ammonia rise in cycled tank?

[sniperfreak]

what could cause a sudden ammonia rise in a cycled tank? I've been getting steady 0,0,10 readings for the last 2 weeks, but this morning I got a .5 ppm ammo reading? Just did a 70% pwc, have not added any fish in the last week, have been stocking slowly (3-4 fish per week), feeding lightly (a small pinch once daily), and I'm really puzzled by this...any ideas as to why the spike happened?

 

[epiphysis]

How big is the tank? How many fish do you currently have. And also, how old is the tank?

Sounds like a mini-cycle that will clear up in a day or 2. Just have to check the parameters.

 

[sniperfreak]

How big is the tank? How many fish do you currently have. And also, how old is the tank?

Sounds like a mini-cycle that will clear up in a day or 2. Just have to check the parameters.

55 gallon, eight (5 cardinal tetras and 3 otociniclus catfish), and the tank has been running for about 2 months now.

 

[librarygirl]

Hm, well you're far from overstocked lol And it seemed to have been cycled. Did you do anything differently between the 0 ammonia reading test and the .5 test? Clean or change your filter media, decorations, substrate? It could also be a faulty test (if the bottles weren't shaken or if bottles #1 and #2 were mixed up during the test).

 

[sniperfreak]

no, nothing different,and the only thing I've done to the filter cartridges is rinse them in the old tank water during the water changes to get rid of the debris.

 

[dskidmore]

If a fish or plant died, or a driftwood decoration started to break down, that could cause a spike. Even just a temperature fluctuation, or a light fluctuation in a tank with plants can cause a spike.

 

[Rokuzachi]

Did your ammonia reading come after your water change?

My tap reads .25 ammonia, so whenever I do a big water change it always shows up on the test for a little while after.

 

[steez]

Really seems like you're doing everything right.

Maybe after a day or two it will go back to normal? Just keep up the PWC's to keep them down.

 

[sniperfreak]

believe I found the culprit...an uneaten algae wafer hiding under a piece of driftwood...removed it last night, and everything's back to normal when I tested this morning. On a funny little side note, the cardinals seem to know that I feed them shortly after testing my water parameters, as they all swarm the front of the tank as I'm drawing my water samples, until the cat shows up, then they flee behind the driftwood.

 

[absolutangel04]

believe I found the culprit...an uneaten algae wafer hiding under a piece of driftwood...removed it last night, and everything's back to normal when I tested this morning. On a funny little side note, the cardinals seem to know that I feed them shortly after testing my water parameters, as they all swarm the front of the tank as I'm drawing my water samples, until the cat shows up, then they flee behind the driftwood.

Lol, thats cute. I wish my fish had the sense to do that! Glad you found the culprit.