Goldfish345
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2022
- Messages
- 19
Hi everyone, I have a 55 gallon tank with an Oscar (still a baby) and a pleco (also a baby). I also have some nerite snails. The tank measurements are showing around 7ppm nitrate, so the tank is cycled (it has been set up since December), however it showed an alarmingly high ammonia. I randomly decided to test ammonia, and good thing I did. My fish are showing no symptoms, but I dosed prime immediately. What could be causing an ammonia spike in a cycled tank?
I thought my api kit was wrong cause the tube is all stained and hard to see so I went to my lfs and they got the same results. My tank has 2 sponge filters (the kind with 2 sponges per filter for a total of 4 sponges) a HOB (that I customized cycled gravel, then bio rings, then filter floss, with a uv light.) I also threw in a random filter with carbon filter cartridges cause I happen to have it. It is an internal canister meant for a 29. My lfs says they think I don’t have enough filtration and they think I need some expensive canister filter, but doesn’t that sound like I already have plenty? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
It is worth noting that it is a planted tank that currently has both an ich and green water issue. I am treating ich with 5 tbsp of kosher salt, high temp, and top fin ich remover. I am using algae fix and uv for green water.
I thought my api kit was wrong cause the tube is all stained and hard to see so I went to my lfs and they got the same results. My tank has 2 sponge filters (the kind with 2 sponges per filter for a total of 4 sponges) a HOB (that I customized cycled gravel, then bio rings, then filter floss, with a uv light.) I also threw in a random filter with carbon filter cartridges cause I happen to have it. It is an internal canister meant for a 29. My lfs says they think I don’t have enough filtration and they think I need some expensive canister filter, but doesn’t that sound like I already have plenty? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
It is worth noting that it is a planted tank that currently has both an ich and green water issue. I am treating ich with 5 tbsp of kosher salt, high temp, and top fin ich remover. I am using algae fix and uv for green water.