Ammonia spike in previously established aquarium

[Thai_Fish]

One more thing...does your tap water contain chloramine? If it does, then that might be where you're getting your ammonia from. Since chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia, dechlorinating the water alone isn't enough. Our area just recently switched from using chlorine to using chloramine, and it became a big problem because people weren't aware of the switch.

 

[daisycat]

Thanks for the tips Thai_fish.

I am a bit confused by the ammo-lock - I knew that it didn't remove the ammonia but surely overtime the new form of the ammonia will be converted too and thus the levels should drop off?

I don't know how to tell if chloramine is being added to the water, my water company are not the most helpful people! I do know that the pre-treated tap water and the dechlorinated tap water both give an ammonia reading of 0 on my test kit though...

The good news is that nitrites seem to be rising finally and so I am hoping that means the cycle is progressing, albeit slowly, and that ammonia will start to drop off soon.

 

[tstenback]

Yes that is a good sign and the ammonia should drop steadily over the next number of days until it hits zero. But you must be very vigilant in monitoring the nitrite levels now as the nitrite can burn the gills of the fish. I usually try to keep the nitrite levels below one with water changes. Sometimes during this phase of the cycle that is hard to do but try to keep it as low as you can. The nitrite spike is also the llllloooonnnngggggggggest part of the cycle. If you can get some gravel or filter media froman established tank it woud really help speed this phase up. HTH

 

[Thai_Fish]

Hi,

Glad to hear that things are taking turn for the better!

If your dechlorinated tap water gave ammonia reading of 0, then you probably don't have chloramine in your water. It was scary for us, because we recently moved here and didn't know there was chloramine in the water. I just happened to chat with the fish store guy who mentioned that people kept coming in with dead fish because no one knew the water company had made the switch. We tested the dechlorinated tap water, and sure enough, there was ammonia.

You're right, the new form of ammonia (no idea what the actual chemical bond is) would get converted and get the cycle going.

Good Luck and Have Fun!
Hyla

 

[daisycat]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help. Did a water test last night and Ammonia was at 0.1, Nitrite at 0 and Nitrate at 40(ish) - very hard to read results so it would seem the tank has finally recycled.

We unblocked the filter a few days ago and the tank passed very quickly through the nitrite spike (after lingering for a couple of weeks over the ammonia) so we are thinking that the partial blockage of the filter may have caused some of the problems as most of our bacteria are in there (fluval canister).

Anyhow, it's all going good now and even the really poorly looking leopard pleco has grown back lots of his missing fin bits and looks a lot happier.

We're starting our new 400L tank on a fishless cycle just as soon as the substrate arrives and then the fish will all get a lovely big new home )