# [Wet Thumb Forum]-AAACKK! My ammonia shot up to 8ppm!



## wanda (Jan 10, 2005)

I admit it I went away for 3 days with the new tank in the care of my roomate, who does care and just can't count!

He did the wrong measurements on the tests, and when I came home my ammonia test came back almost black! One of my new fishies died.

I didnt have any water change prepared so I set out 5 galons (for a 10 gallon tank)and went out and bout 5 gallons of distilled.

I checked the ph and ammonia of the distilled and added all the right sauces for my new dahlinks but the ammonia didnt change one bit. I then siphoned off another 5 gal. today and added the water I set aside. STILL NO CHANGE.

I am setting aside more water tonihgt.

Is it ok if water has only been set aside for 12 hours? Would chlorine be worse off than ammonia?

I did add ammolock and they are acting quite normal.

suggestions? Im all freaked out that they are suffering.


----------



## wanda (Jan 10, 2005)

I admit it I went away for 3 days with the new tank in the care of my roomate, who does care and just can't count!

He did the wrong measurements on the tests, and when I came home my ammonia test came back almost black! One of my new fishies died.

I didnt have any water change prepared so I set out 5 galons (for a 10 gallon tank)and went out and bout 5 gallons of distilled.

I checked the ph and ammonia of the distilled and added all the right sauces for my new dahlinks but the ammonia didnt change one bit. I then siphoned off another 5 gal. today and added the water I set aside. STILL NO CHANGE.

I am setting aside more water tonihgt.

Is it ok if water has only been set aside for 12 hours? Would chlorine be worse off than ammonia?

I did add ammolock and they are acting quite normal.

suggestions? Im all freaked out that they are suffering.


----------



## Ben C (Apr 16, 2006)

if your fish are ok (i know you said one died.. but the remaining) i would begin to suspect your test kit.. they DO lose their accuracy eventually. (perhaps quicker than you might like, or imagine!).

Other than that.. is there anything in the tank that could be producing ammonia? 

i believe that chlorine would be worse than ammonia in that it kills of bacteria which decompose ammonia itself. that would take much longer to recover after you sorted out your ammonia, and would not help you at all. Why don't you add de-chlorinator? Its not expensive. Sticking an airstone in the bucket of water can speed up the process of de-chlorination as well (assuming its attached to an airpump, which is plugged in of course!!)

maybe someone else can offer some advice. Be careful not to overfeed. 

BEN


----------



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

if your tank is new, then it is cycleing. this happens from 4 weeks to 8 weeks after you set it up. you will see spikes in nitrate and ammonia. just add a little bit of ammonia neutrilizer and keep a close eye on it.


----------



## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

A well planted tank should not be having large ammonia spikes. Something out of the ordinary must have happend to see such a high spike, maybe your roomate over feed.

Also Goldfish produce a lot of waste and two are to many for a 10G tank. Do you plan on moving them to a larger tank? Intill then make sure to do a 50% waterchange weekly.


----------



## imported_shalu (Feb 13, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by trenac:
> A well planted tank should not be having large ammonia spikes. Something out of the ordinary must have happend to see such a high spike, maybe your roomate over feed.
> ...


I agree for the most part, except in this case, 50% weekly water change is far from enough. This tank is almost exactly like my old tank, a 10 gallon with 2 goldfish. I had to do 30% DAILY water changes to keep them from getting sick, even after cycled. But with my hard work, they spawned weekly in the 10 gallon and I got tons of babies. Nothing breeds like goldfish, they do that year round non-stop.

For water change, I always use straight tap water using Python, with some water conditioner added. I adjust the temperature of tap water roughly to match tank temperature by feeling the water with hand(I also remember the position of the faucet, like 5 o'clock







). I do that even with discus, no problem.


----------

