Ammonia issues

[snobordnwifey]

We are still having issues. I can't figure it out. Our frog is acting sick again, floating at the top. Typically, he just floats with his legs hanging down, but now it seems like he's having a hard time keeping his legs from floating up to the surface, so I'm very concerned about him. He's pretty lethargic, too. He shed a lot of skin yesterday and was very frantic about trying to get it off. His coloring seems to have gotten darker as well.

I have left the tank alone for about a month now. Just 25% changes every week or so. Ammonia is still crazy high. Yesterday, for fear of my frogs health, I did a 75% water change and after the change, the ammonia was still at a 4! No nitrites, but high nitrates as well. How do I control this? Using an established tanks sand doesn't seem to have worked. Is my frog just a major ammonia producer? I've been trying not to feed him much, but I also don't want him to starve. He was moving around yesterday trying to eat the pellets I fed him.

What would cause high ammonia and high nitrate, but no nitrite?

[snobordnwifey]

Looks like froggie isn't going to make it. She is hardly moving, just a rare movement of her arms. I put her in fresh, ammonia free water with conditioner in it, in a small tupperware, floating in her tank, so she can get to the air.

[mpmistr]

We are still having issues. I can't figure it out. Our frog is acting sick again, floating at the top. Typically, he just floats with his legs hanging down, but now it seems like he's having a hard time keeping his legs from floating up to the surface, so I'm very concerned about him. He's pretty lethargic, too. He shed a lot of skin yesterday and was very frantic about trying to get it off. His coloring seems to have gotten darker as well.

I have left the tank alone for about a month now. Just 25% changes every week or so. Ammonia is still crazy high. Yesterday, for fear of my frogs health, I did a 75% water change and after the change, the ammonia was still at a 4! No nitrites, but high nitrates as well. How do I control this? Using an established tanks sand doesn't seem to have worked. Is my frog just a major ammonia producer? I've been trying not to feed him much, but I also don't want him to starve. He was moving around yesterday trying to eat the pellets I fed him.

What would cause high ammonia and high nitrate, but no nitrite?

An uncycled tank can cause ammonia and nitrate.. it is a sign that the biological filtration cannot keep up. How large is this aquarium? Your frog needs 10 gallons of water -minimum- otherwise it's going to be a constant battle with ammonia and nitrite. If you are still using the 10 gallon maybe it's time to move to a 20 gallon, a larger tank is always easier to maintain.

Are you sure the ammonia is reading 4ppm? That is huge, like really really huge. Anything over 0 is toxic, even 0.25ppm is toxic, 4ppm is just insane. Are you using test strips? They are not accurate, get a liquid test kit instead.

Beneficial bacteria won't be found in sand, it would be found in filter media, get used filter media (the blue foamy stuff).

I am curious, does your tap water have ammonia? What are you using to condition your water? I would suggest getting Prime as it will neutralize ammonia and convert it into ammonium.

[deranged chipmunk]

I have left the tank alone for about a month now.

a month is not long enough to properly cycle a tank. a minimum of 6 weeks should do it. it realistically takes a full 6 months for a tank to fully mature.

No nitrites, but high nitrates as well. Using an established tanks sand doesn't seem to have worked.
What would cause high ammonia and high nitrate, but no nitrite?

define high nitrates. and define sand. normally, the only way to use sand to seed a tank is to put it in your filter. problem is that the sand can cause your filter to clog up and become inoperable. substrates like gravel are much gooder, if you are using substrate to seed. actual bio material from the filter itself is better. be it ceramic material, lava rock or just a plain old, used filter cartridge. your ammonia is high from your frog, most likely .if nitrites are 0,then your tank is almost finished cycling. you just need to be patient and keep doing water changes.

i agree with Heather, though. i would keep the frog in a tank that gets a daily de-chlor water change until the main tank has finished cycling.

do yourself a huge favor and read up on the nitrification cycle of fish tanks. i can link you to a few decent articles if you can't find anything.

[snobordnwifey]

Sadly, Summer the frog died today. I knew it was going to happen by the way he was acting this morning. We have a 10 gallon tank. I think I may have explained at the beginning of the thread that we got this frog as a grow-a-frog and I had no idea that it needed a bigger living environment. Once I read that, I got it into the aquarium without knowing very much about cycling the aquarium.

I have a liquid test kit that I bought yesterday so I could test the water better. Before, I did use the test strips, but I got a 4 with the liquid test kit. I feel so terrible knowing that I pretty much poisoned my frog. The pH was also at a 6.0 when I tested it. Is that too low? I don't remember what the nitrate level was. I remember being surprised that it was so high after getting a 0 reading for nitrites. I have read about tank cycling, but I must have read some bad articles. I've just heard so many different things from different sources.

My daughter is in her room crying for her frog. Who knew I could care so much about a science experiment. We will definitely be letting the tank cycle before we think about getting another ACF. I feel so bad for our poor frog.

[mpmistr]

Sadly, Summer the frog died today. I knew it was going to happen by the way he was acting this morning. We have a 10 gallon tank. I think I may have explained at the beginning of the thread that we got this frog as a grow-a-frog and I had no idea that it needed a bigger living environment. Once I read that, I got it into the aquarium without knowing very much about cycling the aquarium.

Sadly these "grow a frog" kits are often expensive gimmicks purchased by unsuspecting individuals and are completely inadequate. I would not feel bad about this I am sure this happens to many people.

I have a liquid test kit that I bought yesterday so I could test the water better. Before, I did use the test strips, but I got a 4 with the liquid test kit. I feel so terrible knowing that I pretty much poisoned my frog.

Test strips are very inaccurate, liquid test kids are better.. 4ppm Ammonia is incredibly toxic. I am not sure if I believe the actual NH3 was truly that high but I do believe the water did become toxic unfortunately.

The pH was also at a 6.0 when I tested it. Is that too low? I don't remember what the nitrate level was. I remember being surprised that it was so high after getting a 0 reading for nitrites. I have read about tank cycling, but I must have read some bad articles. I've just heard so many different things from different sources.

ACF can survive in pH 6, it's wild swings in pH that prove deadly. Though ACF prefer hard, basic water I don't believe the pH is what caused his death.

My daughter is in her room crying for her frog. Who knew I could care so much about a science experiment. We will definitely be letting the tank cycle before we think about getting another ACF. I feel so bad for our poor frog.

I'm sorry for your loss. I think it may be best to acquire a larger tank if you want to keep ACF, they just need larger tanks than 10 gallons. Believe it or not but for a novice keeping and maintaining larger thanks is actually easier than keeping smaller ones, there is just more room for error when you have a more voluminousness amount of water. A small tip I could give you about cycling is that using used filter media can 'jump start' a new tank and quickly cycle it, some times a local fish store (that you trust) can aid you in this, or a friends established cycled aquarium filter media can be of great use.

Good luck, don't be too discouraged. We've all made mistakes, best thing to do is educate and learn from it. I hope you do decide to keep ACF in the future, they are enjoyable pets.