Best way to get rid of high ammonia in stingray tank?

[snow]

My ammonia is high in one of my stingray tanks. I discovered this 2 days ago. Since then I have stopped feeding and been adding cycle. I also did a 30% water change 10mins ago and added aqua plus with that. Is this the way to get rid of ammonia or is there a better way? (which I think there is). I'm a little uncertain since rays are more sensetive to medications.
Any help would be awsome, thanks.

 

[skynoch]

Okay first thing to do is at least a 50% waterchange with pretreated water (use a good water conditioner like prime dosing for the wole tank volume). Then check to see if something is rotting in your tanks or if it's been awhile gravle vac your bottom or check/clean your filter. If this was all just done and your maintenance isn't lagging then you need to add alot more bo material to either your sump or filter. If you need to purchase a new filter take half your bio from your old filter and put it in your new filter to help with seeding. Cycle isn't going to really help with your bio like you had hoped but there is a frozen solution ( sorry I can't remember the name) that will give you an instant bio culture. For the next while you will need to do daily waterchanges to keep your ammonia down and keep your feeding down.

 

[skynoch]

Sorry but forgot to ask what is the nitrite and nitrate readings? How long has the tank been running for and have you added any new tank occupants?

 

[snow]

Well I lost me master test kit a year ago and have not found it yet. It's in a box or something so I have been taking the water to me LFS. The ammonia reading was high. That nitrate reading was above normal but not alarming, although not good b/c this is a stingray tank. The tank has been set up for 4 years but I just put the two stingrays in there 2.5weeks ago. They are both large, 15" in size and it's only a 75g tank. I did not have the main tank set up yet but now it is. I have fish in the new set-up. The water in there is PERFECT. I wanted to have the rays in there by now but I don't want to stress moving them when the water is not good. They are both still active but the male eats less now b/c of the water.
Maybe the best thing for them is to take them out and drip method them into the new tank? to get them out of that crappy water...

 

[snow]

btw the said stingrays are the two in my avatar. As you can see the tank is bare bottom and they are also the only fish in there.

 

[skynoch]

Yes get them over to the main tank and move your filter from the 75g over to the main tank. You are also going to need that frozen biomedia (I'll try and find the name today) as the new tank probably won't have enough established biomedia in it to support the rays. Your very lucky to have the rays alive right now as ammonia can kill rays in less than a 1/2 a day depending on the level. Pickup nitrate,nitrite, ammonia and ph test kit also as they will be needed in the next couple weeks. Test the ph of your old tank and your new tank (post the readings here) as your ph in your old tank may have crashed and it if has keep doing small waterchanges on the small tank over the next couple days to bring it up to the main tank and then switch the ray over. You may need to do small waterchanges twice a day in the small one to keep the ammonia down for now. Once it has switched over test your nitrate,nitrite, ammonia and ph on the big tank everyday to see if it is cycled fully or goes into a mini cycle. Post your readings on the main tank once it is switched as you may have to do daily waterchanges on it until your tank is fully cycled and has enough bio to support 2 large rays.

 

[snow]

Okay then, Ill do that. Yes, try and find the name of the frozen stuff as I don't know what that is. Should I drip method them into the new tank? So I should hook up my canister from the old tank to my sump, right?
thanks for your help BTW.

 

[hustler]

In my 300 gallon..... it was fully cycled and running great even have the 60gpd auto drip on it...... the day after i added my 2 big motoro's it trippled my bio load..... NO joke... I had to double the ceramic rings, and start doing water changes on top of the drip.... now its a waiting game to see if it balances out or if i have to add another filter??? Good post bro

 

[chen88]

I was very late on this but the way I got rid of mine was the auto top up! Before this I would do 40% wc every 3 days. Now I'm only changing 30% wc every two weeks with 0 reading for amo and nit

 

[skynoch]

Okay then, Ill do that. Yes, try and find the name of the frozen stuff as I don't know what that is. Should I drip method them into the new tank? So I should hook up my canister from the old tank to my sump, right?
thanks for your help BTW.

Bio-spira is the name of it. Your canister may have to go on the tank itself as you may have problems priming it on the sump but it can go on either. If your ph is close I would take out half the water on your small tank and then refill it slowly with water from your big tank (within 20 minutes if you need to shut off your canister or an hour if you don't have to). Once that is done top off your big tank with treated water and move the rays. Best way to move rays I've found is with a rubber net or guide them into a rubbermaid container big enough for them and transfer them over, use the rubbermaid way only with 12" and under rays.

 

[snow]

okay I will get some of that bio spira. I'll do that then today. Why can't I use a rubbermaid for rays over 12"? I have a bin that 17" wide and 8" tall. Can't I use that? It's what I've used for other rays...

 

[snow]

Wait is this the stuff here right? http://www.bigalsonline.ca/Fish_Add...itives_BIO-Spira_10335233_102.html?tc=default
Is says it's for saltwater. Also do I add the bio spira into the current stingray tank or the new one?
I was thinking after I put the water from the new tank into the stingray then while I was filling up the new tank with treated water I would add this stuff in with the new water so it's already in the tank when the rays go in. Also how many bottles do I have to use? It's says 100ml on treats 30g. I would need like 8 bottles. That's a lot of $$$!

 

[skynoch]

http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/biosp02.htm
Is the stuff I'm refering to not sure if they are the same or not?
The reason I don't use large rubbermaids to move big rays is it's hard to get them into the tank and then lift out with the weight of the water and the fact your on a ladder or chair to do this. I will use them in ponds to move a little larger rays.
Use the bio-spira in the new tank directly in the filter. It is pricey but it's all you can do quickly now as it will take awhile for your bacteria to build up to handle the new bio-load. Adding adult rays to any tank can cause a huge change in bioload and must be done with caution when doing so. I think this is why chen and Hustler would have been having any ammonia issues is thier biological substrate wasn't mature enough for the amount of bioload they were adding. I know Chen has enough biological substrate in his tank to house twice as many rays as he has it just needs to build up the bacteria.

 

[snow]

Thanks. But can anyone put anymore info in on this bio-spira? Which one is it? Or are they are same? I'm not sure which one to get.

 

[snow]

bump!

 

[snow]

bump...

 

[skynoch]

Sorry it's been awhile since I've had to do this but apparently tetra bought out bio-spira freshwater and put it to what they call tetra safestart which doesn'thave to be refridgerated, I also heard it wasn't as good. If all else fails and you can't find this stick with waterchanges daily and do your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests. When ammonia and nitrite read 0 and you have noticeable nitrates you can start slowing down the waterchanges to where you get around 10-40 ppm nitrate.

 

[hustler]

Did you find out what your ammo reading was?
worst i had so far was 0.05 when i started on the water changes again...
i dont know if thats leathal or not but with rays im thinking you need zero

 

[hustler]

Also im using the seachem stability daily.... I dont know if this is maybe why im not 100% cycled yet but everyone says it works well for bio?

 

[peacockbass]

invest 20 bucks for a water test kit and check what your water parameters are....ammonia should be at 0 so it sounds like your tank is not fully cycled....