Wolf Fish Ammo is to high

[Greg31]

Pretty much sounds like a typical petsmart employee doesnt it?

 

[scalesandfins]

Pretty much sounds like a typical petsmart employee doesnt it?

wned:

 

[ar0wan]

API test kit can test positive for non-toxic ammonium.
Are you using PRIME to dechlorinate?

 

[Enemyarms]

Christ.

Try food for fish first and don't just try the dead crap from your work that would have died from any number of health issues. Proper, frozen food. If you left his dead tank mates in there, then their rotting bodies will have contributed to your ammonia issue.

If you had read they grew to 22" then you should have read that they are not suitable for housing with tank mates and that a 55g was certainly not suitable.

I hate to say it, but it sounds like you have no-one else to blame but yourself. Keep up the water changes and find the correct food. Then you might actually find the poor little guy starts to feed, and consequently, grow correctly.

Ive tried food like that, Chicken that i feed my reds, Krill, frozen cube after letting him wait a week give or take. I admit that i dident find all the info that i needed before ordering him, but i also have a 120gal tank that i have red bellys in, and by the time he is needing a larger tank i would have re homed them or gotten another large tank. Feeding him isnt the problem, he eats like a champ. Im just trying to find food that isnt as bad as goldfish or rosies.

Pretty much sounds like a typical petsmart employee doesnt it?

Wow, i most enjoy my job cuz i find that offensive... I at least know more about fish and hardware than the others. But we dont have the best tools to give us the info we need to do our jobs as good as LFS's

Not useing prime, Useing Stress Coat. I would test for just toxic NH but none of the tests that say they test for that really do.

 

[Otherone]

Ammonia in the tapwater would not be good, not good for the fish not good for you.
Testing the tapwater should be preformed not just for ammonia but nitrite as well, some water companys use both chlorine and chlorimine - niether is good for fish. Rosies are cypinidae they very much contain the enzyme that inhibits vitamin b intake (thiaminese) and should never be a staple as it, the enzyme, will build within the fish over long periods of time. They also don't contain much protien esp for large fish, perhaps this is why your experiencing substandard growth rates (4" in 1st year).
There is no such thing as non-harmful ammonia - the test kit tells you this. If you have ammonia issues something is rotting in your tank - leftover food perhaps, dead leaves don't know. I'd change 20% daily til' ammonia readings disappear, I wouldn't feed the fish during this period. I'd also either gravel vac the heck outta the bottom , or maybe even discard if the substrate was filled with crap, more than likely this is were the decomp has built up. Also if your using carbon - discard it, organics can build up in the carbon and when the carbon de-activates(3weeks) it sends it right back into the tank.

 

[ar0wan]

Seachem makes test kits that test for ammonia and ammonium seperately.
As far as I know API does not.

 

[Enemyarms]

Ammonia in the tapwater would not be good, not good for the fish not good for you.
Testing the tapwater should be preformed not just for ammonia but nitrite as well, some water companys use both chlorine and chlorimine - niether is good for fish. Rosies are cypinidae they very much contain the enzyme that inhibits vitamin b intake (thiaminese) and should never be a staple as it, the enzyme, will build within the fish over long periods of time. They also don't contain much protien esp for large fish, perhaps this is why your experiencing substandard growth rates (4" in 1st year).
There is no such thing as non-harmful ammonia - the test kit tells you this. If you have ammonia issues something is rotting in your tank - leftover food perhaps, dead leaves don't know. I'd change 20% daily til' ammonia readings disappear, I wouldn't feed the fish during this period. I'd also either gravel vac the heck outta the bottom , or maybe even discard if the substrate was filled with crap, more than likely this is were the decomp has built up. Also if your using carbon - discard it, organics can build up in the carbon and when the carbon de-activates(3weeks) it sends it right back into the tank.

I dident realize it built up and than was released back, thats good to know. I dont think its been that long but ill put in some new filters.

Seachem makes test kits that test for ammonia and ammonium seperately.
As far as I know API does not.

Ill look for that when i work tonight, i seen a 3 pack box we sell. ill look into it. I may just remove the gravel from the bottom, just makes noise. Ill find him something better to eat. THanks for the heads up.

 

[TimTheBadass]

Wow, i most enjoy my job cuz i find that offensive... I at least know more about fish and hardware than the others. But we dont have the best tools to give us the info we need to do our jobs as good as LFS's

Every one that works in the aquatics department at petsmart should have very good fish keeping knowledge before they even get the job. Have you never heard of books or the internet. They are one of the best tools to learn how to keep fish properly. They should call the shop Petstupid.

I would advise you to get a good canister filter like a fluval 405 or the equivalent. Set it up with every basket full of ceramic rings. Let it run for a couple of months then just have one HOB with the canister. You need to cut off the source of excess ammonia. No more dead fish floating around the tank and regularly gravel vac. You should be able to train your wolf to eat frozen fish and raw shrimp. Try dropping it in front of the filter outlet.

Also how are you doing your water changes? I add enough prime to treat the whole tank volume then top up the tank with tap water. I always switch off the filters too when I fill up the tank and leave them of for 5-10 mins after it's full. This way the prime get's a chance to remove all the chlorine before I pump water through my filter media.

 

[Enemyarms]

Every one that works in the aquatics department at petsmart should have very good fish keeping knowledge before they even get the job. Have you never heard of books or the internet. They are one of the best tools to learn how to keep fish properly. They should call the shop Petstupid.

I would advise you to get a good canister filter like a fluval 405 or the equivalent. Set it up with every basket full of ceramic rings. Let it run for a couple of months then just have one HOB with the canister. You need to cut off the source of excess ammonia. No more dead fish floating around the tank and regularly gravel vac. You should be able to train your wolf to eat frozen fish and raw shrimp. Try dropping it in front of the filter outlet.

Also how are you doing your water changes? I add enough prime to treat the whole tank volume then top up the tank with tap water. I always switch off the filters too when I fill up the tank and leave them of for 5-10 mins after it's full. This way the prime get's a chance to remove all the chlorine before I pump water through my filter media.

I think im going to use the xp4 on my wolf tank and remove the other 2 small hob filters about xmas or so. Filling it up with biomax from ac110 2 boxes fills one basket.

I rarely did give him dead fish, if one died in there from his feeders i gave him a day or so to take an easy meal. I was entertaining the idea since it was a free source of food. I try to do a 20% once a week but if i skip a week, ill do a little more next week. I tend to be lasy and not turn off the filters, prob should next time. I used prime once before and it had a BAD surfer smell, but if you think it works better than API, than ill start using it.

I agree to a point that it should be called petstupid, but its one of the better fish stores in the des moines area, sadly. I get 1 or 2 4-5 hour shifts in petcare a week, mostly on the high sales days. All i have learned ive learned from hands on or this site. Google has served me nicely on my phone. They only pay 8.00 - 8.90 an hour, so if you have any kind of petcare skills, they pay more. Kind of sad. One of the better paying places to work for the 'unskilled'

 

[TimTheBadass]

I think im going to use the xp4 on my wolf tank and remove the other 2 small hob filters about xmas or so. Filling it up with biomax from ac110 2 boxes fills one basket.

I rarely did give him dead fish, if one died in there from his feeders i gave him a day or so to take an easy meal. I was entertaining the idea since it was a free source of food. I try to do a 20% once a week but if i skip a week, ill do a little more next week. I tend to be lasy and not turn off the filters, prob should next time. I used prime once before and it had a BAD surfer smell, but if you think it works better than API, than ill start using it.

I agree to a point that it should be called petstupid, but its one of the better fish stores in the des moines area, sadly. I get 1 or 2 4-5 hour shifts in petcare a week, mostly on the high sales days. All i have learned ive learned from hands on or this site. Google has served me nicely on my phone. They only pay 8.00 - 8.90 an hour, so if you have any kind of petcare skills, they pay more. Kind of sad. One of the better paying places to work for the 'unskilled'

That's good. Canisters are always better than internals or HOB's and an xp4 is a decent sized filter.
I wouldn't say prime works better but it's more cost effective. One cap full treats 50g.

Make sure when you do a water change that you
1-Switch of the filters and heaters
2-Syphon out the desired amount of water (I use a hose pipe out the window)
3-Add enough prime to treat the whole tank eg. two cap full s for a 100g tank.
4-Then refill the tank with fresh tap water (I use the hose pipe connected to the kitchen tap and mix the hot and cold to the right temperature)
5-Once filled leave for 5 mins or so to allow the the chlorine to clear.
6-Switch on filters and heater.

Doing it this way you are not going to be pumping chlorine through your filters and killing all the bacteria you need to break down ammonia. I'm sure some people have other ways to do things but this is what works for me.