Darn you ammonia!

[Mrs.h2012]

After having a cycled tank for going on almost 5 months I have a trace of ammonia for the first time since being cycled even after adding fish I haven't had this happen yet. Guess it was bound to happen sometime. Doing a water change now. I tested water yesterday, and for some reason had a feeling I should test today. So
Glad I did! I won't lie this does make me a little nervous knowing I have ammonia with Rams in the tank :/ I'm going to do a bigger than normal water change this time.

 

[tropicalfishlady]

After having a cycled tank for going on almost 5 months I have a trace of ammonia for the first time since being cycled even after adding fish I haven't had this happen yet. Guess it was bound to happen sometime. Doing a water change now. I tested water yesterday, and for some reason had a feeling I should test today. So
Glad I did! I won't lie this does make me a little nervous knowing I have ammonia with Rams in the tank :/ I'm going to do a bigger than normal water change this time.

The bane of the fishkeepers lives Bloody Ammonia,if you have just added fish,you will get a spike probably until BB catches up with new bioload,w/c's will help,i got re-cycled after a disatrous mini cycle and now a trace of ammonia and didn't even get to add any more fish !!!
A very low PH Is my problem :-/ because apparantly thats bad for Bb so ive took someones advice on here to add a small amount of crushed coral into tank and that may help.....glad of these forums me and the good people who help,just when i think i know it all i find something else out so i try and help out back into forums if i can,hope your spike is short lived

 

[Mrs.h2012]

The bane of the fishkeepers lives Bloody Ammonia,if you have just added fish,you will get a spike probably until BB catches up with new bioload,w/c's will help,i got re-cycled after a disatrous mini cycle and now a trace of ammonia and didn't even get to add any more fish !!!
A very low PH Is my problem :-/ because apparantly thats bad for Bb so ive took someones advice on here to add a small amount of crushed coral into tank and that may help.....glad of these forums me and the good people who help,just when i think i know it all i find something else out so i try and help out back into forums if i can,hope your spike is short lived

Me too. Even after adding fish in the past I never had a spikes, so this kinda came as a shock. Just hoping things go back to normal soon!

 

[tropicalfishlady]

Me too. Even after adding fish in the past I never had a spikes, so this kinda came as a shock. Just hoping things go back to normal soon!

I.hope so for you too,i hope mine does as i was wanting to get my Betta settled in before Christmas,might be after that now though good luck !!!

 

[jondamon]

Don't forget as fish grow their bio load increases.


Bigger fish = bigger poop to deal with.

Your BB populate to the bioload of the tank. You could just be experiencing the bb catching up with fish growth.


Jon

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Don't forget as fish grow their bio load increases.

Bigger fish = bigger poop to deal with.

Your BB populate to the bioload of the tank. You could just be experiencing the bb catching up with fish growth.

Jon

I should've thought of that. Do I ever feel dumb now lol. Very good point.

 

[rylake]

More than likely the fish are just a bigger bioload than was cycled as mentioned above. That's why I cycled at 5ppm or so, just to have a rock solid bio filter.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

More than likely the fish are just a bigger bioload than was cycled as mentioned above. That's why I cycled at 5ppm or so, just to have a rock solid bio filter.

I'm just so surprised by this because everytime
I added fish I've gotten seeded filter media from LFS and added the media when I added new fish and I haven't had a spike until now. I guess there's no way of knowing how it happened, just as long as it goes away is all I'm concerned about.

 

[tropicalfishlady]

I'm just so surprised by this because everytime
I added fish I've gotten seeded filter media from LFS and added the media when I added new fish and I haven't had a spike until now. I guess there's no way of knowing how it happened, just as long as it goes away is all I'm concerned about.

Good luck it does hun !!

 

[librarygirl]

Check all of your fish, make sure nothing is missing. A dead fish can decay and cause a spike. Also make sure you're siphoning up waste and stuff from the bottom with water changes as it can collect and decay and cause spikes, particularly under decorations and hard to get at areas. You might also want to check your filters and make sure there isn't a bunch of old food decaying in there.

With that being said I've had random ammonia spikes too for no reason. It happens sometimes. It should correct itself soon. Good luck.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Check all of your fish, make sure nothing is missing. A dead fish can decay and cause a spike. Also make sure you're siphoning up waste and stuff from the bottom with water changes as it can collect and decay and cause spikes, particularly under decorations and hard to get at areas. You might also want to check your filters and make sure there isn't a bunch of old food decaying in there.

With that being said I've had random ammonia spikes too for no reason. It happens sometimes. It should correct itself soon. Good luck.

All of my fish are there. During this water change I really really stirred up my gravel and did a very large water change (the biggest I've done). Just tested after the WC and my tank running for about 5 hours after the WC and ammonia was at 0. Hoping it stays that way. I haven't checked my filters but I will. Thanks for the advice!

 

[bud29]

How high was the ammonia? Even perfectly cycled tanks can show up readings of .25 ammonia from time to time and it's nothing to worry about. .25 shouldn't harm your fish and it normally will go back to 0 within a few hours.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

How high was the ammonia? Even perfectly cycled tanks can show up readings of .25 ammonia from time to time and it's nothing to worry about. .25 shouldn't harm your fish and it normally will go back to 0 within a few hours.

It was .25 it was just a shock seeing green after after months of only seeing yellow lol.

 

[bud29]

OK. Well then it is nothing to worry about. As long as you aren't constantly getting readings of .25, or getting readings above .25, it's fine. Many people freak out if they get a reading of .25, when it really isn't a big deal. Just super-protective fish parents

 

[Mrs.h2012]

OK. Well then it is nothing to worry about. As long as you aren't constantly getting readings of .25, or getting readings above .25, it's fine. Many people freak out if they get a reading of .25, when it really isn't a big deal. Just super-protective fish parents

Yes I am. Like I said this is a first of any ammonia at all in my tank in months. I have rams that I have fallen in love with and know that they need really good water conditions, so that's why I freaked out. Now having rams I dont let my nitrates get above 10ppm, so I'm even more OCD about my water than before lol. Before the rams I was only doing once a week testing,
Now I do every other day or every few days.