About Rachel Expertise We currently have 11 tanks dotted around all available space around our home, all of which are freshwater tropical tanks ranging in size from 10 gallons right up to 180 gallons.
Experience We have been keeping fish for just over a year and I work in a dedicated Aquarium/Fish shop.
I have a 4 month old 56 gallon aquarium that has 6 head & tail light tetras, 6 black skirt tetras, 10 neon tetras, 4 red wag platys, and 5 orange glow platys that, up until Sunday of this week, had "perfect" water conditions. I do regular 20% water changes once a week and regular testing for ammonia, ph, nitrites, and nitrates. I noticed on Sunday that the water was starting to get slightly cloudy and give off a smelly odor, so I performed an ammonia test and noticed that it was around .25. So, not wanting to lose my neons, I changed about 40% of the water and added Ammo-Lock just in case. When I woke up Monday morning, I couldn't see more than 2 inches into my tank! The water is still smelly, very foamy at the top, and looks like there is a white/grayish cloud in my tank. Still can't see more than an inch into my tank. I did an ammonia test and it registered at around 4.0. I'm assuming it's a bacterial bloom that was caused by changing too much of the water, as there were no dead fish and no decaying plants (all plastic plants). I'm very careful about not overfeeding, and I haven't fed my fish since Sunday before the water change. I called a local pet store and they suggested I do nothing for 3 days and continue to add the Ammo Lock to keep from losing all of my fish. After 3 days, they suggested a 30% water change. I will say that when I do get a glimpse of my black skirts and platys, they do have good color, so I'm assuming the Ammo Lock is converting the ammonia to a non-toxic form. First, what can I do to clear up my tank, as it is not getting better? Second, do you think the Ammo Lock interrupted the biological filter (though the bottle says it wont)? Thanks for your help.
ANSWER: HiYa!
Ok to start off, I have never used Ammo-Lock and never will I'm not a big fans of the products that claim to do stuff to your tank, thats just me but each to their own but what that means unfortunately is that I can't give you any advice regarding that product!
What I can tell you is that if you think you have a bacterial or algal bloom, then the only way to clear it up is water changes, water changes oh and more water changes. I'm talking 50% water changes daily until it clears up, it normally takes anywhere between 3 - 7 days to clear up if you do them daily.I have had a few of these in the past and as I don't like adding 'aquarium products' to my tank, water changing is the only way I found that cleared it up.
Hope this helps!
Cheers! Rach
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks Rach. I'll do a 50% water change tonight and every night until it clears up. Going forward, how often and at what % should I perform water changes? Is weekly too often? I'm with you...I usually hate to add chemicals to my aquarium, but with the ammonia so high I'm concerned about losing all of my fish. I was planning on using the Ammo Lock until the ammonia gets low enough that the fish can tolerate it, maybe around a level of .25. Also, would you suggest that I clean my filter at this point? I've noticed that there is a white film all over the plastic parts of the filter. I have an AquaClear 70 filter that uses 3 stage filtration (carbon, sponge, and bio-bag) and I've followed the manufacturer's recommended schedule. I'm due to change the bio-bag, but I'm worried about losing any beneficial bacteria that may still be there. Should I wait? Also, can you recommend a procedure for cleaning the actual filter? I've read that one should clean it totally, and others disagree with scrubbing it clean. Thanks for your help. I'll let you know how many fish survive (as soon as I can see in my tank again), though I'm hoping for all of them!
Answer HiYa!
As for how often to do water changes, most people will tell you to do a 25% water change ever 3 weeks but alot of people with a few tanks will do them more often. We have 6 tanks, 3 of them being 6ft plus and we do 25% water changes every week. This means not only are we keeping our tanks in the best possible condition but our fish as healthy as possible because they love water changes.
The problem I have with using products like Ammo Lock is that if you have high ammonia, your using Ammo Lock as a bandaid as there will be an underlying problem for your high ammonia, these "solution" products you can buy only tend to mask the problem and unless you work out what the problem is and fix it, you will find it arising again in the future!
As for cleaning your filter, when we do water changes we take a bucket of water out of the aquarium and wash our filter and filter media in this water, that way you are washing it in water that has bacteria in it which means your filter and filter media is less likely to lose ALL its bacteria, which of course you don't want it to do! When we clean our filters and we have 3 types, external cannister, internal and hang on back, we scrub but we don't scrub if you know what I mean? Of course you want to get the majority of the "gunk" off but you don't want the filter or the media to be spotless either.
Just a word of advice regarding your filter media, you said you have carbon in your filter? I have no carbon in any of our filters because I don't like it and I don't think its very good filter media, but there are those that will heartily disagree with me and swear by the stuff but remember if you have carbon in your filter that if you put medication in your tank, your carbon is going to take it out again before it has a chance to work and chances are it could also affect how things like Ammo Lock work too!
Hope this helps, if you need a hand with anything else, just drop me a line!
