Ammonia And Nitrite Spike In My Tank

[Mr&Mrs Newb McFish]

Hi my 60l tank has been up and running for about 7 weeks now and is home to 3 dalmatian mollies, 2 neon tetras and 2 guppies.

we have been testing with the tetra 6 in 1 strips since we set it up and everything looked fine with the water stats.

we have just invested in the api master kit and all the reading have come out different

ammonia 0.50

ph 7.6

nitrite 0.25

nitrate 10

we have done a big water change and cleaned the gravel.

what could be the cause of this and should i keep doing the water changes and how often.

any help would be great

 

[mattlee]

as you have found out the hard way, the test strips are uaseless and very inaccurate. i would say that if your tank has only been running for 7 weeks then you may well be involved in a fish in cycle.

how was the tank cycled in the first place? or was it at all?

if you have any amounts of ammonia or nitrite then a water change is needed. the amnount only you will figure out but for example a 100L tank with 0.25ppm of ammonia will need a 50% 50L change to reduce back to 0. retest in an hour so the tank has chance to settle and mix the new water with the old and do another test.

if the tank is cycled already then how much are you feeding the fish and how often as any uneaten food will/can start spikes. even if it gets sucked up in the filter it is still within the water of the tank and will still break down and can cause spikes....

just test the water every day for a week or so until its sorted and then test for a few days after just to be safe

 

[Mr&Mrs Newb McFish]

thanks for the reply

as we are new to keeping tropicals we went off the advice of our local pet shop and was told to add filter start and have the tank running for a week before adding fish.

we only feed the fish once a day and only what they will eat.

 

[mattlee]

thanks for the reply

as we are new to keeping tropicals we went off the advice of our local pet shop and was told to add filter start and have the tank running for a week before adding fish.

we only feed the fish once a day and only what they will eat.

ok forget what the fish shop told you.... filter start and bottled bacteria is a waste of money and a money spinner for the shops. your filter needs to contain 2 types of bacteria to deal with the fishes bioload. 1 for ammonia and 1 for nitrite, these only develop with a supply of ammonia which in your case is your fishes waste.

have you read about cycling a tank either fishless or fish in?

as you have fish already and have had them for approx 6 weeks then you will possibly need to be doing daily water changes until the bacteria has formed and can cope with the fishes bioload. after 6 weeks there will be amounts of bacteria in the filter but not enough to cope, this is why tour test results are showing ammonia .50 and nitrite .25. test the water every day and if any traces of either are shown then do the water change to suit. 50% water change will half the ammonia and nitrite levels.

 

[Mr&Mrs Newb McFish]

ok will do thanks for the advice.