Ammonia

[Kinili]

It seems that every time I do a water change my ammonia spikes. I test my water before I do it and I have zero ammo and nitrites then when I get up in the morning I test again and then I get a ammo reading. No nitrites though. What am I doing wrong?

 

[daileene]

do you know about the nitrogen cyle? are you still cycling? how long has this tank been setup? if you are still cycling, do you have fish already?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

All those questions should be taken into consideration, +1 to her. Also, is it possible that your tap water is treated with ammonia?

 

[daileene]

i just saw your profile and you did say you have fish in your tank now. this link will help you greatly:

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!

the secret is do a partial water change at least twice a day 50-70% everyday (if ammonia is really high). check ammonia everyday, if it is more than 0.25ppm, do a PWC coz more than that is detrimental to your residents.

 

[eco23]

Chances are you have chloramines in your water which are causing the reading. Assuming the tank is cycled, as long as you are using a water conditioner like Seachem Prime, it will neutralize the ammo for long enough for the bio-filter to consume it. I agree, test the tap and let us know what you find

 

[BBradbury]

Good morning Kin...

You don't say how long your tank has been running, but I can say with some certainty, the ammonia in your tank is putting your fish at risk. Your water changes need to include vacuumng the gravel. I'd also encourage you to add some plants to the tank as soon as possible and to supplement the filtration.

B

 

[Kinili]

My tank has been up for about a six or seven weeks. It has been cycled, so must be my water. And I just started vacuuming, I thought that I needed to wait but I went to long. That might be the issue as well.

 

[eco23]

My tank has been up for about a six or seven weeks. It has been cycled, so must be my water. And I just started vacuuming, I thought that I needed to wait but I went to long. That might be the issue as well.

A light weekly gravel vacuuming is all that should be needed to keep things tidy and remove any excess food as far as the substrate is concerned. Otherwise, just weekly pwc's to keep nitrates in check and restore nutrients and buffers to the tank is all that is necessary.

As I said previously, just make sure your water conditioner neutralizes chloramines. As long as it does and your bio-filter can consume the ammonia content in the water within 24 hours there's no worries...and I assure you that temporary ammonia level if detoxified causes no harm to your fish.

 

[jetajockey]

how much ammonia are we talking about? What are your tank parameters?

 

[Kinili]

I'm not sure exactly what my ammo levels are not by my tank at the moment but I do have a reading where as before my pwc it was zero.

 

[Kinili]

Thanks Eco your help is always greatly appreciated!!

 

[eco23]

Thanks Eco your help is always greatly appreciated!!

No problem, jeta did have a good question about how high it's spiking. It sounds like a classic case of chloramines...but if it spikes to excessive ranges that's a different story. Just make sure whatever ammonia the tap water adds to the tank is converted to 0 within 24 hours. My municipality adds over .5ppm to the tap water, but if it's significantly over that...it may be worth exploring further.

I also saw in your profile that you added a new fish, and the last time you added fish you had a mini-cycle. So make sure regardless that you keep and eye on your parameters and have a bucket nearby in case pwc's are necessary to deal with another mini-cycle

 

[Kinili]

No problem, jeta did have a good question about how high it's spiking. It sounds like a classic case of chloramines...but if it spikes to excessive ranges that's a different story. My municipality adds over .5ppm to the tap water, but if it's significantly over that...it may be worth exploring further.

I also saw in your profile that you added a new fish, and the last time you added fish you had a mini-cycle. So make sure regardless that you keep and eye on your parameters and have a bucket nearby in case pwc's are necessary to deal with another mini-cycle

The ammo is definitely not over .5. And my mini cycle finished so we are all good there. When I get home I'll test the tap water.

 

[Kinili]

Ok just got home. Tested my tap water no ammo at all, re tested my water still low amounts of ammo in the tank. There is no nitrite reading I don't get what's going on. Everything seems to be fine... Then I do a water change and all he'll breaks loose!!

 

[eco23]

Ok just got home. Tested my tap water no ammo at all, re tested my water still low amounts of ammo in the tank. There is no nitrite reading I don't get what's going on. Everything seems to be fine... Then I do a water change and all he'll breaks loose!!

Something doesn't add up. It definitely sounds like a mini-cycle. When is the last time you added fish? Any other changes recently? New filters? Heavy cleaning? Switching out decorations?

 

[jetajockey]

Ok just got home. Tested my tap water no ammo at all, re tested my water still low amounts of ammo in the tank. There is no nitrite reading I don't get what's going on. Everything seems to be fine... Then I do a water change and all he'll breaks loose!!

did you treat the water with conditioner before you tested it?
How large are your WCs?

 

[Kinili]

Something doesn't add up. It definitely sounds like a mini-cycle. When is the last time you added fish? Any other changes recently? New filters? Heavy cleaning? Switching out decorations?

I added a bristlenose Pleco. But I did the water change before I added him and tested the water moments after he was in the tank. And the ammo has lowered since this morning. I did about a 30% pwc and it was the first time vacuuming the gravel.

 

[eco23]

I'm open to other ideas if possibly stirring up the gravel for the first time can be a cause, or if jeta had an idea with the conditioner I'm not familiar with...but the most I can assume is fluctuating chloramines levels. We test water every day at our company and you'd be shocked how much and how quickly chlorine and chloramine levels fluctuate. If the ammo didn't show up until the new water was added and it's going down by itself that would be my guess...but I'd expect it to drop much faster than it is if chloramines were the cause. Now that I think about it, maybe stirring up the gravel could be the issue.

Either way, keep an eye on the levels of the tank (especially since you just added a fish), and also monitor the tap water for a few days to see if ammonia shows up in the water. As long as you're using a conditioner that neutralizes ammo like Prime...don't be afraid of pwc's.

 

[jpchin]

i would say the lack of gravel cleaning might be giving you that slight ammonia spike. you should clean a portion(about 1/4-1/2) of your gravel each week when you do a water change. make sure to put the gravel wand into the gravel and not just on the surface. you will see a lot of debris coming out of the gravel. a thorough cleaning is needed to get you off to a good start and then follow the 1/4-1/2 gravel cleaning. it is important NOT to clean the whole bottom at once because you need some bacteria to keep the water balanced. good luck

 

[Kinili]

Thanks for all your help everyone! My ammo is zero this morning and no nitrites either!! I hope that when I do my next pwc that this doesn't happen again! I tell ya I don't know what I would do without this forum!!