Ammona Levels Stubbornly Staying At 1ppm

[Curiosity101]

I'm quite angry at the person I bought plants from.
I bought them from a seller on E-bay who had 100% positive feedback, and all they sell are aquarium plants!
I didn't mind too much at first that 1 out of the 5 bunches was actually none aquatic.
And that the hairgrass had clearly been grown not fully submerged.

But it was the last straw when one of the plants rotted within a few days!
At first I thought after the tank shift from 60l to 125l that perhaps the tank was going through a mini cycle.

But now I'm thinking that the stubborn 1ppm reading for ammonia was caused by this plant...
Does anyone else think this is likely to be the cause?
The tank has been set up for 6 days now and I had seen NO drop in ammonia even after 10-20% changes every day.

Took the plant out yesterday.
Any predictions on what ammonia should be like tonight if it was the plant that was causing the ammonia spike?

No new fish have been introduced and there was no ammonia or nitrite reading before the upgrade and the new plants.

 

[rdd1952]

Anything that is dead and decaying can cause ammonia. That coupled with a move makes it more likely. Did you move filter and everything from one tank to the other? What type filter was it?

 

[Curiosity101]

I moved as much as possible, inc all old filter media. Went from fluval 2+ to 3+
I also moved all ornaments.

I've changed substrate and obviously topped up with fresh (conditioned) water. Hence why I sorta expected a mini cycle.
But the ammonia has been stubbornly at 1ppm for almost a week now. Even with the daily 10-20% water changes.

I'm going to test again tonight, and if the ammonia has dropped then I'll know that was what the problem was.
It's really annoying if it was the plant causing it though!

One of my bolivian rams was looking VERY sorry for herself after a couple of days.
She's now sat quite happily in her own little quarantine tank enjoying her daily water changes *Sigh*.
I don't want to risk putting her back in till the main tank is back to normal parameters.

 

[rdd1952]

You really should not have seen a mini cycle if you move all the media and decor. The fresh water wouldn't have mattered. Basically like a 50% water change on the larger tank. Have you tested your tap water just to be certain the ammonia isn't in it or that your kit is working properly?

 

[Curiosity101]

Yep and Yep.
0 ammonia in tap water

And the tank I have the bolivian female in showed 0 ammonia when I put her in and .5ppm the next morning. So by my reckoning it's working fine.
I'm keeping her water clean with frequent water changes and am going to re-test when I get home tonight.

Hopefully it has dropped over night. I'd be so glad even if it's only dropped at bit.

Is it likely that a plant (20cm tall max) could've cause such an ammount of ammonia though?

 

[rdd1952]

I wouldn't think so. Even when it dies, the decay takes time and the bacteria should be able to multiply enough to keep up. But dead fish left undetected can cause a spike sometimes so I guess plants can too. Also as the bacteria break down dead things, they use up oxygen that the beneficial bacteria need so that could also be part of the problem.

 

[OldMan47]

With the dead plants you need to be careful throwing them away. There are many plants that are well known for "melting" when you transplant them. The best bet is to remove the dead and dieing parts and leave the roots and the slight green bits in the tank. These plants almost always recover quite well from just the remaining roots. The most notorious for that is the cryptocorynes which are known to be subject to "crypt melt". In my case I have a few crypts that were nothing much more than a root ball by 2 weeks after they were put into my tanks. Today, they grow up the back of the tank, across the top and down the front of my 29 gallon. I am not here to say that your plant vendor is fine and didn't need to warn you, but you may not have lost anything.

 

[waterdrop]

...And just to second what OM47 said there, I have a crypt (a brown/red wendtii if I've got that name part right..) that did exactly that. -All- of its leaves melted totally away (looked horrible!) but I left the roots and little stump of a crown in place and now a ton of leaves have sprouted back out and at this point, some months later, are several inches high and looking quite beautiful!

~~waterdrop~~