Problems with My babies high ammonia

[jimmyg]

My babies are really big know and there are 50 in a 3ft Tank with a Fluvval 305 attached to it as filtration.

I do 50% water changes daily and feed them minimal, after I feed them I suck up the left overs but my Ammonia is about 4 and I am struggling to get it down past this.

Is it because of my Filter holding it up there I cleaned it about 1 month ago.

Is it because I am feeding them frozen food, I change it from Merrryln BH Mix to frozen Brine Shrimp, Blood worm etc.

I have added ACE Ammonia reducer but its not working.

Is it too many bigger fish in a tank or what can I use to reduce it.

I am thinking of adding Seachem PURIGEN, I add this in another Filter and it is suppose to help lower NITRATE, NITRITE and AMMONIA.

Thanks
Jimmy

[ILLUSN]

Get some ammonia absorbing media quick! zeolite will do as will purigen or amrid, do a massive change 90-95%, your cleaning of the filter probably upset the bacteria (did you use tap water or tank water to clean it?) and as a result its now under going a new cycle.

Doing a 90% water change will drop your ammonia to 0.4, if you have enough aged water on hand do a second 90% change strait away and that will bring your ammonia down to 0.044. Add your ammonia remover and you should have no problems for a few weeks atleast.

Your ammonia reducer proably locks the ammonia into a non toxic form which is why your fish are still alive, it will still read on your test kit. Massive water changes will dilute it out as your filter re establishes itself.

[jimmyg]

Thanks for the info Illusion I went to my LFS and got some ammoni, Nitrite and Nitrate reducer that I add to my Fluuval and remove my Charcoal.

I clean all my filters out with Tank water, never use tap water. I found my filter full of gunk I will have to clean it out monly as i was told to clean it 1/4ly but not as bad as it was today.

I did a 75% water change and it is down to .5% so I am really happy and the babies are doing well, I readded a sponge filter in there as well, I leave on in there going so I age a filter incase of emergencies I can place it anywhere.

Thanks
Jimmy

[ILLUSN]

good to hear jimmy keep at it, i clean my filters monthly for the same reason :)

[Hollowman]

Well done for getting the levels down, but you need to maintain this at zero. At that age, you need to be doing 90-95% changes daily, do this after the last feed of the day. I would be feeding heavily, not to a minimum as this is the most important stage of growth.

[Dkarc]

Back off on the BH. Your ammonia is being produced by the foods you feed. Foods with excessive protein levels are excreted over the gills directly as ammonia (fish can only use so much protein). Also, what is your pH? So long as it is below 7, the ammonia is changed to less harmful ammonium (still needs to be addressed, but if the pH is below 7 you atleast have a buffer zone). And yes, increase your water changes and keep your filter clean....a dirty filter does you little good.

-Ryan

[jimmyg]

My PH is the same as straight Tap water between 6 and 6.2%.

They are BB Tanks as well.

[Hollowman]

More water changing I'm afraid :wink:

[jimmyg]

Thanks for the info everyone.

Everthing is back into line.

PH 6.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Water Temp 28 degrees

What is the best Nitrate level to have.

Thanks
Jimmy

[Hollowman]

Between 5 &10 is fine