Little Bit Of Ammonia

[Mola Mola]

Hi,
I have an 80 litre tank which went through a fishless cycle, lasting about a month.

I then stocked it with 5 mollies and 8 platies (plus one other molly and two thai red crabs, which died very shortly after adding them).

The fish were added 17 days ago, and I have tested the water about every couple of days since. Everything was clear for the first couple of weeks (even after the deaths), but then 3-4 days ago I started to notice a little bit of ammonia (somewhere between 0 and 0.25ppm).

There is no nitrite and I've never seen more than just that small amount of ammonia.

I've change quite a bit of water recently, because I vacuumed the gravel (which was about 20%), and then I've done 3 more 20% changes to try to bring the temp down a bit (is a bit more stable at 26-27 now).

I suppose those 4 changes are the equivalent of about a 60% water change.

The low ammonia level seems to be quite constant. I'm a bit surprised that it is neither clearing, nor spiking.

Should I take any action, or just leave it to sort itself out? Of course, I'll keep an eye on the levels to look for any spikes.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

1 reason could be if your using API it common. I had cycled my tank fully and even after 3 months the API showed 0.25ppm, After buying 3 different API kits fom 3 different places they all had the same 0.25 reading. I switched to sailfert and never had a false reading since.
This may not be the problem but this is what happened to me

 

[This Old Spouse]

When I switched from API to Nutrafin, my test readings made a whole lot more sense.

 

[Aqua Tom]

When I switched from API to Nutrafin, my test readings made a whole lot more sense.

The same for when I switched from Nutrafin to API.

Somtimes we just find one product easier to use, for no logical reason. Seems we are all different

 

[Mola Mola]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I am using an API kit, and it seems very likely that I am getting a dodgy reading.

I will keep testing, just in case there is a real spike.

Thanks again.