Ammonia Scare! Please Help.

[Brenden92]

Newbie fish tank owner here. I found a major ammonia spike when I got home today to check on the little guys. They seemed lethargic, pale, and didnt want to eat. The tank was cycled before fish were added.

The first thing I did was check the parameters and the ammonia was through the roof. After discovering this I did a 50% water change to try and make them feel better. The ammonia seems fine after the change and a lot of the fish have regained their color and habits.

Pre-change parameters:
Ammonia: ~1.5ppm
Nitrites: ~0ppm
Nitrates: <5ppm
PH: ~7.6

After change:
Ammonia: 0-0.25ppm

55 gallon tank
8 Danio, 8 Tetra, 1 Rainbow Shark, 5 Ghost Shrimp, 2 Mystery Snail

Just wondering what you guys think could have caused this? I made sure to do a full fishless cycle before adding fish. Maybe too much food? I normally feed two generous pinches of flakes every evening. Last water change was on Sunday.

 

[jrc0528]

How much ammonia were you dosing for the fishless cycle? Remember the beneficial bacteria are living organisms that compete for food (ammonia & nitrite) to survive. The population will only grow to match the food source. If you cycled at low doses you'll get a small population, then if you add a lot of fish the BB population will be overwhelmed until the population catches up.

What filtration do you use, does it have a good bio-media section?

Continue with daily water changes as needed and I'd even give it a healthy dose of bacteria supplement daily or at least after every WC until the ammonia levels hit 0.0.

My trick for setting up tanks is to seed a large sponge or corner filter loaded with bio-matrix in an existing tank for a month, then drop it into the new tank along with a half-dozen or so fairly hardy fish. I've done this a few times now with no detectable ammonia levels.

 

[Ricky 1]

You have obviously had a spike and done the right thing doing a WC, you would need to WC until your readings are ok, have you cleaned your filter too aggressively? have you used tap water?

 

[dalto]

How long have the fish been in the tank?

 

[Brenden92]

During the fishless cycle I was dosing to 4 ppm or so until it disappeared then added 1ppm per day until the night before I added fish.

The filtration came with the tank. It is a top fin 75. It has two filters and ceramic rings I believe. I want to change the media because I have heard bad things about the carbon in it, but Im not really sure what is best to go with. Nothing in the filter has even been taken out because I want to try and keep as many BBs.

No WC was needed today. Ammonia reads 0ppm. I think it may have been the left over food. I vacuumed up a lot when I was doing the WC.

I use tap water and use a water conditioner on the tank before I add the tap water.

The fish have been in the tank for about 3 weeks. Thankfully the fish appear to be back to their normal selves tonight. The Danios are back to chasing each other around and the Rainbow Shark is a nice dark color again. The other day the Rainbow was almost white. From now on I think I just need to take it easy on the food

Any other advice as far as filtration upgrades or media upgrades would be greatly appreciated

 

[dalto]

Sounds like you may have had a mini-cycle. I would just keep an eye on it by testing for the next few days.

 

[Brenden92]

I fed them a lot less food this time to try to keep it off the floor. The only problem I have is the top swimmers are getting to it before the bottom swimmers can.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my question, Ill definitely keep an eye on the parameters for a while.

 

[dalto]

You may need to feed a small sinking pellets instead of flakes. It uppers fish will still get some but they won't be able to get all of it before it falls down.

 

[Ricky 1]

A good idea from someone on here was to put a few pellets down the intake flow, that takes mine to the bottom feeders before the others can get it.........just a thought

 

[dalto]

A good idea from someone on here was to put a few pellets down the intake flow, that takes mine to the bottom feeders before the others can get it.........just a thought

What stops them from getting sucked into the filter?

 

[Ricky 1]

My inlet is on the left and in the lid dalto and the pump is on the right, so it works ok for me......

 

[Brenden92]

Im headed to the store now to pick up some algae wafers. I was reading the Rainbow Shark really likes those.

 

[trennamw]

What stops them from getting sucked into the filter?

I never thought about that. So I just went to feed my fish ...

In my tank feeding at the filter outflow blows the food far away from the intake. I imagine filters are purposely designed so the water coming out isn't too close to the intake?


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