Why are my ammonia levels still so high?

Question

PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS BEFORE ANSWERING

I Have a 55 gallon tank, it has been set up for about 6-7 weeks now I have used bio spira on it, it appeared to work as there was a bacterial bloom, but at the time my tank was overcrowded so my ammonia continued to rise anyways. That was about 2-3 weeks ago. Three days ago I finally found homes for most of my fish and I should now have a decent amount of fish in my tank. I'll tell you the specs and fish.

Specs

55 Gallon Tank

65 Pounds of gravel

10 fake plants

1 large two-piece castle

Fluval Filstar XP2 filter with all media including 1 pack of bio-chemstars (filter added about two weeks ago,before that was a cruddy aqua-tech overhang filter)

Stock lights

Current Fish

4 Guppies

6 Zebra Danios

1 3-4 inchBlue Three Spotted Gourami

1 full grown Dwarf Gourami

1 4-5 inch Plecostomus

2 Otocinclus Catfish

2 Mystery snails

Apporox 10 baby guppies ranging in age from 5 weeks to 1 week.

Feeding

Once everyother day.

Okay so yesterday I did a 50 percent water change, cleaning almost all of the old poo out so we can get a fresh start at this, the ammonia was still at 1 when I finished. So the bacteria had ammonia. Today it rose by about .25 and tomorrow im sure it will be at 2. Why am I still having this problem? I do use a little Prime so my fish don't die, but not as much as the instructions say, just enough so my fish dont look stressed.

I have a theory that maybe the Prime is the culprit, being that it is made up of complex salts and salt kind of inhibits the bacteria from multiplying as it does to ich and other parasites. Could this be the case? Im just so tired of this, I found homes for 13 full grown guppies and Im still having an ammonia problem... Sigh...Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Well, Since you mentioned that you just changed your filter 2 weeks ago... that is your problem with rising ammonia levels, Bio Spira is a interesting product which has it's use but not for a case such as yours your bio load is to high for something like a product off the shelve. These products are only capable of giving a small kick start to a tank, and if the bio load is to high then is simply can not keep up.

As has been suggested do regular water changes to keep the ammonia levels below 1 and still high enough to give you the ammonia levels needed to start the growth of the Bacteria needed.

  

Answer 2

What _I_ think has happened is that a few baby guppies have died and got sucked into the filter or stuck in the gravel and are now decomposing thereby releasing ammonia. Unlike all these other people I DON'T think your bioload is too high. I also wonder if your water has chloramines that are showing up as ammonia in your test. And if you are stirring up the gravel then you are releasing what is decomposing there. What I would recommend will be hard for you to stand to do because it is counterintuitive. You need to STOP manipulating your aquarium and let it equilibrate itself. Leave the gravel alone. Leave the filter alone. Leave the water alone. Leave the fish alone. Don't change anything. Then grit your teeth and let the aquarium balance itself. You will _want_ to do something to it, but don't do it. Then it _will_ "miraculously" balance itself and you will live happily ever after. I had your same problems, I tried fixing the problems and fixing them and things went from bad to worse. Then i forced myself to stop doing _anything_ to the aquarium. Things got bad and then it solved itself. It takes nerves of steel to just watch it solve itself. But then after that there wasn't anything I could do that affected it badly. Nothing. Like what you say? Like stirring all the gravel up filled with waste, draining all the water out (all of it) and filling it up with chlorinated water. Like having big fish die and I miss it and they decompose on the bottom and everything is just peachy. Like dumping in too much food and it sits on the bottom and rots but everything is just peachy.  

Answer 3

The Prime wont be the probelm.

Main issue is likely to be that you swapped the filter for a new one, probably just when the old one was starting to get cycled. So you are pretty much back to square one as far as cycling goes.

Although the fish you have are fine for a 50gal tank, once it's cycled, if the tank isn't cycled you will be getting ammonia buildup as you are seeing with that number.

Keep up the partial water changes, enough to keep the ammonia below 1. That will be low enough to keep the fish alive, but enough to encourage some bacteria growth. The water changes will mean the  cycle takes longer to establish, but your fish should live through it.

Also if your tank pH is low then the cycle bacteria will take much longer to establish. But the good news in that situation is that in low pH water ammonia is much less toxic. So dont mess with the pH.

BTW, Prime does little to treat Ich or other diseases. It's main purpose (and often important one) is to neutralise chlorine residue in your tap water. So keep using it.

Ian

Answer 4

The way Prime works is that it first locks the ammonia..and after 24 hours releases it making even more toxic for the fish...thereby increasing the ammonia levels...But I don't think Prime is the culprit here..It just gives you a breather for 24 hours...so you will have to do a water change after 24 hours...My guess is like you say your tank is overstocked..and the tank is only 6-7 weeks old...so it has not finished its cycle...besides its a 55 gallon...so am sure its taking time..you will have to keep up with your water changes..to lessen the ammonia levels in there...unless your tank cycles completely..I think the bacteria is not able to keep up with the ammonia levels in there...how do your nitrites and nitrates measure as??..Nitrates really need water changes to lower the levels...so yeah keep doing the water changes...good job there...Did you use any other chemical in there..or something that might have caused a bump in the cycle??try to lessen the bio load...maybe find home for the pleco for the time being...and if the guppies keep breeding..separate them males from females...get a 10 gallon and put either of them in it...just a suggestion...

EDIT: Hey there is one other thing I forgot to mention...BioSprira...and bacterial boosters work in the beginning and the pack also suggests to add a full stock of fish in order to keep the bacteria alive...but in most cases the bacteria fail to either multiply or die themselves...and you will always find a bump in the cycle...boosters are not the safest way to cycle the tank...you could add boosters and then feed them pure ammonia from store...cos sometimes it fails...I am guessing tht is what has happened..I have heard tons of cases like these...