Cause of ammonia

Question
QUESTION: Yesterday (Sunday) for the first time One of my 2 Oscars(9in long) in a 75 gal tan  in one spot was floating head down (a bit).  I started to do a water change and he went over sideway and floated on top the entire water change.  I thought he was dying. After the change he started to swim and eat normally. I did give him 3 peas just in case. He is eating. Today he is swimming. I noticed some small black streaks on the front bottom.  I do 25% water changes every week. They get along sometimes they swim together and sleep next to each other they chase each other and get bites but nothing major. I did read that they play dead and have seen it with other Oscars but not mine.  I just did ammonia check it is .50

ANSWER: Hi Fran,
  That is very hard to say.  I like the fact that you do regular weekly water changes.  Oscars do play dead sometimes, but not typically by floating -- they usually lie on the bottom.  The marks indicate that there was some fighting so keep an eye on that.  That is the most likely cause of trouble.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Im trying to deal with ammonia. Id like to get to the bottom of it.  

I wanted to ask you if you know anything about Poly-Bio-Filters made by Poly Bio Marine Inc......its a sponge that suppose to take out ammonia, etc, it turns color.  I tried one for one day and it turned pink-red on the directions it said it would turn green when it pulls ammonia. It said red pulls out iron.   So I took it out.

The fish seem ok but one never knows. The're eating(cut down on feeding)and they're  swimming.

My home water ammonia is 0.  Although the home water Ph 7.0 is higher than the tank ph which is 6-6.2 .  I have well water with a water softener, store  bought driftwood, I did lots of 25% water changes, and vacs, every other day for a week, still no change. The last change was Monday this week(Apr 14)hardly any junk came out when i vacuumed. The last water change was 5 days before that. Im planning on doing one this friday (Apr 18) How many water changes/vacs  can I do to bring down the ammonia without disruptng things? Any other advice?

ANSWER: Hi Fran,
  You can do as many water 25% changes as you like, i.e., you could do one every day and that won't "disrupt" things.   As for how many it will take to bring down the ammonia, that is impossible to say.  It depends on what is causing it in the first place.  

  How long have you had the driftwood?  Driftwood generally breaks down over time and will acidify your water, but it shouldn't give off ammonia per se as far as I know.  

  Does the tank smell?  If you really have high ammonia, it should smell bad.  

  Be aware that some water test kits won't work right if you are adding certain kinds of water conditioners.  

  I have limited faith in something like polyfilters.  I have no doubt that they remove what they say they remove (that's just chemistry) but something like that can only remove so much before it is "full".  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ron thanks for the reply

The owner of a fish store told me to stop the water changes, (go back to once a week)too many water changes, close together, can start a tank to cycle.  Ive read cycle does not work.

I have had the driftwood in the tank for a year. I change them sometimes from a smaller one to a larger one.  The tank does not smell bad.   I use Stress Coat or Nova Aqua when I do water changes once a week.   Id like to determine what is causing the ammonia levels .25-.50.  Should I use AmQuel or Add the poly filter? until it drops?  

Frustrated Fran...

Answer
Hi Fran,
  The fish store owner has no idea what they are talking about.  A tank "cycling" refers to when a new tank is set up, it takes a certain amount of time (about 6 weeks) for the various bacteria that breakdown ammonia and nitrates, etc to reach levels that are sustainable.  Prior to this, if too much ammonia is produced in the tank (ammonia principally comes from fish waste or rotting food) then it does not all get broken down and you will see spikes in the ammonia levels, and possibly spikes in nitrate levels.  Often the water goes cloudy due to a surge in unwanted bacteria populations that have a huge food resource.  

  Once a tank is set up for a period of time, the only way to kill off this process is to do it chemically (like adding a lot of chemicals which kill the bacteria, such as bleach) or by depriving the system of oxygen or something like that.  If you changed 100% of the water, and scrubbed the tank and thoroughly washed everything, you MIGHT be able to seriously damage the populations of good bacteria.  Doing 25% water changes, no matter how frequent, just can't have that kind of deleterious effect.  For example, some people, myself in the past, have tanks on continuous water change systems and even that doesn't cause a tank to revert back to the start of cycling.  

  The fact that the tank doesn't smell tells me that there isn't a lot of free ammonia in the water.  That tells me that your test kit may not be reading correctly.  If you have high levels of ammonia, you should be able to smell it. So, you might want to check your test kit.

 Also, be very sure that when you feed your fish, you only put in food that they eat right away.  Never put in food for them to "eat later". That stuff just rots and generates tons of ammonia.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>