fiveeyern

Hi,

My 55 gallon tank has been setup for a little over 10 weeks now, and cycled in about 4 weeks. I have an Emperor 400 for a filter. My pH is quite low around 6. It had a firemouth and opaline gourami in it after I cycled it. There were no nitrites or ammonia for 4 weeks after the cycle and all was well. I added two kribs and a clown pleco just over two weeks ago. 3 days later I tested the water and had around 1ppm ammonia. It has stayed steady around that measurement for two solid weeks. I have changed 15-20% water daily since that measurement. I do not overfeed, in fact I have probably underfed since the ammonia measurement two weeks ago. None of the fish seem stressed at all and each one eats very well. I added ammo chips to my filter when I saw there was ammonia in the water two weeks ago. What could be going on? Why do I have ammonia in the water like this? Any ideas?

jdhef

The Pleco is a big waste producer (I don't know about the Kribs) and you cycle was probably overwhelmed. I would skip the ammo chips and do 50% daily water changes using Prime or Stress Coat+ until your mini cycle is over.

Also, with the low ph you have ammonium not ammonia in your tank. Ammonium is much less toxic, so you needn't panic too much.

AlyeskaGirl

Your pH being that low is not good. Do you have any driftwood in the tank? Do you use tap water? If so what is the pH when you take it right out of the tap? I read in your aquarium info that pH was 7.0.

Having pH that low is also on the good side because that means ammonia turns into ammonium which is way less toxic then ammonia. that's why your fish are fine. But the pH can'ts stay that low...it affects the biological filtration.

Need to be doing 15-20% water changes daily to get the pH back up slowly. I wouldnt do a 50%. The fish are acclimated to that low of a pH.....if you do a large water change and it raises the pH too fast...this depends on what the pH is out of your tap, it will stress your fish out and when fish are stressed it is an open door to disease.

fiveeyern

The 7.0 pH in my profile is not correct. The pH is low coming out of the tap. One thing I forgot to mention as well is that the water went very cloudy those 3 days after I added the kribs and pleco. I do not currently have real driftwood in the tank.

AlyeskaGirl

That can happen when you add too many fish at one time...its called a Bacteria Bloom. It's harmless. I deff wouldn't add anymore fish until your bioligical filter can adjust to the bio-load. Just keep doing partial water changes daily until you are back on track.

My pH straight out of the tap is 6.2 or lower. But if I let it sit for an hour it raises to 6.4-6.6. then I add it to my tank. Get a small bowl of water and let it sit and then in an hour test the pH.

With acidic water I wouldn't add any driftwood at all if you ever decide to.

fiveeyern

Well it's two weeks later and my ammonia readings have not moved. It's still somewhere between 1-2 PPM. I added some beneficial bacteria on Saturday to see if that would help, but it doesn't seem to have helped. Not sure what to do.

Shawnie

what kind of "beneficial bacteria" did you add? other than tetra safestart, most will not do what they say and daily water changes are a must until the cycle completes...it took me 9 weeks with fish in my 75 gal

fiveeyern

I used Tetra Safestart.

Shawnie

tss takes 7-10 days of leaving it be, minimal feedings of the fish, and then go from there..its only been 2 days of adding it?

fiveeyern

Wasn't sure how long it would take. Yes, I put it in Saturday.