Light Blotches on Plecco and Ammonia Spike

[jackleroy]

Hi, I just noticed these light blotches on my plecco's side. I've never seen them before. He's eating normally and active. The only recent change to the tank was the addition of some Pothos plants to lower the nitrates.

I actually just did a water test to ask about this and I have an ammonia spike. The tank is cycled. I tested the ammonia on March 8th before the Pothos and it was 0ppm as it's been for months. Today, two days after adding the Pothos, it's at .5ppm.

I'm doing a 50% water change right now. Could the Pothos have caused any of this? I don't understand what just happened.

Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0
pH 7.5
KH 0-40
GH 30

 

[Autumnsky]

It could be he's a bit stressed about the spike. Did you do water changes so you are back to normal again?

Did you do any vac'ing or clean out the filter when you added the Pothos?

You mentioned the March 8th testing 0, and ammonia could have built up in the days between or did you mean 18th?

The Pothos shouldn't have caused any spikes, are there leaves degrading in the water from the plant?

 

[jackleroy]

Yeah, I got it down to .25 that day with a change. Then the tank took care of the rest overnight and it was down to 0 the next day. I hadn't done any vacuuming or anything of that nature. I'm convinced there was something on the plants that did it. I took them out and repotted them and everyone's happy. I still have to figure out how to lower my nitrates, though.

 

[Autumnsky]

Vac'ing a area where you feed the food will help sometimes. And the area where the water flows into a corner. If you notice more messy stuff in one corner than the rest. Getting rid of the excess

Do it slowly /gently, as to not kick up other areas because you can stir up muck into the water next to where you are vac'ing. (making higher amounts of nitrate)

Try doing a little section at a time (6-8 inches) and check the parameters to make sure you are still okay.

Try also feeding a little less.

Try feeding a bit more slowly when you add the food in, a pinch so that the fish grab it up, wait till they get it all, then another pinch, let the fish eat it all up and another pinch, etc.

That way in theory, you will not have much lost / excess food changing to ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.

Keep up the water changes as well! That can help reduce the nitrates.