't have any nitrite or nitrate yet.

Will try to get some old media from lfs again.