FRY dying!Ammonia problem?

[Kldiscusfarm]

How do I check ammonia level?
What's the best ammonia level?
How can I alter ammonia level?
Anyone have advise? I don't wanna lose more discus fry, Thanks

[MKD]

how do you know ammonia problem with testing your water?

How do I check ammonia level? - API or other brand Test kit
What's the best ammonia level? - Zero
How can I alter ammonia level? - Water change or cycled filter.
Anyone have advise? I don't wanna lose more discus fry, Thanks

[Kldiscusfarm]

how do you know ammonia problem with testing your water?

How do I check ammonia level? - API or other brand Test kit
What's the best ammonia level? - Zero
How can I alter ammonia level? - Water change or cycled filter.
Anyone have advise? I don't wanna lose more discus fry, Thanks

thank you!i guess i got my answers!

[Orange Crush]

I see on someone else's thread that you stated you never change the water. It is unlikely that you will be able to successfully raise fry like that. Fry are very sensitive to water conditions, way more than adult discus. I would start doing daily water changes whether you have ammonia issues or not.

[Kldiscusfarm]

I see on someone else's thread that you stated you never change the water. It is unlikely that you will be able to successfully raise fry like that. Fry are very sensitive to water conditions, way more than adult discus. I would start doing daily water changes whether you have ammonia issues or not.
I do water changes until the pair lays eggs, but after that i lessen food and dont change the water, since i tried changing water before after the spawn and all eggs turned white within a few hours, i guess i will just change a little water like 30 percent once wrigglers, i will be using mineral water.

[Orange Crush]

I do water changes until the pair lays eggs, but after that i lessen food and dont change the water, since i tried changing water before after the spawn and all eggs turned white within a few hours, i guess i will just change a little water like 30 percent once wrigglers, i will be using mineral water.
I hope that the mineral water solves your problem.
When I did water changes I made sure to never let the water level go below the eggs but I still did daily water changes.
Was the water level going below the eggs during wc's?

[DiscusDrew]

Personally here recently I have stopped doing water changes during that stage as with my stendker's it causes them to eat the fry and induces another round of spawning, so once laid, I very quickly do a big water change now, then no water changes until wrigglers and then one more smaller change right before they hatch. All this takes a back seat to water perameters though.... If you have ammonia in the water everything I just said is irrelevant and makes no difference.

[Kldiscusfarm]

I hope that the mineral water solves your problem.
When I did water changes I made sure to never let the water level go below the eggs but I still did daily water changes.
Was the water level going below the eggs during wc's?

Nope i always did wc until the tip of the cone so the eggs were always submerged in the water, hopefuly mineral water does the trick

[Kldiscusfarm]

Personally here recently I have stopped doing water changes during that stage as with my stendker's it causes them to eat the fry and induces another round of spawning, so once laid, I very quickly do a big water change now, then no water changes until wrigglers and then one more smaller change right before they hatch. All this takes a back seat to water perameters though.... If you have ammonia in the water everything I just said is irrelevant and makes no difference.

lets say i have ammonia in the water, how could i bring it down aside from wc, could i buy a solution that would solve ammonia problems?

[DiscusDrew]

Well if you have ammonia you need to be doing daily water changes, but I do use bacteria supplements at times because of the large water change volume I do and if I see mini cycles starting I can catch them fast. Ive used Stability with great success, you can usually buy it anywhere you can buy Prime (same manufacturer). OR the BEST solution I have heard of but have not tried personally is Pure Aquarium Balls, sold Bill at Inland Empire Discus, and Josie at Chicago Discus (both sponsors here). Im going to experiment with the Pure solution soon, Ive only heard good things but I cant speak from first hand experience.

Remember there is NO SUBSTITUTE for water changes.... So what I just said does NOT mean just throw bacteria in the water and ignore doing water changes :)

[Kldiscusfarm]

Thanks for the heads up! I will try the aquarium balls but i dont know how to use it haha

[Orange Crush]

I think first you should work on getting your water issues fixed by doing daily water changes then you can focus on breeding without worrying about ammonia or having to add things.

[Orange Crush]

Personally here recently I have stopped doing water changes during that stage as with my stendker's it causes them to eat the fry and induces another round of spawning, so once laid, I very quickly do a big water change now, then no water changes until wrigglers and then one more smaller change right before they hatch.
I guess I am taking for granted how good my 2 pairs are at breeding. I would take Drew's advice over mine since they are having issues.

[DiscusDrew]

This is all assuming no ammonia, i'm guessing that isn't your issue unless your doing something really wrong but ya never know. You need to test the water for sure, and from what I gather in your other threads I think your problem is lack of mineral content in the water. Your TDS for hatching should not be any lower than about 60ish, also if your TDS really is around 10 then you most likely are getting big Ph swings, which is yet another reason you need to reconstitute your water. But still, test your water!

[Len]

I've used the pure pond from Bill at Inland Empire Discus in my fluid bed filter and it really does a great job. It would be a very quick way for you to get that ammonia in check as per the advice already given. I used it, not for ammonia, but because my nitrites were off the charts and since the day after adding it, I've never had any readings above zero.

[shawnhu]

Since you are not sure if ammonia is your problem, first get the test kit.

If you suspect that ammonia is your problem, you can drop some plants in with the tank and turn on some lights to try to soak some up right away. Also, dropping in some peat moss in the filter can reduce the ph, and thus reducing the toxicity of the ammonia. Both these methods will not harm your fish, can only benefit from it.

[Orange Crush]

Also, dropping in some peat moss in the filter can reduce the ph, and thus reducing the toxicity of the ammonia. Both these methods will not harm your fish, can only benefit from it.
Since he has almost no minerals in his water the last thing he should be doing is messing with the pH. Big water changes will reduce the ammount of ammonia to safe levels.

[shawnhu]

Since he has almost no minerals in his water the last thing he should be doing is messing with the pH. Big water changes will reduce the ammount of ammonia to safe levels.

What if his source of ammonia is from his water changes?

[Orange Crush]

What if his source of ammonia is from his water changes?
He is switching to mineral water to do water changes so that the TDS will be higher. So that is a non issue.

[shawnhu]

He is switching to mineral water to do water changes so that the TDS will be higher. So that is a non issue.

I'm still not understanding, does mineral water = no ammonia? OP really needs to know what his ammonia and ph levels are in order to take proper action.

Increasing TDS or gh will do nothing for ammonia, it'll only shock the fish and stress them out further, especially large % water changes at a time.

[Orange Crush]

I'm still not understanding, does mineral water = no ammonia? OP really needs to know what his ammonia and ph levels are in order to take proper action.

Increasing TDS or gh will do nothing for ammonia, it'll only shock the fish and stress them out further, especially large % water changes at a time.
He does not know if he has ammonia, only suspects it because of the problems he is having. However, he does know that his TDS is at most 10. The mineral water will solve the problems caused by a lack of minerals (pH issues etc.).

[shawnhu]

He does not know if he has ammonia, only suspects it because of the problems he is having. However, he does know that his TDS is at most 10. The mineral water will solve the problems caused by a lack of minerals (pH issues etc.).

My understanding is that TDS and minerals such as calcium and magnesium is related to GH, neither of which affects ph or kh.

Unless the definition of mineral water contains carbonates, I can't see how this could help with ph.

[DiscusDrew]

I don't know where to start....

[shawnhu]

I don't know where to start....

Drew, am I missing something here? Please educate.

[DerekFF]

I'm still not understanding, does mineral water = no ammonia? OP really needs to know what his ammonia and ph levels are in order to take proper action.

Increasing TDS or gh will do nothing for ammonia, it'll only shock the fish and stress them out further, especially large % water changes at a time.

There is no ammonia in mineral water. And we still dont even know if there is an ammonia problem. From how the situation has been described is leading some of us to believe its ph stability issues and not ammonia

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