Ammonia Problems :(

[meandmykribs]

Ok I have had my 65 up and running for about 2 months now it was fully cycled before I transferred fish from 60ltr into it for weeks and weeks it has been fine then last week my plants started melting and ammonia was right up at 0.5ppm so I did a 50% change and then a 75% straight after I have since then been doing daily 50% wc and have finally today (since last Thursday) pulled out at 0ppm.
How to keep it that way do I continue with the 50% (before I was doing 25% weekly) or cut it to 25% daily?
How did I end up so far downhill in the space of 4 days? My water change day is usually a Monday and my other tank is fine.
I'm thinking the filter may not be able to keep up am I right or is there another reason?
 
(I,m sorry for posting in here I know I'm not quite a newby but I am at a loss as to what has happened )
 
Any help as very much appreciated oh and are my fish now sadly all going to pass on from the poisoning?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

.5 is not the end of the world if you caught it quickly and it sounds like you did. Have you been testing the water before each subsequent water change? Is it still rising each day? To how much?

Don't worry yourself too much, from the sounds of it you have things under control and it will even out eventually. It's normal for plants to die off when initially placed in a new tank.just keep cutting back any dead leaves and it will likely regrow on its own in time (but that's another subject ).

Are you sure there is nothing rotting in the tank? Do a headcount and make sure there is no food or poo accumulating in some hidden crevice.

You'll be able to go back to weekly changes in no time although it would be good to figure out exactly why you have had this spike.
Sorry, I think I may have read wrong, have the plants been in your tank for a while now?

 

[meandmykribs]

Unfortunately there are no crevices or anything in the tank there was just the 4 plants as it was quite a spur of the moment transfer when the kribs spawned in the other tank its too late for saving the plants now I have removed them prematurely by the sounds of it but I panicked
It doesn't rise past 0.5 has always stayed pale green but it has been like that for over a week and to get it to nil today I had to do another 80% change, today is the first reading I have had of nil since
Tested the before and after each change and it seemed to stay all round 0.25 and 0.5ppm
 
Thanks for your help you really are awesome

The plants were yes but they are no longer there

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Are there fry in the tank? They produce a lot of waste and it will take time for your filter to catch up. Maybe you didn't remove enough media from your main tank to seed the filter in this one? Can you take more out to put in this one? It's safe to remove up to 1/3 if I remember correctly.

 

[meandmykribs]

There is no fry in that one they are in the one that is fine
 
The tank was fine though and I haven't added anything except those plants since, which is why i'm wondering why I suddenly have a problem 7 weeks down the line could it have been the plants or is that a stupid question?
I don't usually keep plants coz they always die on me regardless if they are in a pot in the ground or in the tanks haha so always used plastic

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I haven't ever experienced this myself but you do hear of tanks having ammonia spikes. Did you clean the filter recently? Maybe forgot to use dechlorinator after a w/c? Although I know there are some people who don't use dechlor at all...

 

[meandmykribs]

I use the tetra one cleaned the filter just after I had the spike but aside from that I only do them every 4-6 weeks

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Cleaning it during the spike probably set you back a bit as you're going to lose some bacteria when cleaning. In a healthy, balanced tank this isn't usually noticeable but with yours being on the fritz, didn't help
Have you checked the tap water for ammonia? Was the tank freshly set up 7 weeks ago? I.e. the gravel was fresh and clean?

 

[meandmykribs]

yes it was new everything but had been cycled for around 8 weeks prior to any fish being added all the parameters were fine and the water was clear
I was anticipating adding the kribs to that one ready for spawning but they caught me by surprise so the other fish went in it instead

 

[TwoTankAmin]

In order to provide good advice more information is needed. What is the pH and the temp of the tank? Knowing the KH would help as well. Next, exactly how did you get  the tank cycled? Is there any nitrite showing as well as the ammonia?
 
The toxicity of ammonia is dependent upon the pH and temperature of the tank. Different fish are also more or less tolerant of ammonia and nitrite (to a point) So I also need to know how many and what kind of fish you put into the tank. This also determines what amount of bio-load there is in a tank.
 
With the above information I can likely suggest a reasonable course of action.
 
Finally, is that 65 gallons or 65 litres? I would normally think liters except I find it unusual to upgrade by just 5 litres.

 

[meandmykribs]

The nitrate was 0, nitrite 0 and PH is neutral (7.0), tank temp is around 26-28 (room temp pending)
The tank was sat cycling for around 8 weeks before anything was added all the parameters were at nil and the PH was 7.0
In there are 4 swordtails, 2 guppies and 4 angels
Its a 65 ltr (it wasn't an upgrade it was just an addition MSD )
 
Any suggestions so it doesn't get worse or even better avoid completely are very much appreciated thanks TwoTank

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

What do you mean by cycling? I'm not brilliant at judging stocking levels but I'd say you are overstocked. Where are the fry and the kribs? In the other tank? I thought we had been talking about your krib tank this while time lol

 

[meandmykribs]

I didn't add anything just dangled the media in the water and allowed the filter to do the work
The fry and the kribs are all in the other tank, this is only a temp home for the angels until the 400ltr is up and running
If I'm overstocked could it be that the filter is not keeping up?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Yeah you are massively overstocked, are all of those fish going into the bigger tank?

Your problem is that you didn't cycle the filter at all. Unless you were adding ammonia after you put some sludge in and checked the levels along the way; then your filter isn't cycled and you are doing a fish in cycle. Why did you buy those fish if you didn't have a tank ready for them?

You should move some media from your old tank to this one to help things along and keep doing water changes.

And yes it's possible that even when fully mature your filter may not be able to handle this bio load.

 

[meandmykribs]

I have had the bigger tank for a while tbh I didn't think it was going to be this long before it was up and running but unfortunately life got in the way and I got side tracked (anyway that's another, long and boring story)
 
The swordtails and guppies are going to stay in the 65 and the Angels are going into the 400