Ammonia

[clown-lover]

I'm having a hard time keeping the ammonia levels below 0.50 in my 10 gallon hospital tank.
I feed once a day, he's eating all of it. I have changed the filter on it once already (so it's being changed once a week).
How often should I be doing a water change on a 10 gallon tank? Right now I only have one clown in there and he is still in hypo.
Thanks.
Also...how dangerous is it to have the ammonia at that level? I notice that after a water change, it drops...but after a day, it's right back up to 0.50.
Advice?

 

[meowzer]

If you have ammonia, you should be doing daily w/c's of 1G at least........also what are you feeding....I have learned just cause they eat it...that does not mean the food amount is correct

 

[flower]

It might help to get a sponge/filter material, from your DT and put in there. Adding cycle may help if you have something for the bacteria to grow on in the tank. The one gallon water change a day like Meowzer said…+1

 

[clown-lover]

Thanks. I'll start doing it daily.
Is that normal to have to do a daily water change on a 10 gallon tank?
I ask because I was planning on keeping the tank up...but if it is going to require a wc every day, then I might not. I may just invest in a larger tank for hospital use...

 

[meowzer]

I have a 10G set up as a qt....I don;t have to do daily water changes.....BUT I am prepared to do one if I need to....you always have to be prepared with a small tank
It also depends on your filtration and stuff....Most hospital tanks do not have Live rock or sand....which helps with the biological filtration....nor do they have skimmers

SO with a hospital tank or qt...you have more maintenance

 

[srfisher17]

Are you using anything as a bio-filter? If not, the way only to control ammonia is with water changes. If the ammonia test is accurate, .50 is way too high. This would kill many fish, possibly a lot of good bacteria too. Clowns are quite tolerant of ammonia, but it still stresses them (burns their gills) and makes it very hard for them to recover from whatever you are treating them for. The best way I've found to handle bio-filtration in a QT/HT is with an Aqua-Clear HOB filter. Just use the foam block and keep one in the flow somewhere in your DT. When you need the HT, put in the foam in the HOB filter and the HT will be instantly cycled. When done, toss the foam, its cheap, and be ready with another foam block in your DT. This won't help now, it takes a while for the foam to be ready.

 

[jstdv8]

Note:
If you are using the Qt to treat ich from yuor DT, dipping the block in the DT may not be the best way to go in this instance.
How about a bottle of stability or something to add bacteria to the filter in that case?
I'm just throwing out options i don't know the answer, not being sarcastic.
thoughts?

 

[clown-lover]

I don't have a sponge in my DT...I took out the sponge that the 29 biocube came with and added chemi pure and purigen.
BUT....Jstdv8, I do have a bottle of stability.
Should I be using that in the QT...with my clown going through hypo?
I have a regular HOB and regular carbon filter in it...that's all...

 

[jstdv8]

I honestly have no idae, just throwing out suggestions that some of the more experienced QTers might be able to run with.

 

[spanko]

start reading at post #2 here
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/vb/s...ne-Health-Info

 

[clown-lover]

I've actually read that before...but this time the part about doing daily water changes stuck out...
Guess that's the route I'll take. It's not really hard being that it's only one gallon.
Still...would stability help keep ammonia down?