random ammonia spikes?

[hbeth82]

My boyfriend has a 55gal NW cichlid tank and when he tested the water about a week ago, had traces of ammonia, about .25-.5ppm, but there had been no additions to the tank or changes in feedings. So he starved the fishies for a few days, borrowed some of my filter media, and the ammonia went back to 0. After going back to his normal feeding schedule, the ammonia is back. He had rinsed off the filter sponge but that was several weeks prior to the spike.

Any ideas on what might have caused this? It would make sense if new fish had been added but there haven't been any changes in stock for over a month.

 

[fishboy444]

maybe change feeding schedule,amount of food maybe once to twice a day.

 

[Etunes]

I would start with what fishboy said. Sounds like the tank had not fully finished cycling and the feedings are making the ammonia spike. I would go ahead and put some filter madia in your tank and let a small colonie of bacteria grow on it and then put it in his tank for about a month. Try to maybe downgrade how much he feeds to. The feeding twice a day smaller amounts will help. Remember that NW cichlids are messy eaters.

 

[hbeth82]

I would start with what fishboy said. Sounds like the tank had not fully finished cycling

Is it really likely that the tank would cycle again after rinsing off two of the sponges with Prime-treated water? The tank has been running since Jan or Feb so I'd think there would be plenty of good bacteria elsewhere in the tank (driftwood, rocks, etc) to keep up the nitrogen cycle going. Also, the only change in the tank lately was the removal of a blue acara about a month ago but didn't notice any problems immediately after this. He only feeds 1-2 times a day and is much better than I am about not feeding too much if no one's interested, and this is the way he's fed them for several months. If nothing has changed, don't understand why the ammonia would be showing up suddenly...

 

[Etunes]

Well in that case i would think it is cycled if it has been set up since jan/feb. i would say if you rinsed 2 sponges off with water that was primed that was probably it. You filter media and sponges and stuff usually hold the most bacteria from your tank. A good practice is rinsing them out with water from your tank during a water change. I am thinking maybe there was not enough or too much prime in the water. But it does sound like you crashed the colonie of bacteria in those sponges. Now there is not enough bacteria in your tank to your whole system of fish. Like i said though, just give him some of your filter media to comphosate.

 

[hbeth82]

Was just reminded that he has two filters in the tank, both are the AC70 (so in theory he has adequate filtration for up to 140 gallons) and he only rinsed out the sponge for one of the two filters and this was done about three weeks ago. So, considering the bacteria in the un-cleaned filter and elsewhere in the tank, as well as the bag of biomedia taken from my two aquariums I gave him a week ago, neither of us understand why ammonia would still be a problem.
Sorry, I'm not trying to be argumentative, just don't think that rinsing off one of the sponges is the only explanation for the increase in ammonia.

 

[Blueiz]

Possible overfeeding could be a plausible explanation. If the amount fed is more than normal this coudl cause a temporary spike in ammonia levels.
What kind of test kit are you using? Also, have you switched water conditioners lately?

Edit: To add as well, you said that a new addition was added a month or so ago, how often are the ammonia levels checked on this tank, is it possible that the tank could still be adjusting to the new fish?

If the spikes keep happening, I would consider adding more filtration to the tank. I do not know what your stock is, so if you are heavily stocked, you will need more than what you have currently.

 

[hbeth82]

From my watching him and what he's told me, I'd say the amount of food hasn't changed, plus there have been several days of no food since all this started. The first fast combined with the addition of some of my bio media helped for a day but then the ammonia went back up. He uses the API freshwater test kits (little dropper bottles & test tubes that break too easily) and has been using Prime for at least the last six months.

 

[hbeth82]

Is it at all possible / likely that this could be due to weather changes? The tank is on an outside wall. In the last month, our highs have gone from 70+ to just barely in the 30's, but the water temp in his tank has stayed fairly consistent. Not sure what effect this might have if the actual temp of the water isn't changing but thought it might help.

 

[mfdrookie516]

are there alot of rocks in the tank? Just a thought, but after seeing some wierd ammonia spikes in my mbuna tank, i redid all the rock work (probably 100+ pounds) and was amazed at all the "gunk" i found under them... after a couple good gravel vacs and 3 50% PWC'S that week, i havent had an issue since...

 

[Etunes]

Well there is something doing this and if it is happening around or after feeding time from what you said. So something must be diffrent. Has any fish disappeared? or maybe if feeder fish are used as a treat for the fish at times? Because there could be 1 dead around the aquarium somewhere if that is the case?

Also as Blueiz was trying to find out we need to know some info to figure this out. What test kit are you using? How many fish are in the tank? How often does he do water changes? Can you get the water parameters?

 

[hbeth82]

are there alot of rocks in the tank?

Hadn't thought about that, thanks! He moves the driftwood around for cleaning but he also has several lava-rock formations (silicon-glued together) which are a pain to move & it would make sense if stuff was getting trapped under those. He also has an abundance of algae growth - could that play a role in it, possibly trapping some stuff?

He uses the API water freshwater test kit with the dropper bottles, not the little test strips. There aren't any missing fish (smallest things are the tiger barbs) and he has no feeders or snails. When the water was checked before the water change last night, ammonia was hovering a bit below .25 (not yellow but not quite green, if that makes sense), 0 nitrite, & nitrate < 20ppm. However, they hadn't been fed since Saturday so I'm thinking mfdrookie516 might be right about waste getting stuck somewhere & not being removed from the tank during changes.

 

[Lynae]

I'd say that you should go over and do a full rockbed cleaning, removing all large pieces and decorations, and vaccuum!!! Thats probably whats doing it, considering its such a small ammonia spike and there really wouldn't be anything else.
Try that and get back to us!!

 

[hbeth82]

I think your right, must be that some of the gunk isn't getting cleaned up properly. Unfortunately, the siphon he uses doesn't have a gravel nozzle (actually it's just drinking water-safe hose & Python pump) so it doesn't do a good job of stirring things up. All of this is also getting him to reconsider gravel over the sand in there now! Will let you guys know how things go!

 

[mfdrookie516]

All of this is also getting him to reconsider gravel over the sand in there now!

honestly, after having sand, i would NEVER recommend gravel... i 100% whole heartedly regret putting gravel in my 55 after having sand in my 150 and 10 for so long... gravel vacuuming is SOOOO much easier with sand as there is nothing below the surface to suck out... and as everybody knows, the more stuff that gets in the gravel and doesnt get sucked out, the more possibility for an ammonia spike... just my opinion on the matter...

 

[hbeth82]

You don't have trouble with removing large amounts of sand too? I think that's his biggest concern with doing a massive cleaning. Usually keep a small coffee can below the pump in the sink, which probably collects a few teaspoons of sand for every change. But that is definitely one annoyance about gravel - even after dredging the bottom, you can still look in & see the stuff that you missed, trapped between the strata!

 

[mfdrookie516]

is it play sand or pfs? i have never sucked one grain of pfs up, and i can even shove the vac tube down in the sand...

 

[hbeth82]

Neither, he has the QuikRete All-Purpose sand (no worries, it's not concrete). Was recommended on the Cichlid-Forum for several reasons, though off hand I can't recall a one of them. Anyway, when he does the regular tank cleaning a small amount of it gets through the siphon but then he doesn't dig into the substrate as much.
As for the water conditions, tonight ammonia was at 0ppm. Changing out 100+ gallons of water, he went dug through the substrate quite a bit and removed much of the algae so hopefully this will help. . .hopefully!