Plz Help! Ammonia Spike

[Rob333]

Tank size: 180L
pH:7.6
ammonia:between 0.25 and 1.5 but could be getting worse
nitrite:0
nitrate:0
kH:6
gH:16
tank temp:26c

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): all fish color are fine n behavior is ok some fish do the occasional 'flashing' against the gravel

Volume and Frequency of water changes:25/30% a week

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:use tap safe and have used white spot treatment

Tank inhabitants:3 tiger barb, 3 green barb, 3 black ruby barb, 2 blue ram, 1 common pleco, 1 catfish not surn on the name but will try to fine out.


Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):none

Exposure to chemicals:recently treated the tank for white spot,

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Welcome to the forum, I'm sorry to see you are having these problems! I just need to ask a few questions to help work out what has gone wrong here

Have you added fish to the tank recently?
How long have you had the tank running with fish in it?
Have you cleaned your filter recently? Did you use tap water or old tank water to clean it?

The way to deal with an ammonia or nitrite spike is to carry out a large water change. Do a 70% water change and test the water again, if you still read ammonia carry out another large water change until you test and get 0 for ammonia and nitrite.

Don't panic, we'll get to the bottom of it

 

[fluttermoth]

How did you clean your filter sponges, OP? (referring to other thread, but as AA is helping on this one, I will too.

If you didn't clean them in tap water, the bacterial colonies should soon bounce back, just monitor things and do as many water changes as necessary to keep both ammonia and nitrite under 0.25ppm.

Are you sure you're doing the nitrate test properly? It's very, very rare to have zero nitrate in a cycled tank.

 

[Rob333]

hi i don't know if u have read the other post but i explained that i cleaned my filter out, so would a 70% water change affect the good bacteria that i cleaned out of my filter?? and how do i delete this post so i can just use the other one??

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

If you're worried about the content of your first post, just click edit to add the information you want.

You haven't explained "how" you cleaned the filter out, which both I and fluttermoth have asked about

No, a water change will never harm your bacteria as long as you dechlorinate the water. If you have used tap water to clean your filters then you will need to check you water stats frequently and do as many large water changes as required to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0. Your fish will quickly feel better after the water change (as long as too much damage hasn't been done already).

Hope this helps.

 

[fluttermoth]

I think it would be just as easy for us to continue to reply on this thread, Rob.

How did you clean your filter sponges?

Whatever turns out to be going on with your filter, you need to do a water change, and a large one, right now, before your fish are poisoned by that ammonia.

 

[Rob333]

i stupidly did wash them in tap water, and i will do another test for nitrate and let you know

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

With the nitrate test, if you are using the API test you have to shake bottle #2 really hard and bash it against maybe a tabletop for a while to make sure it's mixed. Shake it for a good minute!

Don't beat yourself up too much, everyone makes mistakes sometimes! As long as you keep up with water changes over the next couple of days I'm sure your bacteria will bounce back in no time

 

[fluttermoth]

I wouldn't worry about nitrate at the moment. Get the ammonia level down first, that's the priority right now

How long has this tank been running?

 

[Rob333]

about a month and a half, im doing the water change now

 

[Rob333]

hi, update i have done a 70% water change and the ammonia level have gone down but there are still traces there!the fish seem happier as well, how much of a water change should i do do next? and should i do it today or tomorrow?? thank you for every1s help.Rob

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

what do you mean by traces?

Just out of curiosity, what test kit are you using?

 

[Rob333]

im using Tetra test kit NH3/NH4 and it has a chart and zero ammonia the test should go yellow and any traces then it will go green/blue depending how much ammonia there is in the water and it was green earlier and now it is more yellow with a very slight hint of green which means it has gone down but there is still some there!?!

 

[Rob333]

How offten should i do water changes untill the ammonia has gone complettly??

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Yep! And then every time you get a reading over .25.

You can do multiple large water changes in a day without harming fish or bacteria as long as you first dechlorinate the water and roughly match the temperature.

Also, thought I would mention that you're always better to do one very big water change than multiple small ones. It is more effective at getting all of the ammonia and nitrite out of the water.