Ammonia issue

[Gsdsar]

My 55g has been set up for about 6 weeks now. Used seeded media, went through the cycle, added fish.( Quicker than I wanted but that's another story) any way.

Had a mouth fungus issue. Treated with Mela/Pima for a week. All but one fish responded. The one unresponsive fish got much worse, has been moved to a QT for further treatment. He is doing well, but will stay QT for a few more weeks.

So before all this happened, the tank cycled beautifully. All stages, textbook. Now, however, I am finding trace amounts of Ammonia in the tank. I have been testing and doing PWC about EOD. And the ammonia is still hovering between 0 and . 25.

The fish are acting fine. Eating like pigs, active, engaging, great color. But I am getting frustrated. All of my tanks decided to crash on me the last 3 weeks, so I am trying to figure out what is happening. My 26g BF is going through another full cycle, its been stable for nearly a year. That tank has been getting daily 25-50% PWC.

I tested my tap water, Ammonia 0. I have had no fish death in this new tank. I am having a few issues with my Ludwigia Repens, it's shedding its lower leaves. Don't know why. Could plant death be causing this?

Love my plants, but my fish are more important.

NitrIte is 0
NitrAte is 5-10

My water from the tap is stupid hard. Am fooling around with the idea of RO/DI. But have not done it yet. Phosphate is 0, at last check about 4 days ago. I upped my fert amount and started adding Potassium as well. Could that be doing it? Should I add Ammolock? Will doing that hurt my BB?

Oh yeah, stock:

3 turquoise rainbows
4 goyder river rainbows
2 banded rainbows( so they said, I don't believe it)
3 false Julii Cory's
2 female Boesmani( male is in QT)

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Rivercats]

Adding any type of fertilizer isn't going to cause ammonia. Dying plant matter can raise ammonia levels just as dying fish can. Also a low ph can cause biological filtration to slow or even stop which causes ammonia to be present.

 

[Gsdsar]

Thanks Rivercats. I will be more diligent about cleaning out dead plant matter.

My PH hovers between 7.8 and 8. Not surprising knowing my hardness. But it's stable. So I don't think that's it.

I am hoping with my new fert,potassium, and carbon schedule and dosing, that my Repens will recover. I will give it a few weeks. If it does not I will remove it. And go for something a bit less needy?

More power to those of you doing very high tech intensive planted tanks. They are a lot if work. And mine is barely a medium planted tank!!!!

 

[Rivercats]

If top growth is healthy and bottom leaves keep falling off it most likely doesn't have enough light. You know my biggest tank is a 220g 100% planted and the majority of are stem plants and honestly once it got mature and balanced I have very little work per week to keep it going. Everyone is going to have some decaying plant matter. Snails, the bane of many aquarist, actually eat decaying plant matter and mine do a pretty good job keeping the dead stuff eaten. I probably have to put an extra hour tops per week into trimming and such. Not including the WC which I use an Aqueon water changer which does the work for me.

 

[Gsdsar]

What kind if snails do you use Janice? I have some Cory in this tank, but am no longer adverse to snails. Just don't want them taking over.

 

[Clownfishlover]

If you have the API master kit sometimes the ammonia test looks like it is more then it is IME

 

[Rivercats]

What kind if snails do you use Janice? I have some Cory in this tank, but am no longer adverse to snails. Just don't want them taking over.

I have MTS and nerites in all my tanks. Many don't like MTS as they will reproduce more when excess food is in the tank. I like them as they move through the substrate eating during the day and mostly you only see them come out at night once the lights are off. I don't mind them at all. Nerites can't reproduce in freshwater so as many as you put in is the amount your going to have.