Ammonia spike

[Matty24]

Hello, just home from work and notice a dead ballon molly and a half dead molly, the molly which as looked poorly after delivering some fry a week ago, the ballon molly had been fine was only put I the tank a few weeks ago, tested my water parameters and ammonia is reading 0.2, nitrite/nirate both read 0, I'm guessing a water change is required what % should I change I only done a 50% water change on Sunday as I do every week also this week I gave the media a very light clean couple squeezes in old tank water so I'm abit confused as to why I've suddenly had a spike all of a sudden so soon after a water change all the other fish are acting as normal.

Cheers

 

[Matty24]

Done 2 tests first was around 0.2 so tested again to double check and second test is different although they don't show the colour very well on the image

 

[Slaphppy7]

Do a large WC, at least 50%...what kind of water conditioner do you use?

BTW, all of the "balloon" type fish are purposely bred for genetic deformity...their internal organs are crushed from the grossly bent spine...these fish don't live long...IMO, it is inhumane & cruel for breeders to produce these mutated fish

But, as long as there is a market for them, the practice won't stop

 

[Matty24]

I blame my son for that ballon molly I won't be buying more.. I use tetra aquasafe conditioner

 

[Slaphppy7]

I blame my son for that ballon molly I won't be buying more.. I use tetra aquasafe conditioner

Get some Seachem Prime when you run out of that conditioner, it will render ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte to a non-toxic form, which the Tetra brand may or may not do...

No worry, my daughter wanted and kept those same fish...briefly...hers didn't last long, either

 

[Matty24]

Thanks for the advice, I use seachems fertilizers daily and they have grown my plants really well yeah I bought 2 balloons 4 months ago when I got into fish keeping they latest a month then a member told me don't buy them, so I said I wouldn't but my sons face said different when he saw one.. the 2 I had originally the female gave birth right before she died and I have 1 of the fry still growing in the tank maybe it might be OK who knows but long story sort no more of them

 

[Byron]

There may be more here. If there are plants, you should not see any ammonia asthe plants are going to take it up and quite rapidly. Is this tank the one pictured above your name (sorry, can't think of the term just now)?

What is the pH?

When you say using fertilizers daily, which ones and how much?

 

[Matty24]

There may be more here. If there are plants, you should not see any ammonia asthe plants are going to take it up and quite rapidly. Is this tank the one pictured above your name (sorry, can't think of the term just now)?

What is the pH?

When you say using fertilizers daily, which ones and how much?

I've been dosing several of their products for around 4 months same as running co2, ph is normally always 7.0 I've adjusted the dosage slightly as and when it's needed it but I will add a imagine of the chart I started off using I only dose the green highlighted products. Yes it is the tank pictured above

 

[Matty24]

I did a 50% water change couple hours ago and retested and it's showing 0 ammonia now, the skinny molly wasn't well this morning she was actually laying at the front of the tank so I didn't think she was going to last much longer and there's not been a ballon that's latest longer than a month in the tank.. everything else is fine otos are fine, other platys and mollys and a handful of their fry are normal, 4 amano shrimp that are acting as normal they very sensitive to changes in water parameters from what I've read in the past so I'm not sure what happened but it's showing 0 ammonia again now I will retest in the morning before work

 

[Byron]

On the fish issue...the pH at 7 is very low for mollies, but of even more importance is the GH. Do you know the value?

 

[Matty24]

Gh is 16 (284)