Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

A few days ago I took an ammonia level test it turned dark green, so I did a complete water change. I have just taken another test and this is the result (Photo) . My fish seem really happy, swimming around fine and eating all of their food fine, and are almost ready to eat, and none have died. The water has gone a little cloudy but the water in all of my fish tanks go cloudy after a water change.
Please could somebody suggest what I should do, thanks. I don't want to loose my fish!!

Dave I'm surprised those fish are still kicking with that level of ammonia. What is your PH level and FT temp

personally I would
Stop feeding immediately and remove any visible fish food, that will help get the ammonia levels down and the fish will be fine for a week or so with no food.

check for dead fish or anything else that could be driving the levels up.

continue doing 1/3 water changes.

Just out of curiosity how big is your system?
how much grow bed volume do you have?.
How many fish have you stocked?
Have you recently added any suppliments Etc ?

Run your pump 24/7

+1 to everything blind Freddie said.

Thanks blind freddie.

I tested the pH just after I posted this and it is about 5.5 - 6, I think this means that the fish can survive higher ammonia levels?? I do think I've got too many fish, or now they are bigger I have got too many, but nowhere to separate them to, looks like i'll have to eat some!!! The tank is always between 27 and 29 degrees C. I have two fairly large grow beds on a flood and drain system every hour, and the grow bed have loads of plants in them. There is no food floating or on the bottom and no dead fish. I'll do what you say and stop feeding them for a while and see what happens. My system is not very big and I don't put in any supplements but I think its down to too many fish!

Thanks for your help.

That low ph is saving you so don't try to raise it

Indeed the pH and temperature combination are keeping the ammonia toxicity within tolerances...

My concern is... if you've already done a complete water change... but your pH is more towards 5.5 ... then you have probably inhibiting the bacterial nitrification...

I'd suggest you need to raise the pH to around 6.0 - 6.2 .... and provide as much oxygenation as possible...

I'd actually do another 30% water change firstly.... as this would likely both reduce the ammonia... and probably raise the pH...



Just how many fish do you have... and how much filtration??

Rupe, can you explain how the chart works please?

Yeah an explanation of that would be so helpful that I'll probably want it laminated

Since Rupe hasn't answered yet I'll give it a shot.

Ammonia has two forms, the ionized form is less toxic than the unionized form is. The amount of each form varies with the temp and pH of the water. At low pH and low temp its mostly ionized ammonia so less toxic.

For the table just read down the column from your pH to where the row for your temp is - where the column and row meet, gives you the amount of Ammonia you can have in ppm before it starts to become toxic to your fish.

Since the pH is way low in David's case, it's protecting the fish by allowing more Ammonia before it becomes toxic. He has to be careful about water changes because it could change the pH with the catastrophic result of converting more ammonia to the more toxic form. That's probably why Rupe suggested only a 1/3 water change - He is trying to get the pH up enough for the Nitrogen Cycle to start working again and get rid of some of the Ammonia but he doesn't want the pH up so high that the Ammonia shifts very much toward the toxic form or it will kill the fish.

Hope that helps

Note to David - make certain you've salted to 1ppt in case your Nitrites spike once the cycle kicks back in.

Spot on Scotty...

quote="scotty435"]That's probably why Rupe suggested only a 1/3 water change - He is trying to get the pH up enough for the Nitrogen Cycle to start working again and get rid of some of the Ammonia but he doesn't want the pH up so high that the Ammonia shifts very much toward the toxic form or it will kill the fish.
[/quote]
An important point.... and small incremental water changes are generally always better... than a one hit dump...

Fully aware of the danger of thread hijacking I would like to also ask a question.

My Ammonia is off the charts. My test goes from pale yellow at 0.25mg/l to a medium green at 5mg/l, however my test turns out bright blue. Like in Royal blue.

New system that I went a bit overzealous with the hummonia and Seagro(fish emulsion).

I have removed the fish to a containment tank as they were dying and removed all the solids and dead fish. Yet after a week without any added Ammonia the test has become slightly, ever so slightly less bright blue. I also did an initial 60% water change and everyday now a 20% water change. But my ammonia is simply not dropping.

My system currently tests at 7ph and 16'C average water temperature. I even added some rocks in stockings that I got from my local fish shop as well as a 250ml bottle of good bacteria but nothing happened so far.

Am I rushing to expect results already or is there something else driving the ammonia up?

Plants seem fine, but that ammonia!

high ammonia inhibits cycling.. get it below 4 by continuing the 20-30% water change daily

Edited : Keith... Posted reply in your system thread...