Cichlid Ammonia Levels?
We have a 29 gallon tank that has been running for about a week an a half and has had fish in it for about a week. I know that’s to quick but no one had informed us of that until recently. Well anyway we had some dying fish so we did a 60-70% water change a few days ago because they told us we may have high ammonia levels and that was what to do. We used prime water cleanser during that change. Our remaining fish are twice the size of the ones who died and seem fine. One did not eat this morning but I think that’s because she was constipated (Even though we have been soaking the food and being careful to only give them enough for them to eat in five minutes.) We just got a tested and our levels are at 1 ppm. Should we do another water change with prime? If so how much? Someone said that a change could be to much of a shock so we are a little nervous to do the change.
I would do a 50% water change and check your ammonia levels again in about an hour. Large water changes are only dangerous when done wrong, so just make sure you get aproximately the right temperature. pH shouldn’t be much of a concern unless you’re using buffers in the tank to adjust it. A ppm of ammonia is far more dangerous to fish than a large water change.
EDIT: Chaos is VERY right. There’s no sense killing your fish to cycle the tank in a hurry when you could just keep the ammonia levels down, doing frequent water changes, and keep all your fish alive, still cycling it. If you really want to expedite it and keep your fish alive, get some live media (filter floss, ceramic rings, gravel, etc.) from an established tank and put it in your own filter so you’ll have a budding colony.
EDIT 2: Good lord. Ammonia levels will start to irritate the fishes’ gills at even .5 ppm. Prologned exposure to levels of 1.0 ppm will kill the fish. It is nearly impossible to get ammonia levels up to 10 ppm unintentially, and most fish will last only a couple days (if that) under these conditions. Peter is essentially suggesting toxicology tests.
I never knew fish could get constipated. I have about 9 cichlids in a 200 gallon tank along with two turtles.
You need to cut back on your water changes. The problem you are experiencing is called “new tank syndrome”. New tanks must go through the nitrogen cycle. During the first two weeks of this period ammonia will spike quite high. By changing too much water you stall the cycle.
You need to test your water at least every other day and do smaller changes (10-15%). Exceeding this amount will prevent your tank from establishing a healthy biologic filter.
Unfortunately, you are learning the main reason fish die in a new tank. Tanks need to be completely cycled before adding fish.
Visit this site as it will provide you all the information you need to know to get through this period:http://www.firsttankguide.net/
Also, read this information on the nitrogen cycle: http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html
Even though water changes will slow down your cycle, they need to be done if you want your fish to survive. 1 ppm of ammonia is a pretty dangerous level. Do at least a 25% change (and yes, Prime is a good conditioner to use). Then monitor your water daily. Every time it gets above .50 ppm, do a small water change. Eventually your ammonia will drop to 0, but then you’ll need to worry about nitrites.
Keep doing the water changes, as much as needed to keep the ammonia below 1ppm. If thats 50% per day, then do that.
Large water changes may stress the fish, but not as much as living in ammonia. In this situation there will be little stress becasue the tank water parameters will be still very close to the tap water. The water in the tank is still basically tap water, with a bit of ammonia and fish poop in it. So your fish are better off in the cleaner water. Just match the temperature when you do large changes.
Big water changes are a problem if the tank has been neglected for months and you do a sudden big water change. The sudden change in water conditions may then shock the fish.
Right now you have to do a balancing act. Change too much water and it will take ages for the cycle to build up. Dont change enough, and the fish will die. But erring on the side of more water changes is safer.
Keep using the Prime to treat the new water. It’s main purpose is to neutralise Chlorine residue in the tap water. The last thing your fish need now is a dose of chlorine on top of everything else.
Your fish may have lost it’s appetite due to the poor water quality. I would cut back on the feeding for the next week or 2 anyway. Less fish food = less ammonia going into the system. They wont starve on 1/2 rations for a week.
Good Luck
Ian
Like all beginners, you are learning about the nitrogen cycle the hard way. Let me answer some of your questions to get them out of the way and then I will try to give you the bigger picture.
Cichlids are usually able to tolerate levels of 5 to 10 ppm of ammonia or nitrite and even higher levels of nitrates. There are many thousands of cichlid species but this rule applies to the more common and popular cichlids available in fish stores. In your 29 gallon tank, you should wait until the levels exceed 10 ppm and see signs of toxic stress before doing a water change of 50% or more. Some signs of toxic stress are heavy gill activity, red swollen blood vessels in the fins, total loss of appetite. Always use your water condition when doing a water change.
Now for you and everyone else who is starting to learn about the nitrogen cycle, please pay attention…
Fish excrete ammonia from their gills as they breathe as a natural body function. If the ammonia level in the water gradually increases, most fish can adapt to slow and low level increases. However, most fish will experience toxic stress when suddenly exposed to high levels of ammonia. That is why you should leave what fish you have now to finish the cycling process but you should not add any new fish until you know that your ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero ppm.
The difference between a brand new sterile tank and a healthy well establish tank are the millions of nitrifying bacteria that live in the healthy well established tank. There are many kinds of bacteria, some good and some bad but the nitrifying bacteria fall into two groups. Those that eat ammonia and produce nitrites and the others that eat nitrites and produce nitrates. Please note the difference in spelling. Nitrites are as harmful as ammonia but nitrates, the final end product is much less harmful. In healthy tanks, most nitrifying bacteria live in the gravel bed and filter pad. There are millions of these bacteria living in the pores of each one cubic inch of gravel. This is Mother Nature’s way of dealing with chemical wastes and you will find these good bacterial in every river bed, pond, lake and body of water where fish are living.
In your tank, you need to grow enough of this good bacteria to break down all of the chemical waste your fish produce as fast as your fish can produce it. This is a 3 phase process. 1st you need fish to start producing ammonia so there is something to feed the ammonia eating bacteria. When these bacteria multiply, it is called a bloom and can result in a milky white cloudiness in the water. This is a good thing but if you remove the water completely you will have to start all over again. This is a common mistake all beginners make but now you know. It is good to test your water during this stage and watch for signs of toxic stress but if you can avoid doing a water change at this stage you will speed up the cycling process.
After the ammonia eating bacteria bloom, they will settle down into the gravel bed and filter pad and your water will clear up. However, these bacteria create nitrite as a chemical waste and so your nitrite levels will begin to shoot up. This will cause the nitrite eating bacteria to begin multiplying which is phase 2 of the nitrogen cycle. Again, do water changes only if your fish display signs of toxic stress and try not to do more than a 50% water change. If you want to learn the technical names of these groups of bacteria they are nitrosomonas and nitrobacter bacteria. You need both to create a healthy environment for your fish. If you do not have a nitrite test kit, you should take a few ounces of water from your tank (not your tap water) to the fish store and ask specifically for a fresh water nitrite test of your sample. Be sure it’s a test made for fresh water nitrite and not nitrate. Some test kits are designed for salt water and will not work for fresh water.
So now you know a bit about the nitrogen cycle, but here’s the bigger picture…
A common misunderstanding is that the good bacteria live in the water or on the glass of the aquarium. Some people think they have to cycle every tank from the very beginning. This is totally false and a complete waste of time and dangerous to your fish. As long as you use used gravel or a used filter pad in your new tank, you can instantly cycle that new tank and avoid what you are going through with your fish right now. Even rinsing the old gravel and old filter pad to remove sediments and sludge will not remove all the good bacteria. There will be enough to get your new tank going. If the water begins to get milky white, you will know it’s a good bacterial bloom that will clear itself in less than a week. Even when gravel sits dry for a long time, the good nitrifying bacteria just go into hybernation. Some will die but enough will survive to repopulate the tank. The only way to kill all of the bacteria is to boil or bleach it. So never boil or bleach your gravel when you clean the fish tank and if you change to another color or type of substrate, just don’t clean the filter at the same time. Wait a few months before cleaning the filter so your new substrate can repopulate itself.