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 L# General Freshwater
  L# Ammonia truble
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SubscribeAmmonia truble
JESSU
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Small Fry
Posts: 1
Kudos: 1
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Registered: 23-Feb-2007
I notice on the 19th that I had an ammonia spike In my 55g tank(1 Black Moor, 2 Calico fan tails). On the 17/18 I had tested the water and it was fine. The spike seemed to appeared out of no where. My live ammonia detector was reading .10. I did a 50% water change and wanted to added amolock but I only had 2 capfulls left. My lfs recomended that I get Stress Coat and Wardley 3 in 1 Water Conditioner. So I did and treated the tanks. I had also put in aqua safe when I did the 50% water change. Then the live detector was reading .05. I used my liquid test kit(hagen) and it also detected ammonia 4.6. My Ph is 6.6. I found out that you are supposed to clean the bio bags once a week, I just put in new ones . I have a wisper 60 and yesterday got and setup a Penguin bio wheel 350. I have both running. I also got a diffrent ammonia test kit by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. With it I am detecting 4.0 ppm(md/L). The in tank monitor reads .05. Will the stuff I put in my tank keep my fish alive? What else can I do?
Post InfoPosted 24-Feb-2007 03:53Profile PM Edit Report 
longhairedgit
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Fish Guru
Lord of the Beasts
Posts: 2502
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Registered: 21-Aug-2005
male uk
EditedEdited by longhairedgit
First of all, slow down on the filter cleaning and changing stuff around, and allow the aerobic bacteria a chance to settle, reproduce, and do their thing. Tetra do tablets with starter bacteria in to help advance the cycle a little, and maybe those will help. These issues dont go away overnight if the filters have been tampered with and the bacterial colony destabilised. Presumably the cycle will be a little slower since this is a coldwater tank anyway. Most bacterial growth is temperature dependant to some degree. Keep using moderate amounts of stuff like ammolock to keep the worst readings in check, and just wait it out. More radical water changes at this point will set the cycle back further.

A good water conditioner will stop the chlorine in tapwater from doing more damage to the filter bacteria, and using one is generally recommended, but a water conditioner in itself and a product like stress coat wont really address the ammonia problem in any way. Therefore these chemical aids cannot be relied upon to save the lives of your fish.

Only thing you can really do is allow the cycle to become more healthy and efficient, and that takes time. Fortunately your fish are species that tolerate ammonia better than most tropicals. Its a question of just riding it out from this point really. Its now the 24th so hopefully you wont have too much longer to wait before ammonia levels start to drop.

If it was purely a spike and the bacterial culture had just taken a bit of a dent but was still functional the levels will drop soon, but if the bacterial filter death was almost total, your pretty much committed to a full cycle, which in coldwater will probably last at least the usual 21 days or longer.

Your best tactic is to try to encourage the cycle to complete as quickly as possible.

If your goldfish are nice chubby specimens you might also elect to stop feeding them now,or give them only the tiniest amounts of food so that the system doesnt have to cope with excess ammonia production beyond that of the fishs' respiration. Goldies can easily go without food for a week or two in such emergencies.
Post InfoPosted 24-Feb-2007 04:24Profile MSN PM Edit Delete Report 
fishinfun
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Hobbyist
Posts: 51
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Registered: 07-Feb-2007
male usa
From all my reading the filters only need to to changed when they fall apart, these filters are an important part of the bio filtration, ie they house the bacteria to break down the ammonia. Typically the filters contain carbon which after a few months should be removed, but leave the filter fabric in tact. when it does come time to change, change one at a time allow the bio culture mass to build up in the new filter then change the second I would say 3 weeks.
you can read more on many web sites, try fishlore.com, I found it helpful.
Post InfoPosted 24-Feb-2007 16:43Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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