# High ammonia levels.



## didi (Mar 24, 2010)

Hi,

Many of you helped me out in the past to establish a good cycled tank. So we have been through some of this ammonia discussions before.

I test the water in my aquarium weekly.
I do water changes weekly. 

Tonight's Readings
My ammonia is .25
My Nitrite is 0
My Nitrate is 10


It was two weeks ago that I got an ammonia reading closer to 0. But then I added more fish and for the last couple of weeks the ammonia levels is closer to .25. My fish look and behave healthy. And that's why I m puzzled.

Do I have too many fish in the tank? Should I increase the number of WC per week? I do have the seechem prime and stability. Should I use any of these.

Is there anything else that might be wrong?could my test kit be faulty?


These are some info about my tank and stock

Info about my tank:

MY tank is 36 gallons.
2 Glowlight Tetras.
6 Neon Tetras.
7 Platies(1 Sunrise, 2 Red Platies, 2 Micky Mouse, 1 Jumbo Platyand 1 Fancy Platy)
6 Guppies( 1 Neon, 2 Dragon and 3 female ones)
1 Pleco (5 cm)
1 albino cory catfish

I have an AC 70 filtration, (including 2 sponges, the one is mature, the other was new and I have it for a month) and an acquen filter that came with the acquarium.


I would appreciate any input.

Thank you all in advance.


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Bump...can anyone remember and maybe direct this member to the thread about Prime binding ammonia and/or causing false ammonia readings?


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

carmenh said:


> Bump...can anyone remember and maybe direct this member to the thread about Prime binding ammonia and/or causing false ammonia readings?


Just email seachem. Better that than getting a broken telephone explanation


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I doubt it's the bioload, because you're not overstocking or anything, ammonia does usually go up after adding new fish since it strains your biological filter, if it doesn't settle back down within a few days then perform more frequent water changes, whatever you do, DO NOT change your filter media, beneficial bacteria help get rid of ammonia and you need all you can get at the moment. Also check if you are overfeeding, if you vacuum up a lot of food from the bottom and more poop then usual, then you are overfeeding. So if it doesn't go down then do small daily water changes (around 10% since you don't wanna stress the fish, I also leave tap water with water conditionner overnight, my fish were significantly less stressed when I did that) and use your gravel vacuum, probably clean around a quarter or less with 10% WC)


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

I dont really know alot about Stability but Menagerie suggested it to Me when i started My first 5gal tank up and had a couple fish die probably from new tank syndrome, since then i moved up to a 15 gallon and i use both Prime for My water changes- which i let sit in a bucket for a day or so first..and Stability I have been using since I started that tank too cause I had a bunch of fish to add right away , and everytime ive had my water tested at menagerie its been fine... I dont know how it works, but it seems to work good for me


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

I would do 15-20% WC each other day during a week and wait. You don't have a lot of fishes. You ammonia is not very high. New fishes make waste and this cause ammonia spike. But your filter have to "lean" how to deal with this.

I assume that your filter or both of them working all the time.
BTW, what is a third media in your AC 70?


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## didi (Mar 24, 2010)

Hi Everybody,

I appreciate all your inputs. Thank you.

Today I just check the water and my ammonia is very close to zero! 



> I assume that your filter or both of them working all the time.
> BTW, what is a third media in your AC 70?


Currently I have no third media in the AC 70 but I ordered and expect to receive a AC biomax.

Once again I appreciate all your responses.
You ve been really helpful!


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