If so how much and how often
Answers:
I'm guessing you already have fish in the tank since you have ammonia. That means your tank is starting to cycle. You can either take the fish back to the store until your tank finishes cycling, or you'll need to do daily water changes until it finishes cycling. This won't make it start cycling over, but it will prolong it a bit.
Any amount of ammonia is toxic to fish, and will cause stress/death. A cycled tank will have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and show some nitrates.
Try to find a product called Bio-Spira, it contains bacteria that will just about instantly cycle the tank. Stay away from Cycle, stress zyme, etc. they're junk and a waste of money. If you can't find the Bio-Spira (hard to find, most likely at a mom and pop store that specialize in fish because it needs to be refrigerated), pick up something called Prime. It neutralizes the ammonia %26 nitrites, but doesn't remove them, so you're tank will still cycle. It's also a dechlorinator, removes chlorine %26 chloramine from tap water.
I also read an interesting article about adding aquarium salt during cycling a tank with fish. It won't absorb the ammonia like somebody mentioned here, but it does apparantly help the fish during the nitrite phase, something about blocking some of the absorption through the gills. So, might be a good idea to pick up some aquarium salt too.
Read around on these forums, they have lots of good info about cycling a fish tank and what to do and not to do.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/
http://www.fishforums.com/forum/.
You need to have an ammonia testing kit to see how bad it is and if you need to clean it. I do know that you may need to take out between 20-30% of the water. If you don't have products to clean the water, leave it sitting for 3-4 days before putting it in your tank.
YES clean it
once a week..my sons fish just died of too much ammonia in the water.
( i forgot to clean it) oooopps.
you are suppost to go through a process of cycling your tank before you add fish. If you clean the tank the cycle will start all over and it will never go away. The ammonia needs to build up to get all the beneficial bacteria that your fish need to survive. This HAS to be done in order to have a healthy tank. Trust me you will lose all and any fish if you dont do this. It will go back down on its own given that you dont have too many fish. What size tank do you have? Is it a tropical tank? For example: cycling a 10 gallon tank would require 1-2 fish anything smaller, one fish, anything bigger, 2-4 fish. If you have more than that amount you need to get rid of them or they will die because the ammonia will surely kill them. DO NOT CLEAN THE TANK. DO NOT ADD AMMONIA REMOVER. However I suggest you read up about cycling tropical tanks and go to your local pet store. Peopl always make the mistake of putting fish in a tank and thinking everything will be fine. You have to keep in mind that they are living in urine and feces and food particles. Who can survive that? No one can that is why they need bacteria to eat all the bad particles in the water.
If your tank is a goldfish only tank then I suggest you just add ammonia remover and monitor it.
Once a week you should do a 25% water change and replace it with clean water. Go and get some aquarium salt from your pet store. It is perfectly safe for all freshwater fish and plants. The salt will help nutalize the ammonia and help the beneficial bacteria to grow. Aquarium salt is a cheap and very affective way to help keep your water suitable for fish it also aides in the healing of sick fish and/or helps keep them healthy. I have been doing this for many years and it hasn't failed me yet. Good Luck!
If it is at a lethal level change 25% of the water. if it is not lethal then add a bacteria culture to naturally lower the ammonia level. Long term you want to have a healty culture of bacteria in the aquarium to naturally take care of the ammonia and nitrates.
You should always set up tank with NO fish in it and let it go through first cycle. The water will get get cloudy , the ammonia level will spike, and then it Will start to balance out over a week or so. If you put starter drops in tank and flushed it well washed gravel with fresh water as well as any fake plants it will be fine on it's own. This is not the time to add/ start real plants or fish. I usually wait 9 days (if tank looks and test good before adding fish , two to three weeks before plants and a month for a algae eater of some sorts. I use an over flow filter/pump with a gravel pull through tube with a fiber / charcoal element. This keeps ammonia level stable if you are careful to NOT over feed.
You should go to the pet store and look for things to cure amonia because I have a 30 gal tank and I asked a emploee at PetsMart and they told me how to get rid of my immonia problem
no you just leave it so the fish will die
You should always change 20% of the water every week. If you have no fish in your tank, wait until your water tests fine (your pet store can test the water, do a water change and if the next day your water is still good it is safe to add fish.
A
You need to do a water change at least once a month for 15%-25% of the tank.
Well..your tank is only a week old? You have to do a water change..usually they suggest 25% of the water. DO NOT OVER FEED the fish. Usually ammonia builds up when food is not eaten %26 turns into waste. Basically.you are polluting the tank. Go easy on the food. The fish won't die if you feed them 3x a week.especially if your tank is new.
After that..if you feed them just right..you'll have to change the water maybe once every month, but just 25% of it. Make sure you use a SYPHON to get all of the poop from the bottom of the gravel. That's the toxin in your tank! You can change all the water but if you don't get rid of the poop under the filter..your fish will die. GOOD LUCK!!
I second Tiki. She's got your back.
Tikki is absolutely correct and what she isn't remembering about the salt is that salting through the nitrite phase of the cycle prevents brown blood disease.
The salt should be dosed at 0.1%, and a salt level test kit will help here. You also have to remember that salt does not evaporate, so when doing a WC while cycling, if you remove IE: 2 gls, then salt only the NEW water added back. The dosage is 1 tsp per gl. = 0.1%
Dissolve it in some tank water and distribute it evenly around the tank, never in the filters!
You can read up on the cycle and get help at the Goldfish and Aquarium Board Or at Koivet.com
Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all part of the nitrogen cycle. There are those 3 toxins and two different nitrifying bacteria at work. Here's how it goes;
Ammonia is from decaying organic matter. It can be fish waste, dead plant leaves, dead fish, excess food, etc. The first type of bacteria starts to grow and consumes ammonia. In a new tank there can be high levels of ammonia for up to 3 weeks because these bacterium grow very slowly. Once the first bacteria begins eating the ammonia it puts out a waste product called;
Nitrite. It is elevated at the same time as ammonia for awhile, but eventually the second type of bacteria begins it's slow growth and consumes the nitrite. After 4 to 8 weeks or so the nitrite is being consumed by the second bacteria. The waste from it is called;
Nitrate, which is the end result of the nitrogen cycle. Plants and algae consume it, as you know. The only reliable way to keep it at low levels is by weekly water changes of 25%.
So.Ammonia turns into Nitrite which turns into Nitrate.
Any one of these toxins, or any combination can be elevated depending on what is going on in your tank. The goal is to have "Zero" ammonia and "Zero" nitrites. Nitrates are safe at 40 ppm or less. Fish death also contributes to ammonia, which of course leads to nitrite and then nitrate.
I would make a 25% change and keep an eye on the ammonia until it turns to nitrite.
dont do a thing but take out 10 percent dont buy fish for a month
change 25% of the water 1 time a week no more. clean the tank by changing the filter, vacuuming the gravel when changing the water and giving the srufaces a rub down with a cleaning sponge. never use cleaning chemicals or tap water to clean with use only water from the tank. It is best not to take more than 25% of the water from the tank as it will stress the fish.
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