First Time High Ammonia!

[gardenlady]

Ohhh..did you say that you can only get the zeolite at the pet store?

 

[Dave 54]

Dave..what kind of salt do you add to the zeolite? Sea salt, table salt or something else?

You can buy what is termed pond salt in large sacks but it's cheaper going to the supermarket and buyig cooking salt.

rgrds

Dave

 

[gardenlady]

There's salt actually termed "cooking salt"? I will look for it next time I head to the grocery store. Thanks Dave!

You can buy what is termed pond salt in large sacks but it's cheaper going to the supermarket and buyig cooking salt.

rgrds

Dave

 

[sissy]

yep and you can also get ammonia absorbing pads and I always tell people when I mention zeolite because maybe there is no place they can get PDZ .My ammonia is zero

 

[sissy]

they don't sell cooking salt in the U.S since all the highblood pressure stuff they do sell table salt but solar salt at about 5 dollars a bag is the same thing,The salt we buy is iodized for cooking .
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[gardenlady]

Where do you get that bag? PDZ and zeolite are two different things right?

 

[sissy]

pdz is zeolite just in a finer form and there are ammonia reducing pads also .I get solar salt lowes ,home depot and even some grocery stores carrry it .Most hardware store if you call them and tell them you want water softner salt in the blue bag not the pink bag .Pink bag has additives .

 

[gardenlady]

So once I get the fish back into the pond and my ammonia is back to zero, which should I use continually? I can probably put whatever you suggest in a position for the waterfall to run over it. I'm always going to use the spitter going into batting since it keeps my water crystal clear.

 

[sissy]

Go with what works for you and you are the best one to know what your weather is like and what you will need to do .I know I use lava rock (frowned on by some ) but it works and has worked for me for 10 years now .I keep quilt batting in all spring summer and fall .I do put a furnace filter on top to catch the big stuff so the quilt batting only pics up the finer stuff .Furnace filter I get at lowes but you can find it other places .Acurel I get from petmountain.com and you can also buy ammnia reducing pads there
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[crsublette]

There's salt actually termed "cooking salt"? I will look for it next time I head to the grocery store. Thanks Dave!

Check out the thread, what kind of salt? It lists the parameters to look out for if you can't find the Solar Salt

 

[crsublette]

Thanks Dave and I will try that, but I have never had a problem with the ammonia until the bog collapsed *hubs didn't mortar it* and it put a whole in the liner so he had to take the entire pond apart and patch it. In the meantime, he had my 19 fish in a 30 gallon container and was feeding them everyday (I was out of town during all of this) which I believe the ammonia problem came from. I'm trying to keep them alive until we get the pond back together by not feeding them, doing partial water changes and using the PDZ Refresher that Sissy suggested. He picked up rocks today which he is cutting to size now, and then will figure the arrangement today. Saturday *his only other free day* he will mortar them in place...weather permitting. So hopefully I can have the bog and waterfall back in place and hopefully can get the fish back in on Sunday or Monday. What do you think of all those readings I listed? Anything critical to the fish besides the ammonia? This is the first time in a while that the KH is down to 16 drops to turn yellow instead of 22-23 so for some reason being in the container lower it. We do have hard water here and the PH level on the tap is the same of the pond. Thanks! Julie

So how different is that from what it normally reads when you test from the pond? My ammonia level is at the .25 this morning, but almost all the water was gone in the tub except for about three inches *my poor fish* so that has to be why. I had rearranged the spitter setup and it ended up flowing more water out than in. My nitrite was not zero for the first time so no clue what happened. I did feed the fish a little bit this morning because there is no algae or anything else for them to live off of in that container so hopefully it doesn't shoot the ammonia back up.

Stuck the pool thermometer in there for about 20 minutes and it's reading at 82 so that's not bad. Feels a lot cooler in there than outside temp. The batting isn't picking up much either but there's not much to pick up I guess. They still seem okay.....swimming around and sometimes gathered together in a corner. Not even coming to the top when I come outside because I guess they've gotten used to it meaning I'm not there to feed them.

The better you can flow water to come into contact with more of the zeolite surface area then the better the zeolite will absorb the ammonia. You can build your own filter, as described by DIY source water filter. This filter is a bit more complicated, will cost more to build, but it will likely do a better job. Although, I think what you are doing right now is just fine.

After using an ammonia calculator:
At 8.4 pH and water temperatue 82*F with .50ppm total ammonia, then your toxic ammonia is hovering at .074ppm (NH3). This is dangerous and not healthy to the fish at all. Quite likely causing gill damage.

At 8.4 pH and water temperatue 82*F with .25ppm total ammonia, then your toxic ammonia is hovering at .039ppm (NH3). Tremendously better, but I would not like to see it at that level for too long.

Your source water sounds quite fine. Other than what you have done already with zeolite and reduced feeding, then you will need to significantly imporve your water changing.

This is assuming the chlorine or chloramine levels are manageable. Since it is only 30 gallons, then you could probably treat the water for chlorine or chlormaine seperately in a bucket or another container prior to dumping it into your 30 gallon container with the fish.

 

[crsublette]

photo.JPGWent on a week long vacation to Hollywood, California and during that time the bog collapsed tearing one hole in the liner. Hubs while I was gone put the fish in a 30 gallon container, plants in several others and disaseembled the entire pond to get the liner out. I came home today and tested the 30 gallon container and found everything fine except for the ammonia which for the first time wasn't zero..it was between a 1.0 and 2.0. I did a 50% water change..setup the batting to catch all the yuk and added 8 tablespoons of sea salt. Three hours later the water is almost completely clear and I can see the fish but it's just slightly better green than before. Can anyone tell me what else I should do please? My plan was to do partial water changes for a couple of days and see where it gets me. 1) I didn't want to add chemicals because all of you who know everything advice against it.

1) I didn't want to add chemicals because all of you who know everything advice against it.

The exception to that rule is your situation right now.

When your ammonia problem become quite high, then it is quite common to use a fish safe ammonia chemical binder product. My post#12 in thread, Really bad city water, explains the products usage.

In between periods of water changes, you could dose your water with an ammonia chemical binder product to neutralize the remainder of the ammonia. Although, you will still need to continue doing what you are doing. The binder product just ensures the present ammonia will not damage the fish's gills any further.

 

[gardenlady]

What's this chemical binder product called? I read somewhere to put in a specific amount of sea or table salt to produce the slime coating or whatever to help them with all of these water changes. Going to go check my ammonia level again and will post the result in a few minutes..I'm trying so hard to save my fish until I get them back into the pond!!

 

[crsublette]

What's this chemical binder product called? I read somewhere to put in a specific amount of sea or table salt to produce the slime coating or whatever to help them with all of these water changes. Going to go check my ammonia level again and will post the result in a few minutes..I'm trying so hard to save my fish until I get them back into the pond!!

Yeah, since this is quite a transition period the fish are experience with all of the water changes, the salt in this scenario is quite likely helpful. I would just keep the salinity to around .2%. Get your self a simple cheap salinity meter from a local fish store.

For the ammonia binder, Amquel Plus or another product called "Ultimate water conditioner" (by AquaScience Research group). I am told Tetra makes a decent enough ammonia binder, but be sure to read the hyperlink I posted since particular binder products may create a false positive on your ammonia test kit.


Just keep doing what you are doing. Personally, I would also look into using an ammonia binder product. The fish might be dinged a little by the high ammonia, but I will be more of glass half full this time around. :beer:


You are doing fabulous!!! :banana: :claphands:

 

[gardenlady]

Okay...here are the results of all of the tests. Didn't do the KH but it was 16 drops this morning. Let me know what you think. Normally my PH is always a light royal blue. This test is the first time that it's not that color.