Ammonia Spike After Adding Fish.

[mgx42]

Hi everyone. A little over a week ago my tank finally finished its cycle (tested 0's for a few days, except nitrAte is always 5ppm). Since then I've added two dwarf gouramis, and one zebra snail. Its a 20 gallon tank and I cycled it with 4 zebra danios whom are still in there making a total of 6 fish and one snail. My readings were fine for a couple days with that bio-load, but after about 2-3 days of the newly added fish being in there, my ammonia went up to .25ppm (no nitrIte, 5ppm nitrAte) and has been like that for 4 days now. So far I've just been treating the water with a dose of Prime every day to detoxify the ammonia for the fish since it wasn't much. I didn't do a water change yet because the fish look happy and I want the BB to catch up.

Also, I originally had and aqueon 20 quietflow on there from the start, half way through the cycling period I "added" an aquaclear 50. I cut the filter floss out of the aqueon cartidge and lined it between the sponges in my aquaclear to help seed it, then I added a new cartridge to the aqueon and had both filters running at the same time until my cycle finished weeks later. Just recently (after the tank cycled) I cut out the floss from the aqueon again and added that into the aquaclear to preserve any BB. I then removed the aqueon, and have been running the aquaclear solo for the past few days. I already had the dwarf gouramis in there before I removed the aqueon. Checked the water the next two days to make sure everything was ok and I got perfect readings. Now on the third day (which I explained in the first paragraph) my ammonia hit .25, and has been that way for 4 days now. I've been feeding very lightly once every other day since I noticed the spike. And to answer anybody about the filter, no I've never cleaned out my (aquaclear) filter or let tap water near my tank. The fish had no change in behavior since the spike and beg for food as usual when I walk in.

1. What should I do?
2. What was the "main" cause of the spike?
3. How long should I expect it to last?
4. Is there anything I can do to make it go away faster?

I hope this is enough info for you guys to go by.

 

[Aquascaper]

1. Water changes to get level to zero
2. Filter not being able to cope with increased bioload
3. Until your filter catches up with the bioload
4. Water changes

 

[mgx42]

1. Water changes to get level to zero
2. Filter not being able to cope with increased bioload
3. Until your filter catches up with the bioload
4. Water changes

Thanks, should I do a gravel vac too? Typically how long would it take for the filter to catch up? Days? Weeks? Thanks again for the information.

 

[Aquascaper]

There is no typical timescale as it all depends on how depleted the bacterial colonys are. Don't disturb the gravel too much as this will contain some bacteria but remove detritus if possible. Keep doing water changes until you can keep the levels at zero then gradually move back to a normal maintenance routine.

 

[mgx42]

There is no typical timescale as it all depends on how depleted the bacterial colonys are. Don't disturb the gravel too much as this will contain some bacteria but remove detritus if possible. Keep doing water changes until you can keep the levels at zero then gradually move back to a normal maintenance routine.

Ok sounds good, thanks.

 

[mgx42]

There is no typical timescale as it all depends on how depleted the bacterial colonys are. Don't disturb the gravel too much as this will contain some bacteria but remove detritus if possible. Keep doing water changes until you can keep the levels at zero then gradually move back to a normal maintenance routine.

Hey sorry to bother you again, but I've been doing PWC's since we talked and the ammonia was staying at 2.5ppm, but today I just checked my ammonia and it was .5ppm. Any ideas on what's going on? I'm feeding them extremely sparingly, and am getting any fish feces or uneaten food out of the tank when I see some. How come it doubled? This isn't making any sense to me. Last PWC was 20% two days ago, just did another 20% after seeing the readings today.

 

[DreamertK]

Isn't 0.5ppm smaller than 2.5ppm? It sound like it's gone down quite a bit.

 

[mgx42]

Isn't 0.5ppm smaller than 2.5ppm? It sound like it's gone down quite a bit.

Thanks for that, I meant to say .25ppm.

 

[DreamertK]

On my test kit it says that .5ppm is "safe", though on another test for ammonia I have it says .5ppm is "toxic". Perhaps one of my test kits lopped off a zero. Just keep up with those WC's so that its not in that toxic level or for too long while observing your fish for ammonia poisoning symptoms, your filter needs time to catch up to the addtional fish.

 

[dannybgoode]

Your water changes are not big enough or often enough if the ammonia levels are rising. As per Aquasscaper:

1. Water changes to get level to zero
2. Filter not being able to cope with increased bioload
3. Until your filter catches up with the bioload
4. Water changes

If you're not following point 1 you're going to have difficulties. You need to be doing big daily water changes of 80% + to keep on top of things until your filter has caught up.

You need to also watch out for any corresponding nitrite spike once the ammonia is getting fully processed. This does need to be kept at unreadable levels otherwise your fish really are in danger.

Cheers

Danny B

 

[fluttermoth]

Ammonia will always rise as fish are constantly producing it; not only in urine and faeces, but as a by-product of respiration.

It's generally considered that any level of ammonia (or nitrite) over 0.25ppm is harmful.

It shouldn't take long for your filter to catch up though, a few days at most,

 

[mgx42]

Ammonia will always rise as fish are constantly producing it; not only in urine and faeces, but as a by-product of respiration.

It's generally considered that any level of ammonia (or nitrite) over 0.25ppm is harmful.

It shouldn't take long for your filter to catch up though, a few days at most,

Thats the problem though, its been about 11 days now. And I've been feeding them very little amounts every 2 days. So i'm confused why its taking this long for a .25ppm spike.

Your water changes are not big enough or often enough if the ammonia levels are rising. As per Aquasscaper:

1. Water changes to get level to zero
2. Filter not being able to cope with increased bioload
3. Until your filter catches up with the bioload
4. Water changes

If you're not following point 1 you're going to have difficulties. You need to be doing big daily water changes of 80% + to keep on top of things until your filter has caught up.

You need to also watch out for any corresponding nitrite spike once the ammonia is getting fully processed. This does need to be kept at unreadable levels otherwise your fish really are in danger.

Cheers

Danny B

I see what your saying, thanks for responding. My only problem is I can't use my tap water because it has ammonia and nitrite in it. I use spring water from the grocery store. So doing an 80% water change every day isn't easy for me. The most I can really do is change 25% every couple days, feed lightly, and add prime everyday.

Is it possible that my ammonia test liquid is inaccurate? (it's an API master test kit). My fish have shown no change in behavior since the spikes. I don't know, just a thought.

Thanks to all of you for the advice you've given, its very appreciated. (keep it coming, lol)

 

[bmonki]

Sounds to me like the two filters you had running had enough bacteria to process any waste the 4 daios produced, but since then you've halved the bacteria essentially as you removed the second filter. Then add to that the fact you've added more fish so more waste is being produced. Sounds to me like you'll be needing to go back into Fish-in cycle mode until the filter catches up