High Ammonia above 8

tigger2929 · 07-04-2008, 04:38 PM

Hi Everyone,
I have had my new freshwater 38 gal tank up and running for about 4 weeks now and I cannot get the ammonia down or get the tank to cycle. I have 3 corey cats and 2 blue sharks in there now. I have used the bacteria starter, have a 305 filter with the ammonia blocker bag, using ammonia lock, doing partial water changes every 3-4 days (about 1/3 at a time). I haven't touched the substrate or decorations. The filter carbon and ammonia bag has been changed once otherwise the filter has not been touched. I am feeding 2 times a week in small amounts. I went to far as to take a water sample in to The Ark (a specialty shop by me) and they had no clue on why it was so high and told me to bring another sample in over the weekend. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions?? Please help!!

Loman · 07-04-2008, 05:08 PM

You did not mention a specific source of ammonia. Did you add any ammonia to get the cycle going? Is there anything old in the tank like reused substrate? I do not think this small amount of fish would create that level of ammonia in the tank this size

tigger2929 · 07-04-2008, 05:11 PM

Everything in the tank is new and no I did not add any ammonia to it. This is all naturally formed.

Loman · 07-04-2008, 05:13 PM

Wow - I can not imagine 5 fish creating that level of ammonia that quickly. Do you happen to know if the source water has any ammonia in it?

tigger2929 · 07-04-2008, 05:15 PM

It is "city" water and there is no trace of ammonia. I thought that too.

orb4me · 07-04-2008, 05:20 PM

Are the fish gasping for air? red gills? though I guess it doesnt matter at this point. Your fish are being poisoned. Im really surprised they are still alive, though Im sure thats not what you want to hear.

I jumped through a few articles for you and noticed that sometimes certain products will give a false reading to water tests. Is ammonia lock a product? You might want to quit using that one. What are the rest of your water tests showing? Especially nitrites would be interesting to know as well as nitrates. You have to have nitrates in there by now.

Far more experienced people will be along to help you, but dont put any more products in your tank untill someone can help you. You will get answers here and lots of help. While your waiting, there are some good articles up at the top and on left hand side. Check out cycling with fish section.

Welcome to the forum, we all started with our problems, share our ups and downs, mistakes and right way to do ums

tigger2929 · 07-04-2008, 05:25 PM

Yes ammonia lock (made by API) is a product that turns ammonia non-toxic for the fish so there is no gill damage or gasping. This does not remove the ammonia, so you still get your reading. These fish seem to be doing fine. No redness or gasping. There is no reading on nitrites or nitrates.

Tommy Gun · 07-04-2008, 07:26 PM

Hey tigger2929,

I believe that Ammo-Lock only makes ammonia less toxic, not non-toxic so this is still a concern. Your city water, like mine, may also contain chloramines, which is simply ammonia bonded with chlorine so the chlorine doesn't leave the water as quickly...this means when you remove the chlorine using whatever product you might have, ammonia may still be left behind and may be part of what you are seeing on your test results.

Do you have the ability to do your own testing or do you rely solely on tests given to you by a store? If the store, then you may want to look into investing in your own test kit so that you can monitor things more closely...and to ensure that your results are not getting misread/misunderstood.

tigger2929 · 07-04-2008, 08:02 PM

I do have a test kit and test twice a day and I have tested the city water independent from the tank water and it shows no signs of ammonia. I checked the bottle of ammonia lock and it says it transform ammonia into a non-toxic form.

Tommy Gun · 07-04-2008, 08:30 PM

You might want to treat some tap water with that product and then test for ammonia to see what changes.