First Time High Ammonia!

[gardenlady]

WOW! That's a lot of food! I'm sure my husband was as well..when he told me they were starving and ate it all up, I told him that they always act hungry. He didn't go as far as your friends problem, but I'm certain he overfed them and with such a tiny container it's not wonder the ammonia really kicked up. Thank goodness I wasn't gone for two weeks or they'd all be gone. I told him I could see him heading to the pond place and asking for fish that looked like the ones I had so he could stay out of trouble. Educating him now. Thanks again Sissy..I appreciate your assistance.

 

[sissy]

LOL I could just see the guy in the store looking at him like your kidding right .Oh well that's men for you .Ya gotta love them or you would kill them .I remember when I was still in NJ and hubby was here and he called me at work and wanted to know how to start the dish washer and took an hour to explain to him and then I thought to ask him you didn't overload it did you no he says there are just 4 dishes and a cup ,to lazy to wash them by hand ,good gosh . :cheerful:

 

[gardenlady]

HAHAHA! Men aren't always very smart unless they have a woman standing beside them. Sorry guys!!

 

[sissy]

very true my hubby has no clue how to do anything on his own he has gotten helpless .Not sure how he did it when i worked .I guess i am glad I never asked ,better not to know .I am just glad I taught my sons not to depend on any one but them selves .Both took after school cooking classes .

 

[gardenlady]

Well their girlfriends/wives will be happy that you did that!

 

[gardenlady]

I'm not having a lot of luck with the PDZ Sissy. I'm still doing partial water changes with the 30 gallon container and I added more of the PDZ in the tulle and put it in the basket underneath the batting to work with the one hanging underneath the basket. The ammonia is still between .50 and 1.0, the PH is still at 8.0 which is where it has always been, the High PH is about 8.4, Nitrite is 0, the Nitrate is 5.0 and the KH is actually better in only taking 16 drops to turn yellow. I just need to get the pond back together so the fish can get out of the darn container. Hubs is going to have the first opportunity to get the stones to rebuild the bog and get them mortared in if the weather holds out. They haven't been fed since Saturday and I'm not planning on feeding them until I get them back into the pond since I can't get the ammonia level down.

 

[sissy]

If you add a grass type plant they suck ammonia up also .i use lemon grass keeps mosquito's at bay also .I also have ribbon grass .Just curiose do you have a dog as they can pee in the pond or near it and with rain it can get washed in .I caught my neighbors dog over here yesterday peeing on a plant pot that was sitting on the edge of the pond .Just watch mortar as that can raise ph .I would stop feeding the fish also .Clean the batting often in peroxide and water as it may help also and keep more oxygen in the water .I guess it has been hot there which may not be helping .

 

[Dave 54]

I'm not having a lot of luck with the PDZ Sissy. I'm still doing partial water changes with the 30 gallon container and I added more of the PDZ in the tulle and put it in the basket underneath the batting to work with the one hanging underneath the basket. The ammonia is still between .50 and 1.0, the PH is still at 8.0 which is where it has always been, the High PH is about 8.4, Nitrite is 0, the Nitrate is 5.0 and the KH is actually better in only taking 16 drops to turn yellow. I just need to get the pond back together so the fish can get out of the darn container. Hubs is going to have the first opportunity to get the stones to rebuild the bog and get them mortared in if the weather holds out. They haven't been fed since Saturday and I'm not planning on feeding them until I get them back into the pond since I can't get the ammonia level down.

Try buying two sacks of zeolite and alternate them throughout the year as they soak up ammonia very effectively you recharge them by soaking them in a bucket of salt over 48hrs.
Add a few handfulls then disolve the salt in hot water leaving it to cool before adding zeolite place the rocks into a net bag then put it in the flow of your water passing through he filter.
This allows it to soak up the ammonia.
Its a simple process o swopping the bags over every few months and it will help you with your ammonia problems

rgrds

Dave

 

[gardenlady]

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

 

[gardenlady]

We have four dogs, but we have wrought iron fence that separates the pond from the pool side of the backyard so that's not it. It is extremely hot but I do have an umbrella shading the container. I just can't wait to get them back into the pond and get all my test numbers back to where they should be..ZERO.

 

[sissy]

once they are back in the pond it will change .Right now they have no space for the built up stuff to go .Even shading does not cool off water get a plain old cheap thermometer and see what the temps of the water .

 

[gardenlady]

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.

 

[gardenlady]

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

 

[sissy]

decided to test rain water after storm last night and wonder now what rain brings to all our ponds .
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[gardenlady]

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.