AMMONIA

[aloha_discus]

Aloha, Did a water change 2 days ago in a 29g tank with a pair. Checked ph ad ammonia before adding back to tank, ph was 6.5 ammonia slightly elevated. Got home this morning and went into fishroom and noticed that my pair had darkened tremendously. Ph is 7.7 and ammonia was 7.0, I dont know what happened. Now my question is, is it possible that my pair will recover from ammonia being so high? I moved them to 45g tank where the ph is stable at 6.8 and no ammonia present. This tank is hospital tank so they are alone in there. I sure hope that I caught it in time.

Any suggestions or remedies is needed and greatly appreciated. :'(

Mahalo Ike& Anne

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Ike:
Did you figure out what happened to your filter? How are the pair doing now? Hit them with lots of water changes and keep an eye on them for the next week or so. . . .
Carol :heart1:

[Ardan]

At ph below 7, ammonia is converted to ammonium. Once the ph went over 7 it became ammonia again.
Some test kits do not register both.

Fish are not affected by ammonium (ph < 7)

Wc, wc. Monitor ammonia, get the old filter going by adding pure ammonia to the water daily, to keep ammonia levels at 5, until bio filter kicks in and 0 ammonia, o nitrite.

hth

[Carol_Roberts]

*Ardan meant adding ammonia to tank without discus to bring back dead filter with fishless cycle. Ike knows this, but wanted clarify for others who are new.
Carol :heart1:

[aloha_discus]

Aloha, thank you both for the quick response. When I moved the pair to the 45g The female responded right away. The male I think will take a little longer but both are on the mends. Fortunately I always have a spare sponge that is cycled so this part was easy. Put dead sponge back in with the cycled after cleaning.

Mahalo Ike ;D ;D