High ammonia, how long until it goes down?

I am in desperate need of help with high ammonia levels. I have done everything to fix it. I have a 10 gallon tank with a female betta, dwarf gourami, and dwarf pleco. I have a marina filter. I have been doing a partial water change daily as I’ve been trying to lower the ammonia over the past few weeks. The ammonia started at .5 and has increased to 8 over the past few weeks despite my best efforts to fix it. I’ve added API quick start multiple times and I’ve been adding API ammonia lock as the directions state. I have a lot of plants in the aquarium. I feed the fish once sometimes twice a day. What else can I do? The fish are acting fine. I have had the aquarium for roughly a month now.

 

I am in desperate need of help with high ammonia levels. I have done everything to fix it. I have a 10 gallon tank with a female betta, dwarf gourami, and dwarf pleco. I have a marina filter. I have been doing a partial water change daily as I’ve been trying to lower the ammonia over the past few weeks. The ammonia started at .5 and has increased to 8 over the past few weeks despite my best efforts to fix it. I’ve added API quick start multiple times and I’ve been adding API ammonia lock as the directions state. I have a lot of plants in the aquarium. I feed the fish once sometimes twice a day. What else can I do? The fish are acting fine. I have had the aquarium for roughly a month now.

did u previously cycle it? also what r ur nitrites and nitrates? also the tank might be a nit over stocked... I'm not familiar with dwarf plecos but u sure they good in a ten? also u sure the betta and the dg get along in a ten gallon?

 

Huge water change ~80%. Stop feeding for a feed at least 5-6 days. Rehome the Gourami. If possible most stores have a 14 day policy in which case a big box store you should be able to return the fish. Long term a Betta and Gourami will not likely co-habitate in that size tank. Welcome to the forum btw!!

 

The API ammonia lock is your problem. It detoxifies the ammonia, but it also prevents it from being processed by the beneficial bacteria. So it's been steadily rising.

 

The API ammonia lock is your problem. It detoxifies the ammonia, but it also prevents it from being processed by the beneficial bacteria. So it's been steadily rising.

What do you recommend doing instead of the ammonia lock? Should I let it go without it and just see what happens?

Huge water change ~80%. Stop feeding for a feed at least 5-6 days. Rehome the Gourami. If possible most stores have a 14 day policy in which case a big box store you should be able to return the fish. Long term a Betta and Gourami will not likely co-habitate in that size tank. Welcome to the forum btw!!

Unfortunately I’ve already had the fish for almost a month. How would you recommend going about rehoming? I want to make sure he goes to a good home.

 

In the US?

 

did u previously cycle it? also what r ur nitrites and nitrates? also the tank might be a nit over stocked... I'm not familiar with dwarf plecos but u sure they good in a ten? also u sure the betta and the dg get along in a ten gallon?

I didn’t find out about the whole cycling thing until after I introduced the fish so no I didn’t. I researched a little bit but honestly probably should have done more instead of just taking the pet store worker’s word, but they said they should all be fine together and so far they are. Nitrites and nitrates are at 0-5.

In the US?

Yes

 

Local Aquarium Clubs. See if there is a fish club near you. There you can find friendly people who will usually go out of their way to help

 

What do you recommend doing instead of the ammonia lock? Should I let it go without it and just see what happens?

Seachem Prime detoxifies ammonia without locking it up. If you can't get that, just do some large water changes to get the locked ammonia way down.

 

I can’t find any unfortunately. Thanks for all the help!

See if there is a fish club near you. There you can find friendly people who will usually go out of their way to help

I can’t find any unfortunately, but thanks for helping.

 

What region of the us? If you can’t find anyone willing to take in one or the other. Again just a large water change, stop feeding for a few days then monitor ammonia and change ~50% whenever you get above .5 NH3

 

Southeast.

What region of the us? If you can’t find anyone willing to take in one or the other. Again just a large water change, stop feeding for a few days then monitor ammonia and change ~50% whenever you get above .5 NH3

The southeast. Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it. I may see it the pet store I got the fish from will take the gourami back. I don’t necessarily care about getting my money back I just want to make sure he gets the best chance at a good life. I definitely regret not doing more research and just taking someone else’s word that all the fish will go well together. Do you recommend I stop using the ammonia lock or will that do more harm than good?

 

How long does it take for high ammonia levels to go down? On my API test kit it’s saying my ammonia levels are 8.0ppm even though I have been doing water changes daily for the past 5 days and I have cut way back on feeding. I’m desperate because I’ve been battling with this ammonia problem for the past few weeks and no matter what I do it’s only getting worse. The fish are acting fine as of right now. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I set up the aquarium roughly a month ago. I have 3 fish in a 10 gallon tank.

 

How big of water changes and how often? Are you conditioning the water you add back in?

 

What 3 fish are in there? Have you tested your water source for ammonia?
Have you used a bacterial starter, like tetra safe start?

 

Dump some prime in there. Then get yourself some bacteria starter

 

Eek! That’s really high for fish-in. I would definitely do a large water change, like 75%, dose for the entire volume of the tank with Prime and then some, and I am +1 for getting some bacteria starter like Tetra Safe Start or Stability. I‘m curious to know what three fish are in there, too. That’s a lot of ammonia for three fish. I have 6 male guppies in a ten gallon and their ammonia output is 2ppm max, and that was mainly from over feeding them.

 

First do a massive water change.

Next test all water parameters.

 

I'm guessing goldfish with ammonia that high.

 

I'm guessing goldfish with ammonia that high.

I really hope not

Is it even legal to have that much ammonia in tap? I thought the max was 0.50ppm. Granted, it could be well water or another source, but sheesh.

 

I really hope not

I hope not too, but It's either some heavy bioload fish, or ammonia in the source water.

I'm sure the laws are different every where, but the water source should be ruled out first, so we know the issue is something with the tank/setup.

 

Can you tell us what products you are adding to this tank? Are you by any chance using ammo-lock? or any product that locks up ammonia? What is the PH in this tank? Are you seeing or have you seen nitrites? Nitrates?

All the numbers will help us help you.

 

The tanks overstocked. I found several posts about this ammonia problem. A pleco , dwarf gourami, and a betta. That's a big bioload for an uncycled tank. Not to mention dwarf gouramis and bettas don't do well togather.

 

The tanks overstocked. I found several posts about this ammonia problem. A pleco , dwarf gourami, and a betta. That's a big bioload for an uncycled tank. Not to mention dwarf gouramis and bettas don't do well togather.

And plecos are poop machines like goldfish. Yeah, it’s definitely overstocked so regular large water changes are going to be needed until a larger tank can be set up.

 

Get some zeolite in your filter until you get a bacteria colony going that can handle that bio-load.

Which as noted, is way too high. Ultimately, you will want less fish or more tank.

 

Get some Prime and MicrobeLift....

 

Also try not to clean that filter too good or you run the risk off killing of any bacteria you do have.

 

Can you tell us what products you are adding to this tank? Are you by any chance using ammo-lock? or any product that locks up ammonia? What is the PH in this tank? Are you seeing or have you seen nitrites? Nitrates?
I had been adding ammo lock but then was told it makes it hard for the nitrogen to do their job so I stopped using it about 5 days ago. Nitrites and Nitrates are 0. PH is 7.4. I’ve been adding Quick start every time I add water and I’ve been conditioning the water.
All the numbers will help us help you.

Get some zeolite in your filter until you get a bacteria colony going that can handle that bio-load.

Which as noted, is way too high. Ultimately, you will want less fish or more tank.

I ordered some zeolite and it should be here Wednesday.

I'm guessing goldfish with ammonia that high.

What 3 fish are in there? Have you tested your water source for ammonia?
Have you used a bacterial starter, like tetra safe start?

I have tested the water source multiple times and it says no ammonia. A female betta, dwarf gourami, and dwarf pleco. I have been using a bacterial starter.

I really hope not

No goldfish.

 

I had been adding ammo lock but then was told it makes it hard for the nitrogen to do their job so I stopped using it about 5 days ago. Nitrites and Nitrates are 0. PH is 7.4. I’ve been adding Quick start every time I add water and I’ve been conditioning the water.

Once you get all of that ammo-lock out of there with water changes the ammonia will be free and your bacteria should start processing it. If you don't already have it I do recommend you get a bottle of Prime. Doing water changes each time the ammonia gets close to one and adding Prime to detox the ammonia remaining after the water change should protect your fish and get your cycle moving forward.

 

You need to do back to back to back MASSIVE water changes. That's the ONLY thing that will help it. At 8ppm, your fish will be dead soon.

If you change 80% of the water, its still 1.6ppm. Still too high. So change another 80% to make it .32ppm roughly. That will be safe.

You NEED to do a few things: The Pleco can stay with 1 of the other fish, not both. Gourami and Bettas should NOT be kept together as theyre in the same family and they will end up fighting. You HAVE to get rid of one, and if you want to get rid of the Pleco too, it would help. They are waste machines and in a 10 it will always be a problem. Youll need to REALLY stay up on maintenance with it in there.

You NEED to buy some Prime which will detoxify the ammonia (which will also become nitrites and nitrates eventaully) until you can do a water change within a 24 hours. It also keeps it in the water for the beneficial bacteria to consume for your cycle.

But first and foremost, WATER CHANGES!!!!!

 

No goldfish.

Sadly, plecos are about as wasteful as goldfish so your ammonia will probably stay high. Just continue to test, do large water changes, and try adding a bottled bacteria to your system to help kickstart it. Your ammonia eating bacteria need a while to catch up with how much waste your fish are producing, and that can take a while depending on a whole mess of things. Keep a close eye on your nitrites, though, because once your ammonia eating bacteria start to pick up the pace, so will your nitrites, and you’ll definitely have to stay on top of those. The nitrite cycle can begrudgingly last weeks upon weeks, trust me, I just finally finished mine after almost four weeks straight. You’ve got this, just keep up with those large water changes, make sure you are adding the same temperature water back into your tank, de chlorinate with Prime, and hopefully your cycle will kick it into gear soon.

 

You need to do back to back to back MASSIVE water changes. That's the ONLY thing that will help it. At 8ppm, your fish will be dead soon.

If you change 80% of the water, its still 1.6ppm. Still too high. So change another 80% to make it .32ppm roughly. That will be safe.

You NEED to do a few things: The Pleco can stay with 1 of the other fish, not both. Gourami and Bettas should NOT be kept together as theyre in the same family and they will end up fighting. You HAVE to get rid of one, and if you want to get rid of the Pleco too, it would help. They are waste machines and in a 10 it will always be a problem. Youll need to REALLY stay up on maintenance with it in there.

You NEED to buy some Prime which will detoxify the ammonia (which will also become nitrites and nitrates eventaully) until you can do a water change within a 24 hours. It also keeps it in the water for the beneficial bacteria to consume for your cycle.

But first and foremost, WATER CHANGES!!!!!

I keep doing massive water changes but the numbers are not changing between before and after and I don’t understand why. I have been keeping up with making sure to remove as much poop as possible but nothing is changing. I’m also really confused because the fish are acting totally fine (I am still going to continue water changes) which makes no sense. Also, how would you recommend rehoming a fish? Or will pet stores such as Petco take them in?

Sadly, plecos are about as wasteful as goldfish so your ammonia will probably stay high. Just continue to test, do large water changes, and try adding a bottled bacteria to your system to help kickstart it. Your ammonia eating bacteria need a while to catch up with how much waste your fish are producing, and that can take a while depending on a whole mess of things. Keep a close eye on your nitrites, though, because once your ammonia eating bacteria start to pick up the pace, so will your nitrites, and you’ll definitely have to stay on top of those. The nitrite cycle can begrudgingly last weeks upon weeks, trust me, I just finally finished mine after almost four weeks straight. You’ve got this, just keep up with those large water changes, make sure you are adding the same temperature water back into your tank, de chlorinate with Prime, and hopefully your cycle will kick it into gear soon.

Thank you so much for the advice!

 

I keep doing massive water changes but the numbers are not changing between before and after and I don’t understand why. I have been keeping up with making sure to remove as much poop as possible but nothing is changing. I’m also really confused because the fish are acting totally fine (I am still going to continue water changes) which makes no sense. Also, how would you recommend rehoming a fish? Or will pet stores such as Petco take them in?

The reason, I’m guessing, it’s not going down is because there were much higher levels of ammonia in the tank than the kit could read (what kind of tests are you using? API master kit or dip tests?) Like DuaneV mentioned, you need to do back-to-back water changes to dilute it. Empty, fill, empty, fill, empty, and so on. Depending on where you got the fish, they may take it back and give you a refund, or may just take it in general if you surrender it, just call ahead and ask.

 

The reason, I’m guessing, it’s not going down is because there were much higher levels of ammonia in the tank than the kit could read (what kind of tests are you using? API master kit or dip tests?) Like DuaneV mentioned, you need to do back-to-back water changes to dilute it. Empty, fill, empty, fill, empty, and so on. Depending on where you got the fish, they may take it back and give you a refund, or may just take it in general if you surrender it, just call ahead and ask.

API master kit. So should I be doing multiple water changes per day?

 

API master kit. So should I be doing multiple water changes per day?

I would the first day, at least until you can get it to or around 0.25-0.50ppm. Before you do that, try the dilution test. You said there’s no ammonia in your water source so try doing half tank water, half tap water and testing. Read the result and double it, that should give you a proper reading to know where you’re at because it sounds like you’re above 8ppm.

 

The chain pet stores like petco petsmart will not take fish unless recently purchased from them. Smaller pet stores might. Also when you get 50 posts you can use the BSTF section of fishlore and give them away.

 

The chain pet stores like petco petsmart will not take fish unless recently purchased from them.

My local Petco takes in fish all the time from people who can't handle them. Like literally every day.

 

My local Petco takes in fish all the time from people who can't handle them. Like literally every day.

My local Petsmart does the same.

 

50% water changes and no food till the BB gets going to feed on that ammonia. That's pretty much it. If you have a friend with a established tank get them to squeeze out one of there sponges into a bag of water

50% water changes and no food till the BB gets going to feed on that ammonia. That's pretty much it. If you have a friend with a established tank get them to squeeze out one of there sponges into a bag of water and dump it into your tank. That will give you a big shot of BB (beneficial bacteria).

 

My local Petco takes in fish all the time from people who can't handle them. Like literally every day.

My local Petsmart does the same.

You guys are lucky. Mine doesn't. I just assumed it was all of them.