Spike in the Tank

[sproutyrouty]

Good Afternoon all,

Not sure if there is much more I can do but about a week and half ago I had a ammonia and a nitrate spike.

Ammonia is 0.25
Nitrate is about 60
Nitrite is 0

At the moment I'm doing 50% WC everyday to try and get the nitrate back down. My ammonia is always around the 0.25 mark due to there being some in the tap water.

Anyone got any other ideas? I've lost 3 fish because of this spike to which I have 2 lonely fellows hanging in there.


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[Delapool]

Not sure what sort of filters you have but for me, cleaning the canister filters (although not all at once) will drop nitrates.

 

[sproutyrouty]

Not sure what sort of filters you have but for me, cleaning the canister filters (although not all at once) will drop nitrates.

The filter is a Api one that came with the tank which has a carbon cartridge in it which hasn't been changed in a solid year now as I don't want to lose the bacteria.

I'm gravel vac'd out its only a small 27L tank so doesn't take too long


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[plantnoob]

I'd give the filter a good solid swish in aquarium water to dislodge and remove everything that's clogging it. There should be plenty of bacteria still in there to process ammonia after cleaning. One year is a long time to have not cleaned the filter.


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[Delapool]

The filter is a Api one that came with the tank which has a carbon cartridge in it which hasn't been changed in a solid year now as I don't want to lose the bacteria.

I'm gravel vac'd out its only a small 27L tank so doesn't take too long

If the filter cartridge does look gunked up you could try swishing it around in old tank change water. Bacteria should be fine. I clean mine under a hose so the bacteria are fairly tough as an example (but I'm also running multiple filters just in case).

Is your water conditioner detoxifying ammonia, nitrites, etc eg seachem prime?

 

[sproutyrouty]

I use tetra aquasafe I always have, filter doesn't look clogged there is green gunk around the carbon cartridge though.

I was always told never to touch the filter I've obviously being naive there.


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[Delapool]

I use tetra aquasafe I always have, filter doesn't look clogged there is green gunk around the carbon cartridge though.

I was always told never to touch the filter I've obviously being naive there.

The idea of not touching the filter makes good sense so as not to disturb the bacteria.

But cleaning it helps keep it clear of slime coating the cartridge. My small filter has two cartridges so I can do one at a time and I have added some ceramic noodles as extra spots for the bacteria to grow.

However as fairly good then I'm afraid I'm back to water changes to reduce nitrates. Filter cleans, gravel vacs, plants and water changes have been where I have reduced nitrates.

 

[sproutyrouty]

The tank also seems to have some brown/coloured algae around the tank not in huge amounts is this something which should be cleaned off or is it good for the tank?


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[plantnoob]

Pretty sure no algae is good for the tank. Brown stuff sounds like diatoms. Certain type of fish like the Otos, love to eat it. I'd definitely clean it off, but chances are they'll reattach. If you don't have an inherent silicate problem (high silicate) with your water, these should automatically die off over a period of few weeks.


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[sproutyrouty]

So I put a live plant into the tank and it's completely sorted the issue.

The ammonia is still 0.25 so I did a API liquid test on the tap water and it says exactly the same as the tank water.

Both 0.25 is there anything I can do with this I currently use Tetra AquaSafe.


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[Delapool]

If it says it detoxifies ammonia(?) you should be fine.