Help! Added fish & plants & now have Ammonia spike

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

thursyanna

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jan 9, 2013
Messages
368
Location
Amarillo, Tx
I got a little too overzealous today I think. I had 2 zebra danios in my 55 gal and they've been doing OK so I went and added 3 plants, 6 glofish, and 1 baby rafael catfish. A couple of hours later, (now), I checked my levels. Ammonia - .25, PH - 7.6, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0. What happened? Fish seem fine, Rafael is hiding, of course. Oh, and I added a capful of Prime ( the red bottle), and now after I tested I added some Neutral Regulator by Seachem. Do I need to go ahead and do a water change or wait a little bit?
 
I got a little too overzealous today I think. I had 2 zebra danios in my 55 gal and they've been doing OK so I went and added 3 plants, 6 glofish, and 1 baby rafael catfish. A couple of hours later, (now), I checked my levels. Ammonia - .25, PH - 7.6, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 0. What happened? Fish seem fine, Rafael is hiding, of course. Oh, and I added a capful of Prime ( the red bottle), and now after I tested I added some Neutral Regulator by Seachem. Do I need to go ahead and do a water change or wait a little bit?

You added more fish than your bacteria can keep up with. Since you're using prime, you're ok, as it will detoxify the ammonia. Keep an eye on it until it drops back down. You can dose prime every 24-48 hours, and do water changes once your ammonia reaches 1-ish.
In the future, you may try to add 3 or so fish at once, so hopefully you won't see too much of a spike.
Shouldn't be so bad though, just monitor a little closer over the next few days, and keep up with the prime and water changes. :)
 
You added more fish than your bacteria can keep up with. Since you're using prime, you're ok, as it will detoxify the ammonia. Keep an eye on it until it drops back down. You can dose prime every 24-48 hours, and do water changes once your ammonia reaches 1-ish.
In the future, you may try to add 3 or so fish at once, so hopefully you won't see too much of a spike.
Shouldn't be so bad though, just monitor a little closer over the next few days, and keep up with the prime and water changes. :)

Thanks! I knew in the back of my head I was adding too many but I couldn't help myself! LOL!! The fish all seem fine. They are chasing each other all over the tank. Except Rafael of course. He's still hiding in a rock ledge. I appreciate the advice. I was starting to panic thinking I'd inadvertantly killed them all!! As soon as I get home from work tomorrow, I'll test again. :hide:
 
I've done and continue to do the same thing. Every time, I swear I've learned my lesson, but patience has not proved to be my strong suit.
You should be fine though. Prime is my newfound life-saver (literally).
One of these days I'll actually take my own advice. :)
...which is why I advise it! I've learned the hard way. More than once.
 
I've done and continue to do the same thing. Every time, I swear I've learned my lesson, but patience has not proved to be my strong suit.
You should be fine though. Prime is my newfound life-saver (literally).
One of these days I'll actually take my own advice. :)
...which is why I advise it! I've learned the hard way. More than once.

Well, one good thing is, I won't be adding fish for another couple weeks since after I shopped today, I'm broke!! :banghead:
 
Back
Top Bottom