Ammonia Question

[cmfoggy]

Hey all

Hope someone can shed some light on my dilema

I have had a 105lt tank up and running for over 12 weeks and have not had a problem with water quality, but yesterday morning i tested the water and the readings were
temp 23
ammonia 10.0 (yep 10.0ppm)
nitrite 0
nitrate 10-20 (thats how it comes out of the tap)
pH 7.3

all fish are acting normally, swimming around having a ball and eating, nothing out of the ordinary

Now the inmates are
5 peppered corys
4 julii corys
3 albino corys
3 bronze corys

plants are
2 amazon swords
1 crypt thats about to flower, or thats what i was told it was
and a anubias nana on some driftwood

I do a 25% water change every 3-4 days

it has a sand substrate

So what i did was did a 50% water change and retested and it came down to about 5.0 so i did another water change of about 35% and it was still the same.
I tested again this morning and it was still around 5 so i did another 50% water change and it came down to around 2.

Now to me it is strange that the ammonia is so high but the nitrites are still 0, and i would have thought with ammonia that high the fish should be dead by now.

I can hear you all say "the kit must be a dud" but i also have another tank and it read 0ppm for ammonia, i have tested and retested about 10 times now and it always says
the other tank is 0ppm
cory tank is now 2ppm
tap water is 0ppm

so if there is anyone out there that has any idea of what is going on please let me know

cheers

 

[chicklette]

How long has your tank been set up? Your nitrates are fine. There actually low. Are you using the dip sticks or liquid? Liquid is much more accurate. How are you cleaning your filters? Never clean the media in tap water because it removes all the good bacteria. Just gently rinse it out in tank water.

How often do you feed your fish? I find it's best to feed very little amounts three times a day. There is less wate that way.

 

[kj23502]

Did anything happen with your filter recently? Add new fish? Have a dead one hiding in the tank somewhere? Feeding way too much?
Something is causing the ammonia to spike and there's not enough ammonia processing bacteria to handle it yet, which is probably why you're getting 0 nitrite readings and high ammonia readings.

I went through something like this on my tank when it went through a mini-cycle, except they never got over 1ppm. Ideally with fish in the tank, ammonia and nitrite shouldn't be over .25ppm. I think ammonia burns their gills and I know that nitirite will suffocate them. As ammonia is beginning to processs, you should start getting a nitrite reading. Keep up with water changes as needed(if test is over .25ppm), sometimes twice a day as I was doing for a couple days! Make sure to have enough surface agitation to allow for more oxygen exchange at this time! Sorry if you already know all this, I just thought it would be better to put it in than not!

 

[Colin_T]

I would be thinking something happened to the filter. Maybe it got cleaned in tap water or there was a power failure in the last few days.

Stop feeding the fish for a few days and see how the ammonia levels go.

If you get high ammonia readings stop feeding immediately and do a massive 80-90% water change using dechlorinated water with a similar temp & PH to the tank.

 

[cmfoggy]

Thank you for replying

The tank has been set up for over 12 weeks, but when I set it up it was with old tank water and old filter.

I am using a liquid test kit, its aquasonic , not the best i know, i will be getting a better one soon.

I only clean the filters in tank water.

As for feeding I generally feed in the morning and in the evening, every 4-5 days i dont do the evening feed. I also sit and watch them eat if i can and they never seem to leave much behind.

Now that you mention the filter, I did notice about a week or so ago the filter didn't seem to be working so i took it out and found that the polyfiller i had put in recently had got caught in the propeller thing which caused it to stop (i dont know how long for) So maybe thats my answer.

I did add 3 new fish about 4 days ago, there have not been any deaths in the tank at all.

So what i should do is
stop feeding
and do water changes
and keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite readings

thank you all so much for your help and i hope all my fishies are ok.

If all goes well and i do daily water changes how long should it take to get the ammonia levels under control.

cheers

 

[cmfoggy]

hey all

Well i have just returned from doing 2 water changes, the first was about a 50% change then the ammonia reading was between 2.0 and 5.0 ppm.

Then i did another bigger water change of about 65% and now the reading is between 0.5 and 1.0 ppm.

So tomorrow i will do another large water change and hopefully the ammonia will be within a safe range, fingers crossed.

I think i was lucky no fish have died (not yet anyway) i think i may have caught it just in time.

Thankyou everyone, cheers

 

[waterdrop]

I should just let jonsey answer, but... sure sounds like the poly stopping your impeller caused a die-off of the ammonia oxidizing bacteria in your filter and you've got a mini-cycle on your hands. That would confirm that water changes like you are doing should be the correct action and you would have to keep it up until the filter is once again processing ammonia down to zero in less than 10-12 hours.

 

[cmfoggy]

Hi all

When i woke up at 5:30 this morning to start work at 6:30 i checked the fish and they were all fine, didnt have time to do an ammonia test or a water change, so when i got home at 4:00pm i did an ammonia test and it read 0ppm

So i would like to say to everyone on their helpful suggestions and helping me understand a little more.

I had to reverse the order of the sponge and polyfiler to stop it catching in the impeller, is that ok to leave it that way or should i put the polyfiller in a stocking type bag and place it back in next to the impeller?

cheers

 

[kj23502]

What are your nitrites reading now? I'd be suprised if you didn't get a nitrite spike after that. Make sure and do a fish check everyday for a few weeks. I've read that fish can die up to 2 weeks after bad quality issues and your ammonia was very high..

Very Glad it's coming down. My fish went through a spike but no higher than 1ppm of each ammonia and nitrite and most of the time is was around .25-.50ppm(due to my water changes keeping it low). i haven't lost any yet and the tanks been stable for awhile now.

Make sure and keep testing the water everyday for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate for a few weeks just to make sure all is well. It's better to test a little to much for a little bit than not doing enough and have something spike and endanger the fish.

 

[cmfoggy]

Thanks kj23502

Yesterday ammonia was 0ppm, nitrite was 0ppm and nitrate was 10-20ppm.

I will keep a close eye on it for the next couple of weeks, thanks again

cheers