Ammonia levels killing fish!

[AaronBurr]

Hi all,

I have an established planted tank (been running for 6 months) recently had some algea issues so i used tetra algae control. within in hours i saw my gourami acting odd and checked my levels. My ammonia was nearly 1 ppm! Of course i immediately changed half the water and continued changing a third everyday for a week now. I check the levels in the morning and they are usually around .20 and my evening they have risen as high as .35. Nothing else has been changed in my tank.


All my other levels seem normal. so i think my tank is still cycling. Any idea what could be causing it?

 

[Fibsog]

Are you overfeeding perhaps?

 

[Medx]

Maybe some harmful chemicals got into your tank and killed some of your beneficial bacteria causing the ammonia spike.

 

[AaronBurr]

@ fibsog: thanks for responding. i dont think so. i give them a small pinch twice a day. and i have a pretty good bio crew. an otto, some ghost shrimp and mts snails.

@medx: i suppose it could be that. but i wouldn't think the algae control would do it. if that is the case should i just keep doing partial water changes will things settle out? how will i know if i have removed all the harmful chemical?