# Ammonia



## elissamaria (Feb 1, 2011)

I tested the water today for Ammonia because it seemed cloudy and it showed 0.25ppm. It supposed to be 0 right? How can I lower it? Water change?

BTW the tank is one month old and another interesting detail is that I can't seem to find my midget suckermouth catfish. Last night I put in a cucumber to attract him and still no sign of him. Could the ammonia be b/c he's dead somewhere?


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

Yup just do a water change for the ammonia, and I believe sucker fish (plecos) tend to hide more than they are out swimming. your could try providing him a shaddy spot that isn't a cave so you can view him. One way I heard best to do this was cut a plastic tube in half and burry it along the front of the tank leaving a little tunnel through the substrate.


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

The main sources of Ammonia in a tank are: decaying food, dead fish and fish waste. A dead fish can produce a lot of ammonia, especially if the tank is small. The best way to decrease you ammonia is to find your dead fish.


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## elissamaria (Feb 1, 2011)

Well, I can't seem to find him. 
And its just a small tank. I have some plants in there, but they are not that "bushy". I'm pretty sure they are not on the plants.

I have some shells as cave for my fish, and I have lifted those and I still can't see anything. I imagine that if he was dead, once I lifted the shells, he will fall due to gravity. I'm afraid if I take the shell out completely that I might kill him if his not actually dead.


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

Well best bet would be to start removing your decoration and giving them a little swish in the tank before taking them out completely. Maybe he died and got sucked up by the filter? could check there too.

Either way he needs to be found so if he is dead he can be removed, or can continue trouble shooting your ammonia problem.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Funny story.I had a ten gallon,years back.It was well overstocked,one of the fish being a type of eel.He would hide pretty dern well.I did a full cleanout,removing all ornaments and things he could have been in,as well as all the gravel.I rinsed everything in scalding hot water and placed it all back.Then went the fish,consisting of a betta,goldfish,five minnows,three zebra danios a plecostomus and three cherry barbs(the tank survived for months until rehomed them all but the fancy goldy,and I had no clue I was doing it all wrong....)Anyhow,during the whole cleanout the eel was nowhere around.Then two days later,he was swimming about in the clean tank.His name was Houdinni....

On subject,I would remove caves and look for him.Being out of the water for a few minutes wont do him in,he would have to be out for quite awhile before he suffocated or dried up.Look for any places in the gravel he could have dug into and the gravel collapse back on him,getting him stuck(has happened to me before)Good luck in finding him,and NEVER do a full cleanout like I did unless necessary.Wish I had forums back then.....


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## PolymerTim (Sep 22, 2009)

elissamaria said:


> I tested the water today for Ammonia because it seemed cloudy and it showed 0.25ppm. It supposed to be 0 right? How can I lower it? Water change?
> 
> BTW the tank is one month old and another interesting detail is that I can't seem to find my midget suckermouth catfish. Last night I put in a cucumber to attract him and still no sign of him. Could the ammonia be b/c he's dead somewhere?


Well, you won't know for sure till you find him, but I can vouch for the fact that some fish can be very good hiders. I had a cory cat that I thought died and decomposed (never found the body, even though I removed all tank decorations while looking for him). He was one of six. Well, a few days later, I picked up another from my local fish shop to bring me back up to 6. A few days later, I was counting them again, and now I have 7! 

Also, you will eventually want ammonia to be zero, but 0.25 is not generally lethal (just stressful). Ammonia typically isn't lethal till you start getting over 1 ppm. On that note though, with a one month old tank, you are likely still starting your nitrogen cycle. If you're not aware of the nitrogen cycle, I strongly suggest you read this simple summary:
The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle
You'll be glad you did.

Especially while you are cycling, you should be measuring nitrites as well, since these are just as harmful to fish as ammonia. At about 1 month in, it is quite possible your ammonia has already spiked and dropped while your nitrites are still spiking. The only way to know for sure is to test your water. Most here recommend a liquid test kit like the API freshwater master test kit since it has all four of the basic tests you will need.

You will know that your cycle has stabilized when ammonia and nitrites are zero and nitrates slowly build with time (unless you have enough live plants to keep the nitrates down). Without enough live plants, you will need to do regular partial water changes to keep the nitrates down.

If you get your nitrite test kit and it shows a high level, you should do immediate water changes to get it below 1 ppm.


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## elissamaria (Feb 1, 2011)

Thanks for the link. I did cycle, or so I thought, my tank. My tank is approximately a bit older than a month, I just can't remember the day. Anyway, Ammonia and nitrites showed a peak and eventually dropped to zero and had like 20 ppm for nitrate. It remained like that for a few days. So I thought my cycling was over. I did/do weekly water changes about 20%. Recently, just two days ago, I added a small loach temporarily to control snail population. The night after I add him, I started noticing the water clouded.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

No chance he jumped? Looked behind the tank? Can't they burrow in the gravel?


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## Big Dog (May 17, 2010)

Hello and Welcome to the forum. These fish love to hide alot.


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