okay i did a 75% water change and got rid of the little tetra's my brothers wife had in the tank last night, today i did the ammonia test with both kits and they both read the ammonia levels at the 2ppm range.
Very high ammonia levels(+8)
- Thread starter suprakid95
- Start date
the water temperature dropped 4 degrees when i did the water change and they seemed a little stressed, usually i don't do water changes this big and the temperature only changes at most 1 degree, maybe I'll wait a day or two before i do another water change.
I tested someone's water for them once with my API ammonia test and it did the same thing. Turned black. I mixed 1/2 their water with 1/2 fresh tap water and it did the same thing. I had to dilute it down literally *4* times before I got a reading of super dark green (8). I never could convince them to change things or that their water was lethal, I was pretty frustrated. Their fish didn't look good, fin rot, bad color, etc. But he thought they looked fine because he doesn't have any one else's fish to compare to. In his case he had cat litter boxes sitting around by the tank and I really think that was where the ammonia was coming from. I don't know why the fish were alive and I don't know his updated situation. Somehow it's possible for fish to get used to living like that.
TwistedPenguin;3362062; said:
that sounds like a terrible situation for the fish, I really wouldn't ever knowingly keep fish in a tank with such lethal conditions, but i stocked my tank with one fish a week and did a water check before i added any in, but the local pet store was doing the test wrong so i thought my water was in good condition. It is now down to 1ppm with two very large water changes and with a few fish removed. But i have read that water changes are only a temporary fix so i am still trying to figure out whats wrong in the big picture.
Lol, waterchanges are basically a permanent fix. You need to do them, depending on your stock AT LEAST once a week.suprakid95;3362337; said:
the big picture problem is your filter isnt big enough with enough biological surface area. if you had more surface area more good bacteria could grow and eat up ammonia and nitrites, you want zero ammonia and nitrites.suprakid95;3362337; said:
normal filtration wont remove nitrates. those you need to watch and do water changes for.
You didnt buy an all new kit did you ? They sell each test individually with a fancy new vial for 8 bucks which is good when you consider I break about a vial a weeksuprakid95;3359756; said:
Also I reccomend prime for the time being to lock up your ammonia and nitrite. Sounds like the tank went berserk in cycling.
sostoudt;3362804; said:
I completely disagree...
The tank is a month old... it was never cycled...
It's not that you don't have enough surface area to grow the needed bacteria... it's that youve never had the bacteria to begin with...
If the ammonia levels have been 8ppm + since the beginning... then it very well may have been to toxic of an environment for the bacteria to formulate or take hold... Much less reproduce or expand
I believe far too much emphasis is put on "surface area"... as I've never seen a mature tank with a realistic stocklist lack the surface area to keep ammonia/nitrite at zero...
