Ammonia and discoloration problems

[[email protected]]

Hi, I have 2 questions:

1.) My ammonia level keeps flirting with 5PPM, even though my tank has
been up and running for 8 weeks, I do 10-15% water changes every 10
days, and I do not think I overcrowd or overfeed. My tank is 29
gallons, I have 2 angels, 3 zebra danios, 2 redeye tetra, 2 black
tetras, 2 scissortails, and 1 small bee cat. I feed small amounts of
flake 2x/day, along with a pellet every other day in case the cat
doesnt get any of the fallen flakes. I added the fish gradually over
the first 4 weeks. The fish were gasping at the top of the tank last
week so I applied ammo-lock, they recovered and seem well now, however
the ammonia level has not really gone down. Typically the tank should
have cycled through by now, correct? Should I add bacteria?

2.) over the past week much of my aquarium decor has started to become
discolored..small reddish spots are appearing on both the plastic
plants and the structures in the tank. I cannot find a site that
identifies what this substance might be, anyone else had this? Overall
my water is crystal clear, the pH is a tad high at about 7.4.

Thanks for any help,

Dave Glass

[Gill Passman]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi, I have 2 questions:
>
> 1.) My ammonia level keeps flirting with 5PPM, even though my tank has
> been up and running for 8 weeks, I do 10-15% water changes every 10
> days, and I do not think I overcrowd or overfeed. My tank is 29
> gallons, I have 2 angels, 3 zebra danios, 2 redeye tetra, 2 black
> tetras, 2 scissortails, and 1 small bee cat. I feed small amounts of
> flake 2x/day, along with a pellet every other day in case the cat
> doesnt get any of the fallen flakes. I added the fish gradually over
> the first 4 weeks. The fish were gasping at the top of the tank last
> week so I applied ammo-lock, they recovered and seem well now, however
> the ammonia level has not really gone down. Typically the tank should
> have cycled through by now, correct? Should I add bacteria?
>
> 2.) over the past week much of my aquarium decor has started to become
> discolored..small reddish spots are appearing on both the plastic
> plants and the structures in the tank. I cannot find a site that
> identifies what this substance might be, anyone else had this? Overall
> my water is crystal clear, the pH is a tad high at about 7.4.
>
> Thanks for any help

OK...8 weeks is not a great time on the scale of things...probably it is
still cycling...it is difficult to comment on whether the problem is down to
overcrowding as I don't know how large the fish are but it may well be you
have added too many fish too soon...you need to build up the bacteria in the
filter gradually not overload it.... 4 weeks for that many fish in IMO is
too fast....your tank hasn't finished cycling.

So right now, the above doesn't help too much....what you need is a way out
as far as I can see. This is your current position so you need a way to
resolve it.

Firstly, you need to get the ammonia level down. The best way to do this is
through water changes - 30% first day, follow up by 10% for the next 7 days.
Don't feed the fish for 2-3 days then gradually reintroduce feeding - once a
day or every other day in small quantities at max (BTW this won't starve
them). Build it up as your ammonia levels reduce. Plus monitor you levels
each day BEFORE the water change. Do nitrites/nitrates as well as these will
give you an indication of the trend.

I wouldn't worry too much about the PH providing it suits the fish of your
choice - but check with your LFS what PH their water is at.....if it is
radically different you might have a problem.

You could try adding something like "Cycle"......I've never had any problems
with it but additionally nothing to say it has helped but in this sort of
situation anything is better than nothing

Gill

[Lisa]

Just as a comparison, I have 1 juvenile angel (1.5-in tall), 5 dwarf
grouamis (2 in. each - young), and 6 1-inch cory cats in a 50-gallon.
My tank is 3 months old. I cycled it with BioSpira, but I also added
fish slowly and do 30% water changes every week. I think you might
have too many fish in there (those angels will get big!), and you may
not be changing the water enough. Iam not planning to add any fish for
2 months - or I just may leave my load light, as it is.

What kind of filtration do you have, BTW? I would be careful about the
ammo-lock. I think it masks the problem instead of treating it, and it
can disrupt the bacteria that you are trying to establish.

Good luck!

- Lisa

[[email protected]]

You have too many fish in your uncycled tank, and you don't need to
feed your fish more than once a day. I do only 1 feeding a day and my
fish are doing well and growing. Remember that they are cold blooded
animals and do not have the same caloric requirement as a mammal.

1) 8 weeks may not be enough to fully cycle your tank.

One thing I learned was that you need a lot of filtration. I have 2
Fluval 3 Plus in my 39Gal tank. The total flow rate of the filters are
370 GPH. I also have a air curtain running day and night.

2) I used to have those reddish spots. Not anymore. I think they went
away after I have my water nutrient level corrected for rapid plant
growth. After they reddish spots problem went away, I got the green
spot algae. These days, even the green spot algae pretty much stopped
growing.