Ammonia levels

**Ghostknife** · 05-15-2008, 09:09 PM

Hi,

This is a spin off from another thread, didn't want to take the attention away from the other persons question.

I read somewhere that ammonia should be 0.1 in a cycled tank. Now, at my tanks worst point,it got to 0.6. I realise that is terrible. However, my tank has never been at 0. It seems to be at 0.1 consistently, no matter how many times I do a water change. I was then informed on another thread that it should be 0. Can anyone advise a strategy to get rid of it? It just seems strange.

Cheers everybody!

**sandy_n** · 05-15-2008, 09:16 PM

Since it's been at 0.1 for awhile how are your fish acting with it at that level? Do they seem stressed or are they behaving normally?

**Ghostknife** · 05-15-2008, 09:32 PM

Everyone seems fine, we had a bit of a drama putting in some fish I bought off a random dude, I think one of the fish I bought off him had TB or something. It has wiped out a couple of my big fish,but nothing, that I can tell in relation to ammonia. Everyone really seems fine. The tank has been going since January, & yes I have had a rampant Ich infestation that killed all but 1 of my fish, at the beginning. I just had another infestation, but no fatalaties just there a few weeks ago. Everyone got over it!

What should I be looking for? As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with my fish!! ???

**sandy_n** · 05-15-2008, 09:46 PM

From everything I've picked up here, your tank is fully cycled when your ammonia and trites are at 0 and I know that you know it also so I really don't know what to suggest. Hopefully someone will come along that is much more knowledgable and be able to help you figure this out. I'm sorry I can't really help you. I had asked about your fish because I was wondering if they had adjusted to that level and weren't having any problems with it. How about your test kit. What kind are you using? I just wonder if the tank never had a chance to totally complete its cycle.

**Lady Hobbs** · 05-15-2008, 11:21 PM

In a cycled tank, ammonia and nitrites should be 0. Ammonia in a cycled tank generally means too much feeding and the food is rotting or you have a dead fish in there somewhere.

**Cichlid*Newbie** · 05-16-2008, 01:28 AM

Originally Posted by Lady Hobbs

In a cycled tank, ammonia and nitrites should be 0. Ammonia in a cycled tank generally means too much feeding and the food is rotting or you have a dead fish in there somewhere.

Sorry to but in this thread..
Im sure my tank is cycled, and i know that i overfed...would it be okay to vac the gravel now? I still have an ammonia reading between .5 -1, although my fish are pretty happy..and not at all sick or sluggish or anything...

**Nautilus29** · 05-16-2008, 02:01 AM

have you checked your tap water? maybe you have some ammonia in there. Also are you testing exactly like the test kit says to, if not you can get weird results. What kind of test kits do you use the liquid or the test strips? The test strips can give you inaccurate results.

**Cichlid*Newbie** · 05-16-2008, 02:35 AM

Originally Posted by Nautilus29

have you checked your tap water? maybe you have some ammonia in there. Also are you testing exactly like the test kit says to, if not you can get weird results. What kind of test kits do you use the liquid or the test strips? The test strips can give you inaccurate results.

Ya tap water has no ammonia, it stays a light yellow which on my chart is 0...and i did overfeed and ive never vacced the gravel. Liquid test kits...says ad 8 drops of each bottle...when i do it turns a medium/light green. which is like .5 -1..after water change 50% it reads closer to .25/.5 after like a week its about 1.

**xoolooxunny** · 05-16-2008, 02:43 AM

ghostknife, along with what hobbs said about the overfeeding/dead fish, another possibility is that the tank is being cleaned too much/too often. what is your routine maintenance? How much/how often do you feed? did you test your tap water for ammonia/nitrates?

**Ghostknife** · 05-16-2008, 06:55 AM

Originally Posted by xoolooxunny

ghostknife, along with what hobbs said about the overfeeding/dead fish, another possibility is that the tank is being cleaned too much/too often. what is your routine maintenance? How much/how often do you feed? did you test your tap water for ammonia/nitrates?

I tested the tap water, & to my shock there was a little ammonia. Discgusting.. I drink that!! I don't use strips, I use Nutrafin to test the ammonia levels. I have never tested the nitrates/ nitrites. I understand if the ammonia is low, then the nite's are nil too.

with regards to changing the water, when things were going well, I left it for a week, week and a half to do the change. Because of the current illness in the tank, I am changing every 2 days. If you read the earlier posts you will notice that I think one of my newbies had some mad disease. I feed everyday because I have alot of fish, I put in one tablet of Frozen brine shrimp & blood worms once a day. Is this too much??

Thanks for the help lads!!