Ammonia Spike

[laura120381]

hi there,

i have just tested the water in my tank and the level of ammonia has risen quite a bit. the tank has been running for 2 months with fish (after fishless cycling) snd until now, all the water parametres were normal. my tank is an 80l planted tank. i have a fluval u3 filter and a aps 600 l/h filter. the tepmerature is currently set at 24c. the tank currently houses 7 small tiger barbs. the readings i got today were:

ph 6.8
ammonia 2.0ppm
nitrate 20 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm

i feed the barbs a pinch of king british tropical flake twice a day and a small piece of tubiflex (dried) twice a week in place of one meal. can anyone suggest why the ammonia has risen and also the best way to get it down? should i just do water changes to combat the problem? if so how much and how often??

thanks in advance for your advice.

L

 

[ParadiseGuerrero]

hi there,

i have just tested the water in my tank and the level of ammonia has risen quite a bit. the tank has been running for 2 months with fish (after fishless cycling) snd until now, all the water parametres were normal. my tank is an 80l planted tank. i have a fluval u3 filter and a aps 600 l/h filter. the tepmerature is currently set at 24c. the tank currently houses 7 small tiger barbs. the readings i got today were:

ph 6.8
ammonia 2.0ppm
nitrate 20 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm

i feed the barbs a pinch of king british tropical flake twice a day and a small piece of tubiflex (dried) twice a week in place of one meal. can anyone suggest why the ammonia has risen and also the best way to get it down? should i just do water changes to combat the problem? if so how much and how often??

thanks in advance for your advice.

L

I'm not sure why it would do that- I'd wait for someone with mroe knowledge.

but do a water change now as big as you can- 2ppm in lethal! the highest it should ever get even within a fish-in cycle is 0.25. So do the biggest water change you can- refill and check again. First just quickly check what your tap water is (I know mine is quite high)

Edit- sorry typos every where

 

[coldcazzie]

Fish death? Overfeeding maybe?

Giant water change in the region of 90% (perhaps even two), gravel vac, starve for a couple of days and see how it goes

 

[laura120381]

thanks guys...could be fish death. i just remembered that one of the barbs died during the night and i didn't find it until the morning. i did do a water change straight away, but only 25%...my error...i should've done a bigger change. i will do as you said and do huge water changes, gravel vac etc

should i do the big changes tonight then do smaller ones for the next few days or will the 90%'s be enough?

L

 

[PyroBrit]

should i do the big changes tonight then do smaller ones for the next few days or will the 90%'s be enough?

L

Start with the 90% and test to see if levels have dropped.. it should help to lower the ammonia level.

test again in the morning and if levels have risen, do another big change.

Both filters running ok? Have the filters been cleaned in the last 2 months or pads been replaced? it should not be necessary to replace pads so soon, just a rinse in tank water should be all that's required and it's probably a little early to rinse them as they are so new.

 

[laura120381]

thanks pyrobrit. i have done a 90% change and am going to test the water. i will do so again the morning as you suggested. the filter media and sponges have not been changed or rinsed in the last 2 months and both filters seem to be working fine. i will repost tomorrow if the levels have risen again. thanks to everyone for the advice.

L

 

[laura120381]

ok so just re-tested and the ammonia has dropped slightly to between 0.50 and 1.0. i will test again in the morning and do another 90% water changed if it is not any better. is this correct??

L

 

[PyroBrit]

Keeping Ammonia below 0.25 is best

 

[Tizer]

Do another big water change now, get it below 0.25ppm as mentioned, then test in 12 hours time and water change as necessary. Going to have to use those maths skills you learnt at school to judge how much water to change

 

[laura120381]

hi there,

i have just retested the water. the ammonia levels are now at 0!! hooray!!! out of interest, i decided to test my tap water too. i has a reading of between 0.25 and 0.50ppm!! is this normal?? does the tap water conditioner get rid of most of this? do i need to add anything extra to get rid of it before adding fresh water to my tank?? i am confused now!! i have never come across this before!!

thanks guys,

 

[Tizer]

should realy report ammonia in tap water to the local water company, could be a broken pipe.

your filter should process it to zero relatively quickly.

it depends on the conditioner that you use

 

[laura120381]

thanks tizer. i didn't think that amount of ammonia in drinking water was particularly health. i will report it. the filters are obviously doing there job well then!! i did not understand how the tank was now at 0ppm. i am relieved anyway!

thanks for all your help.

L x