ammonia & nitrites up

saltygal

saltygal

New Member
I have a 55 gallon tank that completed cycling a few weeks ago (used raw shrimp for cycling). It has about a 1" sandbed which was seeded from my reef tank along with a few pieces of lace rock (no live rock). I'm using an Aquaclear 70 for filtration. All parameters were at 0 for about a week.
Last week I added a dwarf lion and now my ammonia and nitrites are up. Did a water change 2 days ago and yesterday ammonia was still .25, nitrites .25, and nitrates about 10-20. The lion is eating frozen and no food is left in the tank. Is this just my tank adjusting to the output of the lion? He's the only fish in the tank, along with one large hermit crab.
So, just keep doing water changes every few days or use an additive like AmQuel?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Avoid Amquel unless Ammonia climbs above 0.5ppm ammonia.
The Nitrite is harmless but the ammonia level is probably causing discomfort for the fish. This is one of the unfortunate byproducts of not ghost feeding to mature the tank.
I would avoid feeding the Lion until ammonia is back to zero. Are you using the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit?
There is no harm in doing as many water changes as you want but make sure you don't use saltwater that was just made, it should stand a day before using it.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by Saltygal
http:///forum/post/2852393
I don't recall the brand of my test kit at the moment...I also use it for testing my reef tank.

I only ask because that kit is notorious for showing a false positive on ammonia.
 
unleashed

unleashed

Active Member
i would dose the tank with prime not amquile which only treats the ammonia . prime will detoxify the ammonia and the nitrates but will not remove them..while doing water changes to get them down to a 0 level without harming your fish.. if using tap water always add prime to the water to remove chlorine and chlorimide as well nitrates your water supply may have in it already.. your going to want to be very diligent on water changes for now due to it being such a new tank as your lion is a very sensitive fish as well.if you can get this guy to eat every day it would be in his best interest as it will keep him strong enough to deal with any fluctuations that a new tank environment will have
 
saltygal

saltygal

New Member
The lion has been eating every day - so far it's been silverslides, krill and mussell. And I only use RO water....no tap.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Definately don't feed it if ammonia is above zero. My only concern with Amquel is that it consumes oxygen at a rapid rate when dosed. That is worse than a low ammonia level but that's just an opinion.
 
unleashed

unleashed

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
http:///forum/post/2852408
Definately don't feed it if ammonia is above zero. My only concern with Amquel is that it consumes oxygen at a rapid rate when dosed. That is worse than a low ammonia level but that's just an opinion.
i found not so good results with amquil as well thats why i prefer prime i use it with each water change whether using RO or tap..its not a ammonia remover its a neutralizer making it non toxic to the fish until levels can be brought to safe levels preferably 0
 
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