Guys the ammonia in my tank has risen and the o's are breathing heavy.Ammonia is 1.0ppm.

Do you know why the ammonia has risen? Anyway, a large water change is necessary, 50% I would say. If you can, get some prime, or stress zyme, this will convert the toxic ammonia into a non-toxic form which should take some stress of the fish. Also check your pH. When the ammonia is high, it's best to have a pH as low as possible, the lower the pH, the less toxic the ammonia will be to the fish.

I would suggest not feeding your fish anymore food today. This will reduce the amount of waste going into the water, which is of course is ammonia.

Keep doing regular water changes until the ammonia is zero. But try and find out why the ammonia has suddenly spike. Sometimes it happens, you may get an ammonia spike and then it will go away. Check to make sure that no fish have died. Remove any dead plantation.

Done a water change only 20% so ill do a 50% tomorrow,Ive no idea what could have caused it could you tell me a few possibilitys then i can try an eliminate anything it could be.I have some ammo lock i can get stress zyme in the morning.Does everybody experience this or not?I have a fluval 305 and a 405 running on my tank i havent fed them at all today,reason being i saw the o's breathing heavy when i got up so checked water parameters,thats when i saw the ammonia.Any ideas?

Yes, I've had this problem before.

There are various reasons why you could get this problem. Overfeeding, not removing uneaten food, leaving dead plants in the water, not removing dead fish, problems with the biological filter, overstocking. There are a few reasons why this problem can occur. Check it again and see what it is. Have you cleaned your filters at all? if so, how did he do it? Many people make the mistake of cleaned and the media out on the tap water, this is the worst thing you could ever do, this can result in totally wiping out your biological filter. You would definitely get ammonia reading then.

I never touch my media,all i do is to foam inserts that trap the big stuff and i wash it in tank water as im doin my water change.I rinse them once every couple of months they don't get to bad cus i have 2 on the tank.What you think penn should i do a 50% tomorrow and 30% everyday till its gone?And as i do my water change is it safe to use hot water from the tap to warm the water to the same temp as the tank,or is there a risk of legionares disease?

OFL wrote:


I believe that cleaning the bio media in filter in tap water will kill some good bacteria off but i dont think it will totally wipe out your good bacteria. My opinion is that it is overstated how bad this can be, however it is still not a good idea

timskie wrote:


The foam should be washed properly (in tap water is ok) until they are clean. The media trays should be rinsed in tank water to clean the gunk out of them.

the reason you have a reading for ammonia is because your filters cant cope with the amount of ammonia in your tank. As OFL says there could be many reasons for this. One OFL didnt mention is make sure you have enough filtration for your tank, you need enough to be rated for a tank twice its size

While you have ammonia in the tank i would add add stress zyme and do 50% water changes every day

amonia is basically directly related to fish waste,either yr filtration sytem cant keep up with the amount of waste in yr tank or yr tank can be overstocked or overfeeding plays a big role too.


have close look at yr oscars whilst they r eating and u will see how much of the food that they eat acctually come out the back of their gills and end up on the bottom.

initially it is very dificult to get the feeding right coz the oscars always look hungry and always seem to eat.

personally ive got a little meusaring cup that i meusre exact amount of pellets daily for my O's

Ive a 150 gallon tank wi a 305 on and a 405 filter.The 305 does 1000liters an hour and the 405 does 1300liters an hour,theres 4 o's in there and a channa lucius.Plants are vertually non exsistent cus they all trash them.Ifeed them once a day when i come home from work.Can anybody tell me is it safe to use hot water from the tap to get the temp same as the tank?As thers a risk of legionares disease to us if we drink from the hot tap!!Wounderd if it affected fish?

safest is always to boil yr water before adding it to yr,although this is alo of work it is safe and garenteed not do yr fish harm.

if you got means to catch sum rain water in big containers than that will be good water too.

I wouldnt trust the rain water over hear!!Is it safe to use ammo lock and stress zyme together?Ive just changed 50%of the tank water,Still full of ammonia,what do you think of the filters im running vbaby?It should be enough shoudnt it?

mate ive got a fluval304 and a fluval404 running on my 125g tank and they r doing just fine and i really feed to much food to my O's(they always look hungry) amo lock will be good and stres zyme wont do any harm keep doing huge water change s stop the feeding for a couple of days. and have a good chat to yr O's and tell them to cut down on their toilet habbits and u should be fine.