# Emergency!!!! Ammonia, nitrates, Nitrites out of Control



## Dirty_Pond (Apr 26, 2009)

Hi Guys,

Need some emergency help here *H2. I have had my 65G freshwater tank running smoothly for a over a year but have been having some problems recently. I had to be away for a while and let one of my 'knowledgeable' friend take care of my aquarium. When I came back bottom of my tank had been totally covered with uneaten food (couldn't even see my gravel), my xp4 filter was completely clogged and all the water parameters were out of wack. The fish were on the surface gulping for air and lethargic but other then that I don't see any obvious signs of ammonia poisioning,maybe I just missed other signs. I cleaned the filter and gravel (still not completely clean though), did an immediate 50% water change. I also increased the aeration. But this doesn't seemed to have worked. My current levels,
pH: 7.4
Ammonia: 0.7 (was almost 2)
Nitrite: 0.5
Nitrate: 140

Its been this nasty for atleast a week and was hoping that the levels would start to come down. I have so far in last year and half have avoided using any chemicals in my tank and have been really lucky to have no problems. But right now I don't see any other option then to use such things atleast in the short run. Any suggestions???????
*H2 Please help *H2


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

first thing to do is do more water changes and vaccum, vaccum. Also, buying some seachem prime will help the effects of the ammonia. All you can do is keep doing daily water changes. Try to make sure the ph, kh, and gh dont fluctuate too much between old and new water to help reduce the stress. Keep an eye on the nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia every day to make sure they're going down. If you have another tank, you could move your fish there for a few days until the bad stuff gets to a safer level.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Nitrates are still 140 after 50% water change? Did you give it a little bit to settle out after the water change before testing again? I would just keep up the water chamges until it was all under control.


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## rtbob (Jul 18, 2010)

As was mentioned Seachem Prime will render Ammonia non toxic. It also detoxifies nitrite and nitrate. You can dose prime up to 5x the recommend amount for emergency situations such as yours.

Using the prime will allow you to space your water changes out to 50% every other day. This will allow your fish more time to adjust to the new water.

You sill need to remove the excess fish food by gravel vac. or the problem will come back. Prime is a temporary fix. Since a 100% water change and gravel rinse might not be an option for you.

Be sure to rinse out your filter media with some of the removed tank water or dechlorinated tap water. It is probably full of fish food as well.


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## Dirty_Pond (Apr 26, 2009)

Thanks for all the advise. I put in the seachem prime and checked my stats about 5 hours later. Ammonia is down by half  and Nitrite show some improvement too but the nitrates are still high. 

i did another 20% water change. I re-cleaned the filter and put in some extra activated carbon and another layer of ceramic stars to increase the bio-filter size. Also, going to try to get some zeolite and see if that helps. Hopefully, this will put some dent in Nitrate levels.

One other question:
The siphon gravel cleaner is pain in the *** to use and I loose too much of the water in process too. So I have to do it in small increments and takes too much time. I remember reading about gravel cleaners that vaccum clean the gravel and return the water back to the aquarium sans the crap. 
Can anyone recommend a good reasonable one?


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## inkmaker (Jun 10, 2009)

zeolite is not a good option. It takes out the Calcium which you need as a buffer and will let the pH drop back to where your fish's gills got damaged. Keep the pH above 7. zeolite will let it drop. The Nitrites were the problem with the over feeding. The deeper the water changes you can make the better off the fish and water chemistry will be. Frequent changes just won't do it. You need to get as close to 90% as you can a time or 2. 

Plants, do you have any plants in the tank? Water sprite will take up the Nitrates faster than any thing else you can use.

Don't put the water back in the tank! It needs to be flushed. for the sake of the fish.

Charles H


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I just do the water change in conjunction with a gravel vacuum. Vaccuum the gravel as you're pulling the water. That doesn't work? 

I think you may be doing something wrong on your nitrate test. Look at the instructions very carefully because that test is the toughest to perform and the most important to get all the steps correct. Nitrates exist mostly all in your water. So if they were 200 and you did a 50% water change they should get to 100...and so on. Have you tested your tap water for ammonia and nitrates?


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## verdifer (Sep 8, 2010)

Amquel works pretty good also.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I wouldn't venture beyond prime. No need to use multiple things to deal with ammonia. Plus, your ammonia isn't that high.


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Your system is contaminated with too much rotting food. Take all your old gravel out and repalace it with new or completely washed old gravel. Replace 20-30% of your tank water every day. Start cycling all over again and run a good filter with charcol pads. Also, run good aeriation. Fish can live quite awhile without being fed, especially smaller ones.


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## phys (Feb 4, 2011)

sounds like a bit of good news! Keep up the water changes and dose when you need. 

Yea, gravel vacs are a pain. Dont worry about taking half the water out. Just check the refill water and make sure its close to the same temp and ph. If not, then add it slowly over about 20 min. It is a pain but ya know, it needs to be done.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

No need to replace your gravel. That's much too extreme.

I just use a standard gravel vac. Nothing special, but it works perfectly. Did you double check the instructions on the nitrate test to see if you've been doing it right? Your test results don't sound right.


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