Hey guys,
Apologies for the long post, I have tried to include as much info as possible. I have tried the search feature but it is currently out of order.
I have had my own tank for a while and have (luckily) never had a water quality issue.
Over the last few months I have been helping my brother set up a tank for the benefit of my young niece (who is very cute btw) as she loves to spend time looking at my tank. Initially everything went well until about 3 months he started losing fish. He has now lost almost all of his fish and has only 3 neons left.
I took my test kit around and have been regularly testing the water. According to the guide in the kit, the pH, nitrates & nitrites are all at normal levels. The ammonia on the other hand is out of control. Over the last 3 weeks it has been testing at between 6-8ppm. Taking avice from several websites we did regular water changes and used ammo lock to try and sort the problem.
Over the next 3 weeks we continued to test the water but with no change. (I know that ammo lock does not remove the ammonia but makes it non toxic to be removed as the tank cycles.)
Just recently with with still no change with another 2 losses and nothing to lose we decided to take a more drastic measure and did a full water change with water from my tank but straight away the ammonia measured the same as it did previous to the water change. Where is the ammonia hiding?
We have checked the tank high & low for any decaying matter or food that can be casing the problem but the tank is clean.
In its short prime the tank had only 10 fish (8 neons, 1 saimese fighter & 1 small bristlenose) which where introduced slowly over time.
The tank is a Jebo R338 which is one of the all in one jobbies with the filter and light built in.
ANY help would be very much appreciated here as I am at a complete loss as to what to do next. I really am starting to think the tank is haunted.