How to Remove Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonia From A Freshwater Aquarium

[marilyn00700]

i try the salt it lowerd ammonia so fast and my fish are more active then ever thank you

[Kairuka]

Some fish CANNOT TOLERATE salt! Please make sure your fish is not salt intolerant before using it! Corydoras catfish, for instance, can be literally chemical burned alive by aquarium salt. I thankfully found this out before I used salt to treat my fish, but it would be a terrible lesson to learn the hard way!

[bmw328igrly]

@Kairuka Thank you for reiterating the point. Scaleless fish will die if you use salt in the tank



[spamllpitdept]

Hi. What test kit are you using?

[bmw328igrly]

@spamllpitdept I believe it is an API freshwater master test kit. This vid was done a while ago and since then I've thrown away that kit

[romeo9229]

Do I need to add all of this at the same time..?? Or how.??? Lol

[bmw328igrly]

@romeo9229 Sorry for the late reply. You don't need to use all of these at the same time. The best thing to do is to keep doing water changes. The chemicals are meant to help your fish out until you can get the water to more stable levels

[ericfan1223]

i just got my tank today dy and my ammonia is vary high, what do i do?

i based my tank off yours thank a lot for helping

[ben191209]

@ericfan1223 You can (most likley should) add some of this AmQuel plus. It is pretty efective. It detoxifies chlorimines, chlorine, Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. In addition to this i would also add AquaSafe with Bio-Extract and a small amount of API or other brand Aquaira salt. God bless!

[bmw328igrly]

@ben191209 Thanks Ben for responding to eric :) I haven't been on here lately. I would have said everything you did. :)

[ben191209]

@bmw328igrly You are very welcome. God bless!

[bmw328igrly]

@ben191209 Likewise!

[ben191209]

@bmw328igrly Hey, I just set my guppy tank up about 2 months ago, and it is very heavily stocked It has no ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. Know why?

[bmw328igrly]

@ben191209 Excellent filtration system?

[ben191209]

@bmw328igrly No, the filter is horrible. I put live plants in and do water changes to get rid of nitrate, and ammonia and nitrite are taken care of because i moved about half the bio-load from my slowly being destocked 10 gallon.

[Miguelguzman360]

What can aquarium salt cure??

[bmw328igrly]

@Miguelguzman360 It doesn't really "cure" per se. It does help treat a lot of diseases though. It helps treat diseases such as ich. :)

[mexicanamerican21]

how do i get my ammonia levels down to 0ppm

[mexicanamerican21]

@mexicanamerican21 its a 55 gl an ive already put my stress coat an salt, but i have ph increase an decrease, any advice

[bmw328igrly]

@mexicanamerican21 Water changes are the best thing to remove ammonia. Over time, the water levels will come back down. In the meanwhile, If any fish are suffering and need some relief, I recommend using the amquel plus after a good water change. :)

[bmw328igrly]

@mexicanamerican21 Also, please check out my website. I have a great article on how to lower ammonia. :) I will send you a pm with the website link.

[mexicanamerican21]

@bmw328igrly ok thanks alot, i have a rare peacock cichlid, a red tail, arowana, an2 oscars an i forgot how dirty the oscars are an im trying to get rid of them, idunno if their shit messes up the water but it just gets dirty quick

[bmw328igrly]

@mexicanamerican21 You're welcome.

I'm sure it is due to the amount of waste that the fish are producing. If you keep a regular water change routine, you will notice a major difference in the quality of the water. :)

[MRKD90]

@bmw328igrly Hi, Yes im sure a small tutorial would help. Although i have a 60l biOrb i dont think its an item id put in a biOrb, its always something to think about in the future though! :)

[bmw328igrly]

@MRKD90 Will do! :) I will see if I can add it by the end of this week. Please subscribe to keep posted. :)

[MRKD90]

Had a look at the tank, looks really nice where abouts did you gelt the tresure chest that opens every 5 seconds?? Really nice lol

[bmw328igrly]

@MRKD90 Thanks! :) I think I got the treasure chest from either walmart or petco. You have to use an air valve to regulate the amount of air going to it. Otherwise it stays open and has a lot of bubbles. lol! I can make a tutorial on that if you'd like. :)

[7772regina]

I have some fishes and they die because they had stress i did not know that they will die so i got some more fishes and i brought some stress coat and some Aquarium salt for them .

[visualkeirockstar]

doesn't the plants absorb them?

[bmw328igrly]

@visualkeirockstar They do help somewhat but not to the degree where they remove them completely. Water changes are the best at removing high levels of nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia.

[RussianSpetsnaz0123]

does the aquarium salt help HOTH in oscars because i am getting oscars and dont know if i should get something just for HOTH or aquarium salt just in case they get HOTH

[bmw328igrly]

@RussianSpetsnaz0123 Salt can help but I recommend doing water changes before using the salt. Also, If you have any scaleless fish, such as a pleco, don't use salt in that tank. The salt can harm the scaleless fish. I'll do a write-up on HITH on my website soon for you. :) Just check out the website in the video.

[RussianSpetsnaz0123]

@bmw328igrly Thank You it helped me a lot

[bmw328igrly]

@RussianSpetsnaz0123 You are most welcome! :) Please stop by anytime!

[bryanbarcelo1]

watch?v=P_uegYycxbk&amp

[chinolal]

no amquel + does not remove nitrates, ammonia, nitrites. These compounds will still be in the tank but in a non toxic form for a limited amount of time. Within that period of time, a good biological filtration will remove ammonia and nitrites. However, nitrates will still be there so water changes are needed.

[bmw328igrly]

@chinolal Actually it does remove nitrate, nitrite, ammonia; it doesn't remove all of it but it removes some of it.

[espirates2]

@bmw328igrly the only thing it removes is the chlorine, the rest it only detoxifies, not the same as removing.

[bmw328igrly]

@ATP6TS you should add 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons. Once you do the water change, add the 3 tablespoons. When you do another water change, don't add another 3 tablespoons. You can use a hydrometer to see how much salt is in the water as well. If you need more help, please e-mail me at mrsjaymay23@hotmail.com

[Pop12646Okami]

Okay, well, I tried this "Amquel plus" and it didn't work at all....

[bmw328igrly]

@Pop12646Okami Did you retest the water? How do you know it didn't work? I personally have never had a problem with Amquel working. Maybe you got a bad bottle? It could be that you had too many nitrates to start off with. Amquel doesn't remove all the nitrates. It only removes some.

[Pop12646Okami]

@bmw328igrly I tried it for three days: After the third time I added it, I tested the water. There was no change at all. The nitrates/nitrites were a little high, but even after I used it, there was no change.

You're probably right, maybe I did get a bad bottle, or the nitrates/nitrites were too high.

[bmw328igrly]

@Pop12646Okami I'm guessing the nitrates were really high. Did you try a water change as well? If you do a water change then test, the test results aren't always accurate.

Try a water change. That will significantly lower the nitrates. :) Keep me posted. :)

[Pop12646Okami]

@bmw328igrly Actually, I've been doing a 20% water change every two days and it kinda helped.

I can't do over 25%, though, cause it sends the snails into shock :(

[bmw328igrly]

@Pop12646Okami Glad to hear the water changes are helping a little. Also, try doing a good cleaning of the filter. It could be that the filter is clogged and is not working at optimum. What size filter do you have? What size tank? It could be that you have too much bio load for the filter.

[Pop12646Okami]

@bmw328igrly I have a ten gallon tank, an Aqua Tech bio filter, and a whole lot of fish, including 1 platy, 1 fantail (biggest part of the problem) and the platy's babies. I'm going to get an outdoor pond for the little fantail this spring (since winter is coming and it will be too cold to get the pond in the ground.

Also, would you happen to know how to get mold off of a bio filter cartridge? It came with the filter (just a piece of plastic with some tangled "bio filter" stuff inside)

[bmw328igrly]

@Pop12646Okami Can you send me a pic of the filter? Send it to mrsjaymay23@hotmail.com. What size filter is it?

[don83030]

are there other conditioners that removing nitrite

[bmw328igrly]

@don83030 There are others but I don't like to recommend products that I don't use or have experience with. The best thing to do is a water change. The water changes work miracles. :) Hope this helps.

[shannonm86]

I need some help removing nitrites. Ive already had one fish die. I have a 65 gallon tank with 5 (used to be 6) zebra danios. Thats it. No live plants. the tank has been set up for about 1 month. My nitrite levels are through the roof. The first day I did a 20% water change, and replaced that water with Nutrafin aquaplus conditioned water. and added Nutrafin cycle. FOr the last 5 days Ive been adding nutrafin Cycle to the tank with no change in my levels. What do you suggest?

[bmw328igrly]

@shannonm86 Do you know if your tank is fully cycled? Are there any other chemicals that are out of whack? High nitrites could mean either your tank isn't cycled or the fish are being overfed (lots of ammonia that turned into nitrites).

[bergi85]

Can you add aquarium salt at anytime? Does it dissolve?

[bmw328igrly]

@bergi85 Yeah, you can add it anytime. Just make sure to keep a hydrometer on hand; Too much salt can harm the fish. The salt does dissolve within a minute. :)

Hope that helps!

[bergi85]

@bmw328igrly Cool thanks!



[WWpictures100]

To reduce ammonia, nitrate, and, nitrite you should reduce you feedings to once every two days

[bmw328igrly]

@WWpictures100 You could do that but I prefer to feed my fish on a daily basis.

[WWpictures100]

@bmw328igrly Overfeeding can lead to stress problem just be careful of how much you feed them 3 minutes to consume the food

[500bmw1]

Sometimes#

[500bmw1]

My fish scratchs itself on the rocks somet

[bmw328igrly]

@500bmw1 That isn't a good sign. Could be a parasite or ich.

[slapurmommaz]

I just put a pinch of iodized sea salt in my aquarium...hope I don't kill anyone.

[desertbard]

Some of the products used to condition water seem not to effect metals in solution which might effect shrimp and Stress Coat is one that has been suspect in causing invertibrates problems. I know my LFS looses on Ghost Shrimp are extremely high. Mortallity in my tanks is less than in theirs, but still not acceptable. I figure it is the copper tubing used to bring water to our houses and perhaps the very small anound ot lead. How do we eliminate the metals?

[bmw328igrly]

@desertbard I haven't heard about metals in the water killing the shrimp but the best way to go around that, as far as I know, is to buy distilled water. It is a more expensive route, but you can use some distilled water to lessen the metals in the water. I will try to do some research on this particular subject and I will have to get back to you. :) I hope at least the info I gave you helps a little.

[bmw328igrly]

@desertbard pm sent to you.

[desertbard]

@desertbard Thanks for the direct answer. Perhaps you would like to share it here, that would be great. I think I have parts of 2 RO filters and that will be my final solution. The other solution you gave sounds far less pricey, but like I said I have parts to work from.

[bmw328igrly]

@desertbard I tried sharing it on the comments section but it was too long for the allowed comment size. :( If anyone wants to know what I said, I would be more than happy to send the same e-mail out. :) I'm glad I could help you out, desertbard! :)

[ernotw]

sorry they had to be in parts... to long to post. :)

[bmw328igrly]

@ernotw Sorry for not responding sooner. :( In my opinion, the water doesn't sound like it ever completely cycled. Besides having everything set up, did you add any chemicals to the water for it to cycle? The fish are getting the ich from being stressed out over the water conditions.

[ernotw]

So far I have bought testing strips, stress Zyme, ph corrector, and Ich treatment and have been cleaning the water (only 25 percent) Now I am not so confident they will make it. what else can I do? You mentioned salt... but isn't it fresh water.? Help me please :(

[bmw328igrly]

@ernotw The best thing to do is to let the tank cycle. Unfortunately, you may lose some fish in the process. Even though it is a freshwater tank, you can add salt to it to help out the fish. Hope this helps. Please contact me if you need further help.

[ernotw]

We bought the strips to test water total hardness scored 150, alkalinity was 300, ph was 8.4 , and nitrite was .5 the only passing test was nitrate. bought the ICH treatment and they cleared in about 3 days, but they are reaperingagain and it hasn't even been 24 hours, My tiger barbs look like they are ghoing to die soon, one of our gold fancy fish has very red eyes and our plecostomus fish doesn't seem affected.

[ernotw]

Love your video!! Thanks!!! Need help... Set up my aquarium for about week and a half, have filter, heater, thermameter, bubbles, plants (fake) and bouat for fish to hide in, and pebbles, have no idea why my fish are sick, looked and researched a little of what they have... it appears to be ICH... Earl May, where I bought the fish were not much help :(

[whymelaugh]

Hello, I was wondering if you had any links (or you've possibly put up a video) explaining how to manage an aquarium properly. I'm a complete novice when it comes to the larger and more advance side of fish tanks.

[bmw328igrly]

@whymelaugh Actually... I have a website that can walk you through all the steps of start up and maintenance. I will send it to you in a pm since I can't post the website in the comment.

[2468colorado]

Umm... on the back of amquel says that you must allow a 24 hour period between single dose applications. Does that mean that you have to wait 24 hours after the liquid is put in and then put in the fish?

[bmw328igrly]

@2468colorado Question for you: Are you starting up an aquarium?

[2468colorado]

@bmw328igrly yes.  I have everything pretty much ready, if it's of any help.

[bmw328igrly]

@2468colorado What are the readings in your aquarium? You might have to add stress zyme instead of amquel. Have you started up aquariums before? If not, I have some very helpful links that may be of service to you.

[2468colorado]

@bmw328igrly Actually this is the first time I start an aquarium. I'm new to everything basically.

[bmw328igrly]

@2468colorado I sent a pm to you. In the pm I listed my site for you to check out. If you have any questions about anything, please let me know and I will be happy to assist you.

[bmw328igrly]

I sent you a pm. It has my website listed in there to help you out. If you have any questions, please contact me and I will be more than happy to assist you. 

[2468colorado]

How much AmQuel plus do I use for a two gallon tank?

[bmw328igrly]

@2468colorado You are going to want to use a very small amount. The dosage is one teaspoonful of amquel per ten gallons. You should only use 1/5 of a teaspoon for a 2 gallon. :)

[bmw328igrly]

@2468colorado You are going to want to use a very small amount. The dosage is one teaspoonful of amquel per ten gallons. You should only use 1/5 of a teaspoon for a 2 gallon. 

[2468colorado]

@bmw328igrly Thank you! This really helped!

[0AqUa0903]

@djtiesto1022 4 table spoons

[djtiesto1022]

i have a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. how much aquarium salt should i put?

[iklepud]

thanks for getting back to me, the ammonia levels are fine i'll get a nitrite,nitrate test today and do a test and let you know,the tanks been running for about 9 months, the fitter's a fx5 fluval the temps around 26 at the mo the fish are staying in one spot head down shaking there heads a darting round the tank every now and then,and my clown knife fish is close to death i think. i'll put another vid up after work today.

[bmw328igrly]

@iklepud Ok. Ill await your test results. :)

My guess is that there is a parasite in the tank. Have you added anyone or anything new into that tank? If not, then it is a water quality issue.

[iklepud]

hi there.i live in a hard water areaof new zealand i have 2 tanks 1, 5ft the other 6 ft

the 5 ft one is fine the ph level stays normal but the 6ft tank is another story the ph level drops from 7.2 to just above 6.0 within a week theirs also a rotten smell about it to,i take out any uneatin food right away the tanks not overstocked theirs only 5 fish in it,the fish are fine after a water change,which i do every 2 weeks but soon after water change the fish start rubbing and shaking there heads.

[bmw328igrly]

@iklepud What are all the parameters? (nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, ph) I know you stated the ph, but take all the parameters at the same time so I can help you to figure out with the problem is. :) How long has the tank been running? Do you have a video of them acting funny so that I can see what they are doing? It sounds like it might be a possible parasite.

[raiden1019]

I clean my aquarium gravel once a week with water change at same time. i use that amequel nitratre removal 5 t'spoon on my 50 galon tank and i have the amonia removal on my canister filter.the problem is when i check for nitrate and im getting 160 on reading still. I check the tough water that i use its 0 of nitrate. what do you think is the problem?

[bmw328igrly]

@raiden1019 Are you sure you are reading it correctly? Its really hard to tell on that card. Also, are any fish dying in the tank? Another factor it could be too is that where you live there is already a presence of nitrates in the water before you add it in there. A way you can test this is by doing a water change then adding distilled water instead of the tap water. Make sure to test before and a couple days after you clean the aquarium. :) Hope this helps.

[raiden1019]

@bmw328igrly well i was using api test strip may be its a wrong reading. now im using a drop solution and stays on 40ppm.. all my fish are look happy and I never had any dead fish on my tank. I have UV light on my aquarium as well. and thanks for the advice I appreciate it

[bmw328igrly]

@raiden1019 you are most welcome. :) The reason why I asked if fish died was because if it was really that high of a reading, the fish wouldn't survive.

I'm glad you figured out what happened. :) Please check out my website listed in the video to find out more fish stuff. :)

[raiden1019]

@bmw328igrly Thanks I just did and i have fun reading your article your a fish wizard ;)

[bmw328igrly]

@raiden1019 Thank you! :) You too will soon be a fish wizard! :)

[jammiejammie12]

i have had a tank set up for a week now. Today im off toget some guppys but i ave not tested the water in my tank sould i buy a testing kit and if so what ones are the best im new to all this! thanks

[bmw328igrly]

@jammiejammie12 sorry about the late response; I wasnt aware of your message. The best test kit to use is the api freshwater master test kit. They run about $20 a piece but are well worth the money. The test strips that you might see in the store are not the most accurate so I would recommend the api test kit. Hope this helps! :)

[0101german]

i do water changes about 1-2 times a week. its a 60 gallon, dont know what type of filter it has, has 3 goldfish and 2 small dempseys. the tank is maintained at 73 degrees. ammonia nitrates and nitrites are all 0. i was using some of that api conditioner and didnt check when i did a water chage, thought it was a complete one but it requires ammo lock with it. out of the 5 fish 4 are doing better, ammonia burn started going away, but one goldfish is pretty much gone.=( it just lays on its side..

[bmw328igrly]

@0101german sorry to hear about that one fish. :( The best thing you can do to treat the ammonia is to keep up with the water changes. By cleaning the tank, you will get rid of the ammonia. Another thing that might help them is by using either a little bit of aquarium salt or a chemical called stress coat. I prefer to keep it as natural as possible but there are some times where you need to use chemicals.

[0101german]

what if your fish are lying on the gravel, gasping for air, lose their apetite, and are begining to get red streaks... this happened to me and i treated with a ammonia nuetralizer. however they are still lying on the gravel and gasping for air after the 2nd day, any idea on how long it takes for them to recover?

[bmw328igrly]

@0101german Unfortunately when fish get to the point where they are gasping like that for air, there isn't a positive outlook.

Here are some questions for ya: How often do you clean up your aquarium? What is the setup that you have? (how big is your tank? how many fish do you have? what type of filtration do you have?) What are the parameters of the aquarium? (nitrates, nitrites? ammonia? ph?) Please get back to me as soon as possible so that I can help you out. :)

[GPnRI]

A water change generally works best at removing nitrites and Nitrates and ammonia, usually 20 to 40% change.

Aquarium salt is HIGHLY recommended, it does have HIGH importance to your fish...added electrolites, brightens color of fish, it does kill off some diseases that are floating in your water as well. I use Aquarium salt in my freshwater tank and I have NEVER had ich nor a fish death from disease. 1 TEASPOON per 5 gallons. Replacement water - salt only the water replaced! Important.

[bmw328igrly]

@GPnRI You just have to be careful though when you have scaleless fish in your tank when it comes to aquarium salt. Aquarium salt is not recommended for scaleless fish aquariums. :)

Thanks for adding that in there GPnRI! :)

[GPnRI]

@bmw328igrly , Very true, Thats why the amount of salt put in is very low ( 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons ). Plus the only scale-less fish in my tank is a 7 inch Plecostomus ( Algae eater ) and is currently unaffected by the very low salt content, in fact, it's helped it to show its colors better. :-) All the other 18 fishies ( babies ) have scales.

[bmw328igrly]

@GPnRI I do the same with my tank. I put in a little salt and it really helps prevent disease. :)

[luchiehanna100]

is the salt for fresh water fish like gold fish and etc ?

[bmw328igrly]

@luchiehanna100 Yes. If you need salt for a saltwater aquarium, you have to use marine salt. :)

If you need any other help, please ask away! :)

[jeflynnenut]

God bless you! I started my tank using a fantastic product called organic aqua four months ago and unfortunately I had to stop as I could not source it any more! I got an api kit like you but I had no instructions but you saved the day! Thanks for your great tips! Darren. Dublin Ireland.

[bmw328igrly]

@jeflynnenut you are welcome! :)

[bmw328igrly]

I have a video on how to test it. Check out my profile page and there should be a link to it there. :)

[BlazeUp92]

can you test it next video plese?