High Ammonia & Trace GH

[Lam Nguyen]

Rookie Golden Rule #1: Always Test Your Water Periodically.

Rookie Golden Rule #2: Patience Is A Virtue, Young Grasshopper.

As many of you guys know I finished my QT tank about two weeks ago and immediately stocked it with 12 of of my potential koi. I also immediately started feeding them Dainichi Growth and when it ran out, changed over to Saki-Hikari Growth. Over the past week, I have been feeding them 4-5 times per day (amount = enough for them to finish in ~ 5min). Lately I have noticed that their appetite has not been as voracious as before, so I decided to test the water. I have never tested the water in the QT tank until today and here are the numbers:

pH: 7.3
Salt: 0.01%
Ammonia: > 8 PPM
Nitrite: < 0.25 PPM
Nitrate: < 0.25 PPM
GH: ~ 0 dH
KH: ~ 54 (3 drops x 17.9)

The pH & salt were tested using the KoiMedic Digital Tester. The other parameters were tested using a Tetra solution test kit that is about a year old. As soon as I found that the ammonia level was > 8PPM, I immediately changed about 1/2 the tank. Now the ammonia level is down to about ~3PPM. I have also halted feeding altogether. I know that the testing solutions are still good because I tested them using tap water and the ammonia, nitrite, & nitrate levels were undetectable.

Anyways, here are my questions:

1. Is it possible to have high ammonia level with almost undetectable levels of nitrite and nitrate?

2. Is it possible to have a GH of 0 dH?

[gspotmc]

Do you have a water softener? Your Kh seems low enough. Please check your TDS as well.

[gspotmc]

new pond syndrome

[ranskye]

yes you can have high ammonia with low nitrate and nitrate levels.
especially after you first start a system.

if you are able to, have a look on the net for a chart which someone may have made by using their levels for all three forms of nitrogen.

what basically happens in a new system is that ammonia is produced by the fish respiration and waste food. so you have high ammonia.
then some of that ammonia is converted by a certain type of bacteria into nitrite which is still a bit toxic to fish. now nitrate has to be present for a while for the second type of bacteria to colonise your media and they will then convert the nitrite into nitrate.
hence the reason why a filter must be up and running for a while.
it can take about 8 weeks.
there is a lag between both types of bacteria simply because their food is not there innitially and it takes time for them to build big enough numbers to take effect and do an effective conversion.
so you get a succession happening.

you are now making sure the levels dont go too high while you wait for the two types of bacteria to build. keep in mind that if you have zero ammonia to begin with you wont allow the filter to build its colonies.

my aquaculture teacher told me the classic story about how little jonny would buy a tank, feed and then kill all the fish. clean his tank right out dry then buy again and then feed and kill the fish. that would happen over and over again until he gave up or took another approach. over the next six or so weeks plot your figures and you will see what i have told you about above.

[farne230]

Yes, grasshopper, you new QT is going through its normal startup cycle and you are dumping alot of nutrients in the water very fast, change water and add Cholorm-x or something to reduce ammonia.
Bob

[ranskye]

if its a QT tank it may be that you will be finished there before your filter kicks in so maybe pinch some media from another stable filter. i often remove some bags of media and put them in new systems.

[Lam Nguyen]

Thank you for all the helpful responses, guys. As always, young grasshopper is absorbing. Will add some chloroform-x today and reduce my feeding while I wait for the filters to mature.

[dick benbow]

one of the things i like about k-1 moving bed filter media is the ease it is to move from an established filter to a new start up. If you have this type in an in series set up, you always robb from the second one (downstream from the first) and the replacement media because it is downstream from an established colony seems to brown up quicker, especially is you presoak the new stuff in PP as it seems to etch it in a way that colonies can get a foothold easier.

Lam thanks for being honest about your learning curve. Hopefully you saved another from the experience and if the old timers were truthful they'd admitt that most of the way we learned was the "hard way"...

[KoiCop]

Hello Lam . . .

At the core of New Pond Syndrome is completing the Nitrogen Cycle. Feed sparingly (if at all) during this period.

Ammonia from fish/food is broken down by one group of bacteria; it can take 7-10 days with elevated ammonia readings for this group of bacteria to become established and to start producing significant levels of nitrite. Use an ammonia binder (like Amquel or ClorAm-X) to protect the fish from being harmed by the ammonia.

The nitrite is broken down by another group of bacteria; it can take another two weeks with elevated nitrite readings for this group of bacteria to become established and to start producing significant levels of nitrate. Use a salt level of .10 to protect the fish from being harmed by the nitrite.

Once the Nitrogen Cycle has been completed (usually a total of 3 to 4 weeks), ammonia and nitrite readings should be undetectable.

Use water changes to keep the nitrate level under 40 ppm; under 10 ppm would be ideal.

To learn more about some of the other aspects of New Pond Syndrome, here's a great thread with some classic posts by JR:

Nishikigoi International: Seeding koi ponds with an initial species inoculation

[Lam Nguyen]

Thanks again for the responses guys. I should have known better than to start aggressively feeding my koi so quickly. Dick, it's nice to know that you should pretreat your k-1 w/PP to make bacteria attach better. Bob, I will definitely get some ChlorAm-X after work today. And Don, thanks for the link and explanation. I kinda read up on the nitrogen cycle and thought that both types of bacteria should be growing at the same rate. Anyways, thanks again.

gspotmc, no I don't have a water softener. I think that my water supply is just that low since I also test the tap water and the GH & KH readings were similar to the GH & KH readings from my pond. I sure hope that this is true because I don't want any shimi developing on my koi.