Is ammonia of 1ppm too high?

[zqia014]

Hi all, just tested my ammonia for the first time today and found it to be 1ppm, is this too high?

Tank is 130L, has 20 neon tetras, 16 WCMM, 3 bristlenose catfish, 4 lepoard danios, 6 swortails and 3 clown loaches.

Nitrite level is 0ppm, pH is also stable at 6.8

Thanks

[Lady Hobbs]

Yes. You need to change out some of the water and get that ammonia in the safer zone. No ammonia is safe but can be a little less toxic.

Catfish usually can't live in new tanks as they have nothing to eat yet. They eat the algae that forms in a couple months but new tanks don't have that yet so make sure they get some algae pellets. I don't think your neons will make it thru a cycling either.

16 WCMM??????? What are these?

[zqia014]

Thanks for the reply.

Tank is actually almost 7 months old, this is the first time I've tested for ammonia.

WCMM are white cloud mountain minnows, sorry for the abbreviation.

So I should try and lowering my ammonia, I tested the water this morning, got 1ppm, changed 25% of the water late afternoon (regular weekly water change), and tested ammonia again, still 1ppm, or maybe less as the colour isn't really quite the 1ppm colour yet.

More advice appreciated. Thanks

[dev]

What kind of filter do you have in this tank?

Have you recently done any maintenance on the filter?

How much and how often do you normally change water?

What kind of test are you using, what resolution does it have?

[Lady Hobbs]

You said you recently added fish. Did you add a whole bunch of new ones at once? This will give you an ammonia spike. Also, test your water right from the tap to make sure that isn't giving you a problem. Some of these water treatment plants are now using ammonia to purify the water instead of chloramine and it's showing up in tap water.

How many fish have you had in this tank? If you had none and then just added a bunch, the bacteria from before would be dead and you'd be starting all over.

[zqia014]

Long time ago I got rid of my goldfish, went to tropical.

I use a Eheim internal, 2010 I think, filters up to 160L it says on the box, anyway it appears to be doing a good job, just replaced the sponge today.

When I sold my goldfish, I got the swordtails and danios, so they've been in my tank for quite a while now, 2-3 months now.

3 weeks ago I added the 3 bristlenose catfish, babies when I got them but are growing nicely.

1 week after 10 neon tetra added.

3 days after another 10 neon tetra.

Last friday 3 clown loach added.

Maybe I added the neon tetras too quickly?

I can sell my white cloud mountain minnows if neccessary in order to reduce my ammonia, if that happens, will maybe added another few other strictly tropical fish.

[zqia014]

Oh and forgot to mention I did test the tap water before the water change, no ammonia could be detected.

[Lady Hobbs]

Yes. You have added 26 more fish in 3 weeks. This is what has caused the ammonia spike.

The fish you had in there were lowly stocked so your bioload was only enough to support those few fish. You can only add a few fish.....like 4 or 5..... every 10 days or so to keep up with the bacteria you need.

I would definately keep up with those water changes daily and do more than 25%. More like 50% to get that ammonia lowered in a hurry. You will loose all those neons if you don't and probably the others as well.

Let your ammonia readings quide you in how much water you change out. I hope you see your nitrites soon.

[zqia014]

Ok I will change another 25% tomomorrow and keep doing it until the ammonia reaches a safe level.

Would that stress the fish too much though? I can avoid temperature fluctuations by using slightly warm water though.

Or will the fish feel better straight away as the ammonia level drops?

Thanks

[Lady Hobbs]

Water changes will not stress them near that of the ammonia and also when the nitrites climb. That too is very toxic and water changes will have to continue then, as well.

This is why cycling with fish is so hard. It's hard on you and hard on them.

Changing the water possibly slows down the cycling, as well, but it's the only way to keep your guys alive. Just don't do any cleaning at all and leave your filters to get grungy. It's full of the bacteria needed to cycle that tank.

BioSpira will give you a very fast cycle but it's too late to use it now. It's useless once you have an ammonia reading and is to be used at the same time you add your fish.

Good luck.

[dev]

Ah yes, I didnt realize you had added so much to your stock recently. I agree with Lady Hobbs that this probably the cause of your ammonia spike.

For future reference, it may not be a good idea to replace any filtermedia when you are in the middle of a spike. This will set your backeria back even further, so it will take longer to recover from the spike.

You should now consider to feed much less than usual, and commit frequent small water changes. When the ammonia goes down, you will likely see a spike in nitrates, and you need to keep up the water changes until that spike is also gone. Depending on the state of your filter it could take anything from a few days to several weeks to recover.

[zqia014]

WOW sounds like I'm in a deep lot of trouble.

Will definitely keep up with the water changes and hope all my fish stay alive.

and won't clean my filter sponge for now.

thanks for all the help really appreciate it.