My ammonia level in my tropical fish tank will not come down! It is always over 2.0 and usually closer to 8.0?
I test every day
I was doing 40% water changes daily for 2 weeks and it still didn’t help.
I have tried 3 different types of ammonia lowering products( API Ammo Lock, Top Fin Ammonia Remover, and Jungle Ammonia Chloramine Eliminator)
We have a gravel vacuum to do water changes with
We have 3 sunset platy and 2 fancy guppies and 2 cardinal tetras in a 20 gallon aquarium along with 7 small live plants.
We have an under gravel filter and we put in a poly filter in with our carbon filter and have changed out the poly filter as recommended by our local fish store.
All of our other levels are right where they need to be.
We feed the fish a very small amount in the morning and again at night and they eat it all in about 30 seconds so I don’t think we are over feeding.
We also added in the beginning biozyme and some stresszyme to increase the natural bacteria in our tank.
we add a small dose of stress coat when we do water changes.
The local fish store said on Thursday to wait 5 days to do another water change but now our ammonia test is turning a dark teal color which is darker than the darkest color on the key to the test kit
We have also tested our home water to see if that was the problem and its not.
I just don’t know what to do!!!!
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Stop adding chemicals and remove the plants. My guess is you bought non-aquatic plants. I have made this same mistake in my time. Petco and other chains sell plants as aquatic which are anything but. Examples are ribbon plants and mondo grass among others. Chances are your plants are rotting in the water and spiking the ammonia. Unless you are 100% positive your plants are truly aquatic, then that is the first place I would look. Somethign is rotting in your tank and I’d bet on your plants.
I would stop using all those products that claim to remove the ammonia. Nothing works better than having the actual beneficial bacteria established to do this! Besides, those products can be effecting the speed of your Nitrogen Cycle (slowing it down). You should have cycled your tank first () before adding in those fish. But since they are there already, we need to address this issue before it becomes fatal to your fish! I would say, do another partial water change. Add just a dechlorinator. Next get a bottle of Tetra Safe Start (get the size appropriate for your tank and follow the instructions). Tetra Safe Start contains strains of patented bio-spira bacteria. My tank was stalling in the cycle and only showed signs of ammonia for a long time. I didn’t see the signs of Nitrites or Nitrates therefore indicating that the colonies of beneficial bacteria’s were not present. I added the Tetra Safe Start and one week later, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 5.0 nitrates! It works! Keeping your tank light on and temp warmer (the upper limits of your fish) will help speed the process of establishing the beneficial bacteria colonies.
One other remote issue that I can think of, is that your test kit might be expired or messing up. You might want to bring a sample of your water to a LFS and see if they can test it for you. Most fish stores will test it free. BTW, I use the API Master Test Kit… I got mine for 17 bucks from walmart.com.. it’s simply the best!
One other note… I tried API Stress Zyme, which claims to have live bacteria to cycle your tank.. it does not work! Nutrafin cycle is another product.. but not sure if it works. However, Tetra Safe Start worked for me!
GOOD LUCK!
From what I understand, ammonia removers convert ammonia to a non-toxic form, but still shows up in ammonia tests. Your readings may be a false high because of that.