i'm new so be gentle,, ammonia spike

clampet · 02-07-2004, 06:02 AM

i've got a 55 3 months old,, i had a fish kick the bucket,, cant find him,, ammonia is at 1.0 been doing water changs for 2 days,, any one no about the ammo lock how dose it work,,,,,,,, can it help me

Jason McKenzie · 02-07-2004, 06:21 AM

It's very common not to be able to find the poor guy afterwords. I have used Ammo Lock but only in a Q tank. It worked very well, but is impossible to measure. This is because ammo lock just converts the ammonia to a less harmful ammo (I can't remember the exact ammo) and our test kits will still read it as ammonia.
Do you have other fish or inverts in the tank? How are the other fish behaving, is the ammonia stressing out their breathing? If so you may want to go with ammo lock. I would be very careful of the dosage (like any chemical added to your tank) but I can honestly say ammo Lock save all 6 of my fish.

Phil5613 · 02-11-2004, 04:16 PM

I would advise against ammo lock as it will cause false positives for ammonia. keep up the water changes. also go to water chemistry section read the newbie post i wrote and check the links. How did your fish die?

blue_eyes53813 · 02-12-2004, 08:15 AM

I would just waite it out. Keep up on small water changes. Your beneficial bacteris is probably low( because its a new tank) It might take a little longer to get it under control. How are the other livestock doing? Do you have alot of hermits or maybe a brittlestar that will take care of the dead fish for you?I have had one or two fish go missing. Never found them. I assume my brittlestars got it ( after it died) and cleaned up the mess. That is probably a good thing.

02-12-2004, 01:28 PM

It could be a thousand different things. You have a new tank and it is not balanced yet.
Matt says go slow and watch it grow.
My advice is small water changes with ro/di water and wait.

karlas · 04-12-2004, 01:40 AM

if your tank is 3 months old you should still be showing ammonia. when you do your test what are your paramaeters at? did you do a lot of water changes while cycling? if so this can actually prolong your cycle. do the test and let us know what they are. you may have to let your tank take a chill and let it ride itself out. but do not add any more fish or anything untill it is straightened out. also whats your nitrites and nitrates. IMO i dont like the ammo lock and other cycle agents they seem to give a quick fix and dont really solve the problem, ive tried a few in the past and was not happy with them.