Fish nearing imminent death!

[fireupgaz]

Hi Guys,

I have a 60L Hailea tank with an internal Hailea filter (came with the tank), it's heavily planted and has a large driftwood. It took 6 weeks to cycle with 4 Zebra danios. Once cycled I added a borneo sucker and two peppered cory catfish. The ammonia went up to 0.5ppm and pH was 6.5. Three days later I added two clown loaches and the ammonia quickly went up to 1ppm and pH was 6. A week later I had to clean the filter as it was clogging up. Two weeks after that and the pH has now dropped to below 6 and ammonia has gone to 6ppm!

I cut away a bit of the filter media and added some Aquaclear ammonia remover to the filter. Three days have past but no change. I'm sure that my fish will die soon unless i do something fast. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[wombat1100]

do a 50% water change straight away

then i would be doing a 10% every day until ammonia is under control, avoid cleaning filter for weeks until bacteria is established , should be already if you cycled it for 6 weeks with fish in it, NEVER add fish to a tank showing signs of ammonia , if Ph is still low add some crushed coral or shell in a stocking to the tank and maintain Ph checks until it is at 7 or so, hope this helps
Dazz

[fireupgaz]

I have been doing 20% water changes every week with API water conditioner and a pinch of aquarium salt included. Im scared to push the pH up because I think the low pH is the only thing keeping the high ammonia non-fatal at the moment. I will try more water changes like you suggested.

Thank you for your help.

[wombat1100]

I believe the aquarium salt will be fatal to your clowns, they are scaleless fish and have to be treated carefully with adding chemicals and salt, read up on every thing u are gonna add to a tank B4 adding when u own clowns.

[fireupgaz]

I will stop using salt from now on. Thanks wombat.

[Leone]

water change, water change, water change..

and when you DO clean out your filter, clean it in a bucket of water that you have just drained from your tank - dont clean it in tap water.

and then just keep on doing water changes.. 50% every other day if necessary. What are your other readings? Nitrate and nitrite.

[fireupgaz]

Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10.

[Leone]

that's good - so is your amonia decreasing with frequent water changes?

[cichlidboy]

after SIX WEEKS! your tank should be cycles already. after all, it's only a 60L tank!
Just do water changes and stop worrying about your filter media.
is it clogged with fish waste or just whatever you put in the tank...
(driftwood shavings,dirt, grime)
constantly washing your filter media can easily kill all the bacteria and eventually crash your tank.
Even though the water changes don't seem to be working, keep doing it!!!
persistence is the key.
are you putting any fertilizers in? sometimes plant fertilizers can dramatically change the ph and hardness.
good luck, i can't see any problems.
whats the filter clogged up with?