Ammonia Spike

[Laura Jager]

I have been treating my tank for over 18 days for ick. I stopped treatment because of my ammonia spike (good bacteria kiled off). Prior to this I had been doing a 20% water change every 3 days. My ammonia level has not changed, it is at 1.0 My local fish store told me to not do any more water changes because of the huge amounts I had been doing, and it would just delay the ammonia spike (nitrites are 0, nitrates 15). The fish are breathing a little bit heavy; however I don't know what to do. Would it be ok to wait a couple more days with a 1.0 ammonia level? or do another water change? Just need help, don't know which way to turn. Thanks!
Laura:|

[Diana]

The fish store is wrong. Do enough water changes (volume and frequency) to keep the ammonia under .25 ppm. Then use a dechlorinator to lock up the remaining ammonia.
Your test kit may still show ammonia, even though it is locked up. You might read all the info you can about your dechlorinator and your ammonia test (there are different reagents that means there are different sorts of tests) and some tests do not read accurately with some dechlorinator/ammonia locking products.

Try to get one of the following products. They contain Nitrospiros bacteria, which are the actual nitrifying bacteria to repopulate your filter.
Bio Spira
Tetra Safe Start
The One and Only

Do not let the fish store people talk you into any other product.

The idea of 'don't do water changes' works well as long as there are no fish in the tank. A fishless cycle works just fine, and a tank can be fully cycled in 3 weeks.
With fish in the tank, however, it is much better to take better care of them, even if it does slow the growth of the bacteria. Ammonia burns the gills, and the tender tissue in the fins, and can leave the fish with permanent problems such as a poor immune system.

When the ammonia is allowed to climb too high and the bacteria do get going on it, and turn it into nitrite, which is also toxic. When you start with more ammonia you end up with more nitrite. Nitrite causes Brown Blood Disease, a problem that makes the blood not carry oxygen very well. Do enough water changes to keep the nitrite under 1 ppm, and add 1 teaspoon of salt (sodium chloride) per 20 gallons of water. The chloride competes with the nitrite so less nitrate enters the fish's blood system.


Is the Ich all gone? Stopping the treatment while there is still some live Ich can result in a resurgence. Plenty of water changes with gravel vacs can lower the number of Ich that are in the tank to reproduce. For Ich it is not the size of the water changes, but the thoroughness of the gravel vacs.


Once you find the proper product to repopulate your nitrifying bacteria you will need to get the ammonia absolutely as low as possible. I would do 2 water changes of 90%, then add the bacteria. You then do not do any water changes for a few days, giving the bacteria a chance to attach themselved to all the surfaces in the tank and filter.

[Laura Jager]

Thank you so much for this. I have added Bio-Spira a couple of days ago which is an excellent product. I will do water changes of at least 20% at a time because of the amount of work it takes to get the water to an adequate temperature (44 gallons each time). I will do this many times over this weekend. Thank you.
Laura

[chefkeith]

What kind of test kit are you using and what kind of water dechlor are you using?

Many test kits will give a false positive ammonia reading because of the binding agents in the dechlor.

Try this test- Get a large container and fill it with tap water, add a drop or 2 of dechlor to it, and then test that for ammonia. Tell us what the result it.

[Laura Jager]

I am using Tetratest Laborett. I use "Super Water Conditioner" by TLC to remove chlorine and chloramine in the water. I put my tap water into a bucket added a coupel of drops, and the ammonia test was zero.

Laura

[Diana]

Does your tap water have chloramine?
Read the label on the dechlor. Does it say it locks up ammonia? (wording may vary)

If the pH in the tank is rather low (under 6.5) most of the ammonia is in the non toxic (or less toxic?) form, and therefore it might not be so bad @ 1 ppm.

If you just added Bio Spira then give it a chance to get started on all the surfaces before doing a water change. If there was already ammonia in the tank before you added the Bio Spira it will take a while for the bacteria to build up to a big enough population to be effective.