Healthy tank - why is there still amonia?

[Hollyhobby]

I have a month old tank...fish seem happy...eat very well....but water is always in danger zone amonia. Help?

[cousin it]

Hi
could you possibly give a few details about your aquarium and current fish.

[Darryl1984]

Could be over stocked or your over feeding.

[Carylnz]

Until we know more details it is impossible to say.
What size is the tank?
What sort, and how many, fish are in it?
Are there plants?

[Hollyhobby]

I have a 10 gallon tank with a hang on filter. I have three fish.. An angel fish, a peacock eel, and a red-tailed shark. I only give them Blood worms and Brine Shrimp at the moment.
My water smells fish (slightly) and I just changed it on Sunday. Today is Tuesday. The Shark and Eel is almost 3 inches each as is the Angel Fish.
I change the water frequently and it is always high in ammonia even after I put in the ammonia blok. My ph is fine but now it's getting acidic and it had not done that before.

The fish are swimming fine, they eat when I drop in the food and they are great in color...they are not listless or irrational.
I have real plants and colored gravel with a little black sand at the bottom. I have an air feeder too.

Can anyone tell me what to do? I plan to get a 55 gal after the holidays, I just want to make sure they will survive until then

[Carylnz]

What country are you in? Not sure if you are talking US or imperial gallons.
What are the tank dimensions? If I have converted the gallons correctly, you have a 2ft tank?
If so, this is way too small for the fish you have. If these 3 fish are all 3" long then they will be producing a lot of waste for a month old tank which will still be cycling.
How much water do you change each time?
I assume you have not been cleaning the filter either as it will still be growing beneficial bacteria.
An ammonia block is probably upsetting your ammonia readings. Although it binds the ammonia, making it less harmful, it is still in the water so the test kit reads it. If you were cycling the tank correctly there would be no need for an ammonia block.
I suspect your problem may be too many fish that are too large for the newly set up tank.

[Rockfish]

Hi,

I'm guessing they might be US gallon sizes?

As Caryl said, the fish you have are too large for a 10 gallon tank, so it's good that you are getting a larger tank. To help the fish to survive until then you need to minimise wastes in the tank.

You can do this firstly by minimising the waste produced, which means cutting down on the food - maybe feed only every other day, or at least cut the portion size down. I would also try to introduce a dry (flake/granular) food for the angel and shark to vary the diet (the eel might even learn to eat the dry food). The red-tailed shark is more of an omnivore that needs some veggie food in the diet and using only bloodworm and brine shrimp won't be ideal in the longer term.

Secondly I would do regular water changes (say 25% twice per week) to dilute out the wastes, and the minerals from the fresh water should also help to stabilise your pH and stop it sinking (pH going acidic is a classic symptom of rising waste levels and declining buffer salts - so water changes help combat both of these).