Ammonia spike after water change

[protokix22]

Okay, so I'm a little nervous right now. I just did a 20% water change and my ammonia has spiked up to .25. Before this change, I was at 0. I put two clowns in about a week and a half ago, so I'm assuming my bacteria was built up enough to handle the bio load.

It's a 60 gallong fish only tank with a wet/dry and a cannister filter for some more mechanical filtration.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Okay, so I'm a little nervous right now. I just did a 20% water change and my ammonia has spiked up to .25. Before this change, I was at 0. I put two clowns in about a week and a half ago, so I'm assuming my bacteria was built up enough to handle the bio load.

It's a 60 gallong fish only tank with a wet/dry and a cannister filter for some more mechanical filtration.

Did you stir up the gravel or sand substrate with the water you added when you did the water change? If so, you may have released some trapped nutrients from the substrate when you did. Keep an eye on it, be prepared to do another PWC if required and see where it goes.

 

[protokix22]

Yes. I was told to use a gravel vacuum and get in the substrate. I guess that wasn't the best advice. Any thougts as to how long this spike will continue, should I move my fish to a quarantine tank?

 

[Wy Renegade]

Yes. I was told to use a gravel vacuum and get in the substrate. I guess that wasn't the best advice. Any thougts as to how long this spike will continue, should I move my fish to a quarantine tank?

No, actually that is good advice, the thing is you need to vaccum without stirring things up as much as possible. .25 isn't a level to get too concerned about, just keep an eye on it and it will probably be back to normal by tomorrow.

 

[protokix22]

Okay sweet. I just checked again to see if I needed to move them for the night, but the levels are already dropping. It's not 0, but it's definitley below .25 now.