Question: Consistently high AMMONIA level!!!

Aimzs Lotties

Aimzs Lotties

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Aimée
I've had my axies about a month now and recently bought some water testers (a bit slow i know but before that i'd been getting the water tested at my local pet store).. Anyway at first test the ammonia was a rediculous 5 ppm! I quickly started daily 20% water changes and after about 3 days the level stopped going down.

It's now at 3 ppm and though I'm doing daily water changes.. will NOT go down.

HELP and suggestions??
 
Hey Aimzs, good to see another Geelong person here, i think we are well represented here.

How big is your tank?
How many axies do you have?
Any other tank mates?
Other info on the set up - Plants? Substrate? etc

Bren
 
Do you have a filter in the tank?
Do you use dechlorinater?
Sam:happy:
 
Try testing your tap water. you might have chloramines in your tap.
 
I have a 3 foot (120 L tank), 2 axolotls(almost adult), 1 tiny feeder fish that has avoided being eaten, only plastic plants, and axolotl-safe rock/ pebbles on the bottom. I have a filter thats aqua-one brand. I use dechlorinator everytime i do a water change, even if i use tank water (which i usually do)..

My axies are fine, they swim happily and eat and poop etc.. but im still concerned.. its not normal..
 
ok so i did a massive 45% water change today, thoroughly rinsed all the hides and fake plants in dechlorinated water and scooped out EVERY piece of gunk with my net.

i only put back in 1 plastic plant with the river rocks on the bottom so it looks really bare but hopefully it will help.. I'll test ammonia again tonight.. fingers crossed..

any help would be more than great!
 
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...-all/76220-problem-tank-cycle.html#post284259

try an anti-ammonia solution? i've never tried it but it sounds ideal for your emergency situation. 2-3ppm is harmful.

one thing i have heard about dechlorinators is that they break apart the bond of chlorine and ammonia particles, thus leaving ammonia. if this is true, the dechlorinator is adding more ammonia to your tank that isn't being broken down since the tank isn't fully cycled yet

i would feed very minimal amounts, if at all, until the ammonia level drops.
i'd also add an air pump with air stone to the tank.
change 20% water everyday.

what filter media is in the aqua one filter?
what ph is the tank?
 
If you're adding tank-water back into your tank, you don't need to dechlorinate it. It could be that you're using too much dechlorinator, and it's increasing your ammonia.

Live plants will also help.

By taking everything out of the tank and rinsing it, you're actually killing the bacteria that you need to cycle the tank. These bacteria grow on every surface in the tank: walls, substrate, hides, plants, filter, etc. You want as many bacteria as you can get.

Have you tested your tap water? What is the ammonia reading with just plain water?
 
Get rid of the pebbles.

Everyone says "they are way too big for an axie to swallow" until they swallow one.

Also, the axie poo will be getting caught down in between the pebbles, hard to clean up, so that might increase the ammonia.

try bare tank and see how it goes.

Plants suck up ammonia a bit (apparently there are "types" of ammonia, plants use one type) so perhaps add some live plants. I have a ton of java & riccia moss, you can have some if you like, make a moss wall. I also have some java fernlets (if fernlets is a word :) ) they are small but grow quickly, you could have a few of those.

I also have some lucky bamboo in there as a test. It looks nice, but it doesnt seem to be handling the low light conditions of my tank as well as the others i think i'll have to replace it everynow and again.

The plants i have that are doing well in the low light are - riccia, java & Christmas moss, java ferns, Anubias, wysteria

Bren
 
my tank is/ was cycled. its been set up over 2 months but there was always a small amount of ammonia present (the pet shop expert said it was an anomoly and to just add some salt and they should be fine).

the ammonia test last night read 1.5 ppm so the clean obviously helped a little. I used rain tank water for the massive water change and have stopped using the decholrinator with it.. Kaysie is probably right about using it when its not necessary..

i have sponges in my aquaone filter which ive yet to rinse for fear of killing all the bacteria in there. the ph level was 7.6 last saturday. i'll test again today. i'll also test the tank water for ammonia just to be sure (a friend mentioned it could have bird poop in there..).

im going to leave the rocks in there for now, just because after the massive clean, they didn't get rinsed and are probably harbouring the majority of my good bacteria (aside from the filter).

bren, a few live plants would be great. i havent got any for two reasons, i find it hard to secure them (and them moving around from the filter annoys me), and they're rather expensive.. but if u can spare a few i'll give it a go.

thanks everyone for your help, i'll report back after i've salt bathed my sick axie, done a 20% change and tested the 2 waters.. thanks.
 
ok so i tested my tank water again, now down to 1ppm Ammonia (yay so close) and ph is at around 7.5.

the rain tank water had 0 ammonia thank goodness.

oh and my cute little kitten says purrr purrr purrr (he likes cuddles)

thanks, Aimee.
 
rain water also lacks some essential minerals i've heard.

a water hardness test and using some aquarium salts might be needed
 
so i took out the pebbles, and bought some ammonia killer from the pet store. yesterday (before i did this) the ammonia was at 1.5, higher than a few days ago... but hopefully it'll be a lot better by tomorrow.. once the ammonia killer gets to work..

i'll keep u posted.
 
Just another tip. When you have an ammonia spike you need to do a minimum of 75% water change.

I usually do a 75% the first day and then 50% for the next few days. I'll do the water changes in the morning and then test in the evening.

I recently had a huge spike in my Axi tank and it took several days to get the levels down.

I'm also on rain water here and shuddered to think that there might be something in the water tanks causing the ammonia...luckily it wasn't. ;)

Good luck!!
 
So i did a MASSIVE change again today (around 70%) and the ammonia is still at 1.8ppm!!! it will NOT GO DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT DO I DO???

please HELP!

I bought some ammonia remover rocks for my filter but obviously they suck.. waste of money!
 
If you keep adding tank water back to your tank, you're not removing anything. You're just adding dirty water. The point of a water change is to remove the 'dirty' water, and add clean water.
 
I'm not familiar with rain water nor would I try it.

If i was in your situation i would do a 30% water change with tap water, and 20% everyday until it goes down.

I would also add bio media to your aqua one filter. I'm not familiar with this brand either. Sponge media is more for mechanical filtration, with a little bit of biological. You'll want full purposed biological media which will help you house more beneficial bacteria to naturally bring down your ammonia levels.
 
Kaysie, when I say I'm putting tank water in my aquarium, I mean from my rain water tank (clean water).. I'm not that silly that I'd put back in the water I take out LOL..

Aeri, I have started using dechlorinated tap water from yesterday for my changes.. I had a feeling that may be the problem.. I have sponge media in my filter already.. I've only rinsed it once in the month and a half I've had it, but in aquarium water so bacteria should still be there..

Thanks, wish me luck.
 
sorry aeri just re-read your post.. what do you mean by bio-media? like bio-balls or something?? I have some that were used in my 2 foot before i upgraded to a 3 foot.. they've been dry for weeks though.. do you think they would be okay? should i float them in the water for a few days to gain bacteria (so when i remove the sponge there's still bacteria in the tank)..? or just put them straight in??
 
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