high amonia levels continued.

Question
QUESTION: Hi Dave, Wee the week has passed and amonia luvels are still over 4.0 ppm  Now my plants are dying. And they were doing wonderful remember they are from bulbs.  only 2 barbs left but they have white stuff on the edge of their fins.  We have not used tap water since we changed over 70 percent of it I have added extra charcoal filters and still no changed. Should I add amonia detoxifier?  and if I do will the amonia levels still show high?Any suggestions now?

ANSWER: Hi Lorraine:  I had a very similar experience over the weekend when one of my very stable tanks went toxic seemingly overnight... I lost about 200 green terror fry.  I had to do three 60% water changes to get the ammonia to drop to 1.0.  This is exactly what I am going to suggest you do.  Change 60-70% of the water and then fill the tank back up and change it again and again... test the ammonia.  If the ammonia is 1.5 or below... then wait a day and repeat the process. I have also added triple dose of beneficial bacteria after the last change.  This morning the ammonia in my tank was .5... The cause of my ammonia spike was one single hollow ornament that about 10 one inch fry burrowed into and died.  keep me posted.   dave

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

QUESTION: If I am using a detoxifier will my amonia levels still read high?  Also should I remove all the bulbs since I an having issues with them and put them in a seperate tank until they grow better again.  They were growing absolutely wonderful

ANSWER: The detoxifier should not effect your amonia reading... I would leave the bulbs in the tank and let them ride this out.  The stress of moving them may be worse the the ammonia.  Do the water changes and stir up your gravel.  If the water gets super cloudy then you need to clean your gravel.  dave

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

QUESTION: I have the ammonia down to .5 and am on my way to the pet store to get some beneficial bacteria to add.  I have taken the plants and put them in another bowl with some of the old water. and I will add back as we see how the water does.  Maybe I can add back as a process of elimination.  I am scared it will do it again.  The gravel was almost clear but I did notice some black specks not sure what it was I finally was able to get my hands on a bit of it and it smeared some.  any ideas and could this be the ammonia problem.  There was very little of this black stuff. Let me know what you think and I will recheck levels in the am.  Only thing left in the tank is water, 2 barbs and the gravel.

Answer
that black stuff that smeared was probably fish poop or some kind of organic matter that may be part of the problem.  The beneficial bacteria will help a lot.  Make sure you change the carbon filter as that will help to absorb some of the ammonia.  So... if you stir the gravel up really good does the water get cloudy????   dave