Ammonia in cycled tank??

[loopyworm]

My 50L tank has been cycled for 2 months now and has been perfect, however almost a week ago (12th) I tested the water and the results were: pH - 7.6 (as always), Ammonia - .5, Nitrite - 0 (as always), nitrate - 5.0. During the week ammonia went up to 2 and I did some water changes and got it back down to 1.
I have been doing daily water changes of about 30 percent whilst vacuuming the gravel, and using tap water conditioner in the new water (which has 0 ammonia).
A guy at the specialty aquarium store on the 16th told me to rinse out my filter in aquarium water and replace the white ceramic rings, which I did. Today I tested the ammonia and it was at about 1 so I did another water change. I just tested the water again (8 hours later) and the results are: pH - 7.6, Ammonia - 4, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 4 at the highest.

I have no idea whats going on, I have been using ammo lock every second day hoping that it will make the ammonia non toxic and the fish are eating and acting fine. Any ideas??

Fish - 4 Male guppies
Plants - 2 Ambulias
Flexible air stone along the back of tank and air pump to circulate water.
heater set at 24.5 degrees celcius.
Filter has bio balls, carbon, sponge and ceramic rings.

 

[Sk3lly]

NEVER NEVER NEVER change out your bio media. Those white ceramic things you replaced house the majority of your bacteria colony. Effectively what you have done is restarted your cycle. It should cycle fairly quick now though as you'll have the necessary bacteria on other surfaces in your aquarium. Daily testing and possibly daily 50% water changes are now needed.
If your at 4ppm ammonia (toxic) one 50% water change will drop you to 2ppm ammonia (toxic). You'll then need another 50% water change to drop you to 1ppm ammonia (still not good for fish). Hope this makes sense and shows that 30% water changes in your current state simply wont be enough.

Once you've got the ammonia to the safe level, be sure to keep testing daily and follow instructions on fish in cycling.

If you decide to leave it be and hope to detoxify the ammonia, then watch for the nitrite spike

 

[Sk3lly]

I believe ammonia burns the gills of fish. This stops the gills providing the fish with o2 as well as before. This damage is non reversible i think

 

[loopyworm]

Hmm well so much for the 'expert' at the specialty store. He told me that because there would already be bacteria inside the filter that it would be best for me to replace the ceramic rings and the ammonia would decrease. I will do another water change now and see what the results are.

 

[Sk3lly]

Hmm well so much for the 'expert' at the specialty store. He told me that because there would already be bacteria inside the filter that it would be best for me to replace the ceramic rings and the ammonia would decrease. I will do another water change now and see what the results are.

There will be some bacteria in the filter but think logically. What is the main purpose of those bio media? What do you gain by replacing them?

You'll be ok just a bit of hard work for the next couple weeks.

Bit off topic but are you in the uk? You mentioned your tank temp in celsius

 

[loopyworm]

Nope, im in Australia

Ok, well the fish seem to be doing just fine for the time being, acting the same as they always have so hopefully they will survive this. I have done a 50 percent water change and re-tested ammonia which seems to be a tad lighter green than the last time. Should I do another water change tonight?

 

[Sk3lly]

Ideally you need to leave a couple hours after a water change to test. If your ammonia is over 0.5 then yes another water change would be good. Its a pain at first but once your on top of the levels its ok. If your using prime as a water conditioner with a bit of luck your fish wont of been affected at all

 

[loopyworm]

Ok, well I did 2 50 percent water changes last night and tested again this morning. Ammonia is still at least 4. I thought that doing so many water changes at such large volumes would decrease the ammonia levels but its not working at all.

 

[loopyworm]

Did another water change this morning and just retested the water. No changes at all :s

 

[Sk3lly]

Test your tap water for ammonia

 

[threnjen]

Sorry Your LFS guy totally screwed you. Your ceramic rings probably had 90% of your bacteria.
What's the temp of your tank? I can tell your level of actual toxic ammonia knowing that and your pH.

 

[Caliban07]

My 50L tank has been cycled for 2 months now and has been perfect, however almost a week ago (12th) I tested the water and the results were: pH - 7.6 (as always), Ammonia - .5, Nitrite - 0 (as always), nitrate - 5.0. During the week ammonia went up to 2 and I did some water changes and got it back down to 1.

I have been doing daily water changes of about 30 percent whilst vacuuming the gravel, and using tap water conditioner in the new water (which has 0 ammonia).

A guy at the specialty aquarium store on the 16th told me to rinse out my filter in aquarium water and replace the white ceramic rings, which I did. Today I tested the ammonia and it was at about 1 so I did another water change. I just tested the water again (8 hours later) and the results are: pH - 7.6, Ammonia - 4, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 4 at the highest.



I have no idea whats going on, I have been using ammo lock every second day hoping that it will make the ammonia non toxic and the fish are eating and acting fine. Any ideas??



Fish - 4 Male guppies

Plants - 2 Ambulias

Flexible air stone along the back of tank and air pump to circulate water.

heater set at 24.5 degrees celcius.

Filter has bio balls, carbon, sponge and ceramic rings.

You need to test your source water for ammonia. If we know what's going in every time you do a water change we can eliminate ammonia from source as the problem.

 

[loopyworm]

Thanks for all the help I tested the tap water twice and there is zero ammonia. After multiple water changes a day for a whole week and adding bacteria and only having the ammonia increase, I decided to remove the fish, remove 99 percent of the water and add new clean conditioned water with added Quick Start by API. I then tested the water and got zero ammonia so I added the fish back. I re-tested today and all my results were back to what they had been before the ammonia spike.
I have no idea what caused the spike in the first place but im so glad all is back to normal and the fish seem to be absolutely fine

 

[Sk3lly]

We told you what caused the ammonia spike. You changed out your bio media in your filter. Just because theres 0 ammonia now doesnt mean your out of the woods. Keep testing your water as you might not be cycled again yet

 

[loopyworm]

I already had high ammonia for days before I changed the media. It tested at 4 before I changed the media and after I changed the media.