Cause Of An Ammonia Spike

[PrairieSunflower]

Could algae wafers cause an ammonia spike? My tank has been the same for AGES (medium tank). I tested the water yesterday because I got a new test kit to make sure all was well and it was fine. I also got algae wafers for the first time and gave some to my fish (who loved them big time).

But... two fish were acting off (which is not entirely weird as I have been having a really hard time treating ich in that tank), so I decided to test the water again... this time it was 0.5! So, I've just completed a huge water change to deal with that. But I am baffled at the cause since I haven't had a reading other than zero since I can't remember when and I've not had any problems during this treatment either.

 

[CezzaXV]

I wouldn't have thought so, especially not in such a short space of time. If you'd left one in the tank for ages and it had had time to decay then maybe, but not if it's a new thing.

Is it possible that it's been off for a while, but you've only just picked up on it because of the new test kit?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I used the new kit yesterday though and it was 0 and today and it was 0.5. Nothing died or anything either.

 

[the_lock_man]

Is the test kit the same brand as the old one? Do you use Prime?
 
There are some kits where Prime can cause false positives for ammonia, but I can't remember the ins and outs, mainly cos I don't have one of the kits that is a problem.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

No, I use Nutrafin Plus for water treatment. It is a different test kit than I had before. I've moved to liquid for ammonia only but strips for everything else.

I changed the water Day 1, day 2 the new test arrived and I tested and it was 0 (properly used, same portion of the water tested), then day 3 fish were off and I tested and it was 0.5.

Everything is fine since the water change after that. And all tests with my previous test kit (which were a lot lately since I've been treating that tank for ich for a couple weeks) were 0.