I have an insanely high ammonia in water

I tested earlier today that the ammonia in my water tank was 1.0 ppm. I decided to do a 50% water change and also decided to put a substrate (aqueon plant and shrimp substrate), I also putted some driftwood and bought some anubias. The problem now is that after 6 hours of the water change and including the substrate, driftwood and anubias(i decided to leave them in their respective pots) my ammonia has increased to 4 ppm. I have a betta fish in the tank please help. My water cycle is only 26 days and the nitrate and nitrite have been 0 ppm. I know that the water cyclin is far from over but what do I do to decrease the ammonia. 3 days ago the water ph was 6.4 I do not know if that has any influence

 

The substrate for plants is high in nutrients and usually causes ammonia spikes when added to the tank.

 

The substrate for plants is high in nutrients and usually causes ammonia spikes when added to the tank.

Can I do a water change now after bout 7 hours of changing the water.? What worries me the most is that the ammonia levels increased from 1.0 ppm to 4.0 ppm and I am afraid that my betta may perish. I do not have any prime at my disposition I only have the API stress coat, quick start and the stress zyme but they are not of any help in this ocasion.

 

Can you remove him from the tank and put him in a cup(temporary). Also, can we see a picture to assess the betta?

 

Fish in cycle is tricky, especially if you're making changes. Have you considered some Seachem Stability? The quick start might help some, though bacteria starters aren't as quick as a neutralizer, it'll help stabilize instead of removing all, and crashing the cycle. Is the betta showing signs of distress?

 

Can you remove him from the tank and put him in a cup(temporary). Also, can we see a picture to assess the betta?

Fish in cycle is tricky, especially if you're making changes. Have you considered some Seachem Stability? The quick start might help some, though bacteria starters aren't as quick as a neutralizer, it'll help stabilize instead of removing all, and crashing the cycle. Is the betta showing signs of distress?

The betta so far looks okay although he has been more at the bottom of the tank but (that tend to happen when i put the lights on) like an hour ago he was stuck to the filter. the moment i turns the light of he tends to be closer the the tops of the aquarium

 

Pretty guy, the cloudy water is definitely an indicator that your cycle is off. You can evacuate the fish if you think you need to, but obviously he's going to want water you can keep at the same temperature as the tank. Maybe 10-20% water change daily until things level out. Don't over do it, or it'll be worse.

 

Pretty guy, the cloudy water is definitely an indicator that your cycle is off. You can evacuate the fish if you think you need to, but obviously he's going to want water you can keep at the same temperature as the tank. Maybe 10-20% water change daily until things level out. Don't over do it, or it'll be worse.

Would an immediate water change now be bad, because I did one around 7 hours ago

 

Put in some more plants. You dont have to fully cycle an aquarium if you have plants that will take away ammonia/nitrate/nitrite.

 

Put in some more plants. You dont have to fully cycle an aquarium if you have plants that will take away ammonia/nitrate/nitrite.

The new plants that I ordered will take a few days so at the moment the ones that I have in my aquarium are 2 small anubias nana petite

Fish in cycle is tricky, especially if you're making changes. Have you considered some Seachem Stability? The quick start might help some, though bacteria starters aren't as quick as a neutralizer, it'll help stabilize instead of removing all, and crashing the cycle. Is the betta showing signs of distress?

Would the seachem stability be of great help? I have considered buying the seachem prime but would the stabitity help me more?

 

Chances are yes. Prime Detoxifys ammonia, so it would be save. Maybe you get some Beneficial Bacteria as well.

 

By adding your new substrate you’ve raised your ammonia. That substrate may take a month or 2 to neutralize. I’d take the betta out. Maybe buy a 5g to put it in till that tank comes around. On the new tank change the water daily. That tank will be a fish in cycle. No problem as long as you test and change water.

 

Seachem Stability and API Quick Start both contain beneficial bacteria. Adding either would be helpful, but might not act fast enough to compensate for the nitrogen that was added to the tank through the substrate.

If you can get to a pet store today (Sunday), I suggest getting Seachem Prime to detoxify the ammonia until your bacteria can take care of it.

Adding some fast growing stem plants would also help. The plant you purchase in plastic tubes at chain stores are not going to be much help as they will take time to convert from emerged growth to submerged growth.

I have not used the Aqueon substrate that you mentioned and I had not read any reviews. I went to the Petco web site to see what people thought of the product. There were five 5-star reviews and six 1-star reviews. Thus, it seems to be a polarizing product people either love or hate.

I suspect you would have been OK if you had added the substrate when you first set up the tank and then cycled your tank for a minimum of six weeks before adding fish. However, since you added the new substrate half way through the cycle process with a fish in the tank, you set yourself up for problems. The best you can hope for now is to work your way out of the situation without losing your betta. Water changes plus Seachem Prime are your friends in time like this.

Do you know what your water company uses to disinfect your water? Many water suppliers have switched from chlorine to chloramine as it is a more stable compound. Chloramine is normally produced by adding 1 part ammonia to three parts chlorine. Thus, when you do water changes you could be adding ammonia to your tank. That is not a problem after your cycle is fully established, but you still have several weeks to go before you reach that goal. If you do have chloramine in the water, I suggest using Seachem Prime every time you do a water change. If you water contains chloramine, you are better off doing several smaller water changes rather than a single large one.

 

Seachem Stability and API Quick Start both contain beneficial bacteria. Adding either would be helpful, but might not act fast enough to compensate for the nitrogen that was added to the tank through the substrate.

If you can get to a pet store today (Sunday), I suggest getting Seachem Prime to detoxify the ammonia until your bacteria can take care of it.

Adding some fast growing stem plants would also help. The plant you purchase in plastic tubes at chain stores are not going to be much help as they will take time to convert from emerged growth to submerged growth.

I have not used the Aqueon substrate that you mentioned and I had not read any reviews. I went to the Petco web site to see what people thought of the product. There were five 5-star reviews and six 1-star reviews. Thus, it seems to be a polarizing product people either love or hate.

I suspect you would have been OK if you had added the substrate when you first set up the tank and then cycled your tank for a minimum of six weeks before adding fish. However, since you added the new substrate half way through the cycle process with a fish in the tank, you set yourself up for problems. The best you can hope for now is to work your way out of the situation without losing your betta. Water changes plus Seachem Prime are your friends in time like this.

Do you know what your water company uses to disinfect your water? Many water suppliers have switched from chlorine to chloramine as it is a more stable compound. Chloramine is normally produced by adding 1 part ammonia to three parts chlorine. Thus, when you do water changes you could be adding ammonia to your tank. That is not a problem after your cycle is fully established, but you still have several weeks to go before you reach that goal. If you do have chloramine in the water, I suggest using Seachem Prime every time you do a water change. If you water contains chloramine, you are better off doing several smaller water changes rather than a single large one.

To my understanding the water supplier were I live use chlorine in the water and the tap water here has a ph of 8.2 As of las night I momentarily put the betta in a cup so that I can buy another small aquarium so far he look okay. I would do what I can to check the pet store today so that i can buy what is needed. Thanks for the information.

 

Would an immediate water change now be bad, because I did one around 7 hours ago

Welcome to Fishlore

Yes, you can do another water change right now and another in another few hours. As long as you temp match and add your water conditioner to the fresh water before pouring it in there you could do a 50% water change every few hours until all the ammonia the substrate is producing is gone. Run your ammonia test after each water change. Try to get and keep it down to .50 or less. Water changes may have to be done daily or even more than once a day to keep the ammonia down to a safer level.

Some folks seem to fear water changes when in fact they are one of the very best things we can do for the health of our fish. I highly recommend you get a bottle of Seachem Prime. It is first and foremost a water conditioner designed to remove chlorine/chloramines but goes one step farther and detoxes low levels of ammonia. Use it with each water change and it should help protect the fish.

 

Your substrate will leech ammonia, it will take your cycle around a month to catch up if it can.

You will need to remove your fish to another container anything will do you will not be able to keep up with the water changes to keep it at a safe level for your fish.

Also if you plants your tank heavily now it will help speed up the process. You can also use floating plants or any fast growing stems to help deal with the ammonia.

 

Your substrate will leech ammonia, it will take your cycle around a month to catch up if it can.

You will need to remove your fish to another container anything will do you will not be able to keep up with the water changes to keep it at a safe level for your fish.

Also if you plants your tank heavily now it will help speed up the process. You can also use floating plants or any fast growing stems to help deal with the ammonia.

Would adding the fluvial ammonia remover help???

 

Would adding the fluvial ammonia remover help???

Fluval ammonia remover is a zeolite clay. Yes, it will remove ammonia, but you have to be careful not to remove too much this early in your cycle process. Your beneficial bacteria cannot multiply unless you have some ammonia in the tank. Seachem Prime detoxifies the ammonia so it will not harm your fish, but it is still available to the bacteria as a nutrient source.

If you do decide to use zeolite, be sure to check your ammonia levels often and remove it once you get down below 1 ppm. Zeolite can be recharged in a strong solution of aquarium salt but, hopefully, you won't need to use it once your tank is fully cycled.

 

Fluval ammonia remover is a zeolite clay. Yes, it will remove ammonia, but you have to be careful not to remove too much this early in your cycle process. Your beneficial bacteria cannot multiply unless you have some ammonia in the tank. Seachem Prime detoxifies the ammonia so it will not harm your fish, but it is still available to the bacteria as a nutrient source.

If you do decide to use zeolite, be sure to check your ammonia levels often and remove it once you get down below 1 ppm. Zeolite can be recharged in a strong solution of aquarium salt but, hopefully, you won't need to use it once your tank is fully cycled.

Then I would carefully monitor the aquarium to be sure that only the needed ammonia is detoxified.
Thanks for the help!

 

Then I would carefully monitor the aquarium to be sure that only the needed ammonia is detoxified.
Thanks for the help!

Zeolite does not detoxify the ammonia, it absorbs it. When you remove the zeolite from the aquarium, the ammonia will be removed as well. If you use too much zeolite and remove too much ammonia, your cycle will stall.

 

One thing i forgot to add is that at a lower ph ammonia turns into ammonium which is less toxic. Whats your ph.

 

Mer28 , welcome to the fishlore community.

everyone gave excellent suggestions as usual, especially mattgirl advice about extra WC's. That's exactly what I was thinking as I was skimming through the thread.

Extra WC's are great. For example yesterday I did back-to-back 75% WC's on our overstocked 55g African cichlid tank. After refilling I immediately drained the tank again and refilled a 2nd time. Our Green Mbweca Afra cichlid hasn't been looking to well the past week so I did the 2nd QC right after the first. Afterwards, he started acting normal again. He still looks a little beat this morning, but his energy is back again. Moral of the story: large temp matched WC's can reduce stress and improve health of the fish.

You may have already addressed this in another thread, but I was curious as to what size tank do you have and what brand/model filter you have.

You mentioned you've been cycling for a month, have you recently replaced your filter media and possibly set back the cycle process? If you're using a cartridge based filter, consider adding a block of foam sponge that's cut to fit inside the filter reservoir. Foam sponge is re-usable, catches a ton of muck, doesn't clog up quickly like a cartridge and is able to colonize a ton of beneficial bacteria.

Consider inserting a piece behind the cartridge, if your filter uses them.

Also, consider adding a second filter in the form of a small sponge filter driven by an air pump. Something like a small Tetra Whisper 20 air pump (or equivalent) for example would work fine. Even one of those quiet USB powered air pumps would be good.

I suggest this because sponge filters offer excellent biological filtration because the foam sponge offers a tremendous inner surface area for beneficial bacteria to colonize on. Also, they don't really increase the flow of water too much, perfect for betta's.

Another benefit to running a sponge filter in addition to the main filter is that once it's cycled, it can be removed when needed and dropped into a bucket or a small spare tank for an instantly cycled quarantine/hospital tank.

If you use a USB powered air pump like I mentioned, they can be run off a portable power bank cell phone charger. Perfect for potential power outages or if you're going to set up a temporary quarantine/hospital tank.

On another note, I saw you mentioned your pH is around 8.2.

I would wager that the water is naturally buffered and probably will not fluctuate.

Most times, fish prefer a stable pH that doesn't fluctuate. Fish can adapt to a pH that is out of their "prefered" range.

What they don't like is when the pH goes up and down.

I mention this because unless you have a R/O filter system in your house, i wouldn't worry about attempting to lower the pH by means of additives/buffers/chemicals sold in the fish hobby.

It's hard to permanently lower pH by using those methods, and most times fishkeepers end up making the pH swing back and forth, which stresses out the fish.

 

One thing i forgot to add is that at a lower ph ammonia turns into ammonium which is less toxic. Whats your ph.

At the moment the ph is around 7.6 but a 3 days before I decided to put the substrate the ammonia was at 0.50 and the ph was at 6.4. The reason why at the moment the ph of my aquarium is higher is because i have been using tap water which has a ph of 8.2.

Mer28 , welcome to the fishlore community.

everyone gave excellent suggestions as usual, especially mattgirl advice about extra WC's. That's exactly what I was thinking as I was skimming through the thread.

Extra WC's are great. For example yesterday I did back-to-back 75% WC's on our overstocked 55g African cichlid tank. After refilling I immediately drained the tank again and refilled a 2nd time. Our Green Mbweca Afra cichlid hasn't been looking to well the past week so I did the 2nd QC right after the first.

I have a10 gallon tank with a tetra whisper IQ 10 filter I have not replaced the cartridge because I know that would have been a set back. In the future I have considered getting a sponge for inside the filter at the moment I have not one because I have put inside the filter the fluval ammonia remover and do not have space. I do not have problems with the temperature of the water because it is really close to the one in the aquarium. I have also bought the usb powered air pump. I have also taken the advise to buy some stem plant and other for Aquarium Co-op. At the moment I have managed to buy a smaller aquarium for my little betta and he is doing great and has eaten so at least I am not worried about him. I would take a lot of the advise for future reference