SOS! Please help! Stingray sick?

[anythingfish.com]

Agree I have used prime for 15 years but I have tested it again & again on ammonia spikes & it does not do anything, on small amonia bumps it has helped. Sorry I was in a rush when I posted, I did not mean to be rude. I have had others test several times we have found that it will not help n a large spike, only bumps. A freind of mine was a seachem rep for a while & he explained how it can work, but I have not seen it. I still think Prime is the best de-chlorinator.


In the past large spikes were always fixed by several water changes & keeping an eye on the tank.

 

[Rosewood022]

I agree that water changes are needed. I have dealt with ammonia spikes in the past by doing 50% daily water changes until the ammonia was gone. The key is to find out why the ammonia is high. As previously mentioned by others, it can be insufficient filtration, decaying left over food, or a filter failure. My two most recent problems were caused be different issues. The first was a biological filter failure. The second was caused by decaying food bits trapped behind the overflow boxes. I clean them out weekly now and no longer have problems.

As for ammonia detox chemicals, I think they are a good idea, as they should detoxify the ammonia in your system, making the fish more comfortable. Most ammonia detox chemicals will not remove the ammonia from your system. Instead they convert it to a less toxic form. An ammonia test kit will still show high levels of ammonia, even though the detoxifier is working, as the test kit doesn't know the difference between the toxic form and the less toxic form. In short, the detoxifier will be helping by making the ammonia less toxic, but a test kit won't show it. You still need to get the tank back to normal so the ammonia is gone, however.

Keep up on the water changes and you should be ok. Even with the high ammonia, we didn't lose any rays while doing the 50% daily water change routine. Good luck.

Pat