Food spill

[puhlfly]

I spilled some flake food into my tank. After syphoning it out, the water was very cloudy. My ammonia level was at 4 ppm. Before the clean up it was 0.25ppm. I added 5 platys to the tank 3 days ago. Is my problem new fish, or something to do with the spill?

 

[FawnN]

IMO, both. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you are still cycling your tank.

How big is your tank, and how much food did you spill?

 

[puhlfly]

The tank is 20G and I spilled about a gram of flakes I guess.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:b23f2dc611] Welcome to AA, puhlfly!! [/center:b23f2dc611]

gram of flakes

Did the ammonia immediately spike? It would have taken time for the food to break down to see a spike like that.

Read up on the nitrogen cycle in the Articles section. Meanwhile, have you done a PWC to bring the ammonia down?

 

[puhlfly]

I have done a PWC, and I had checked the ammonia the day before the spill. Also, how would you measure the amount of flakes you spilled?

 

[Menagerie]

Also, how would you measure the amount of flakes you spilled?

I don't. It's usually "too many," "A LOT," or the whole can, depending on if the cats are "helping" or not.

I wanted to get a better handle on the time line between when the extra food went it, the PWC and the increased ammonia.

 

[puhlfly]

Thanks for the info. I never thought you would spill flakes the way I did. I just did not know if the spike in ammonnia was stirred up from my clean up or something else. After reading up I think I might be overfeeding (not including the spill).

 

[fishfirst]

keep doing those PWC's, your tank is cycling so its going to be fairly unhealthy for your platy's... next time... do fishless cycling with ammonia

 

[puhlfly]

That sounds great. I wish I'd found this site sooner. I think my platys will have better character though.

 

[Menagerie]

I think my platys will have better character though.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger