Ammonia spike 8.0 for 4 days

ronmichel1115 · 01-13-2007, 07:28 AM

Is this normal..... my ammonia has been at 8.0 for the past 4 days..... nitrites are at 2.0, Is there anything I should or should not do ? I keep thinking ammonia will drop soon ? maybe my test kits are bad ?
however, ammonia checks revealed a slow rise in ammonia as I was checking every day.

bouraganes · 01-13-2007, 07:37 AM

Your nitrates should read zero and your ammonia levels are high and climbing-one is feeding the other- it sounds as though your tank has had an major change - have you added an large amount of livestock recently- have you changed your filtration or added any chemicals to your tank? I like to add an small amout of bio-enzme to my tank once monthly to bolster my friendly bacteria - I don't know if thats necessary but just something I always do-

ronmichel1115 · 01-13-2007, 07:41 AM

I have done nothing to the tank for the past two weeks ... prior to that the ammonia level got up to 8.0 and my LFS told me to do a water change... which then ammonia went down some and then spiked again 4 days ago... prior to that water change 2 weeks ago... i had put ammo block in when a damsel died.... but nothing has been done to the tank in the past two weeks. I have a feeling that ammo block may have caused this.....

amcarrig · 01-13-2007, 08:06 AM

If this is a new tank, then doing water changes is detrimental to the cycle so I wouldn't be surprised that your ammonia keeps rising and falling.

bouraganes · 01-13-2007, 03:40 PM

I guess thats the question then - how long have you had your tank set up?

ronmichel1115 · 01-13-2007, 04:10 PM

New tank up and running since Dec 15th,,,, only did a 10 gallon water change two weeks ago, when advised to by my LFS... realize now I should not have done that.

Jason McKenzie · 01-13-2007, 04:37 PM

Be patient. Stop using AmoLock, You want the Ammonia to remain in it's original chemical state so that it can be removed by ammonia eating bacteria and this bacteria can propagate. DO not add fish or anything. just keep doing what you are doing and you will read the ammonia drop off and the Nitrite rise. Then the Nitrite will fall and the Nitrate will rise.

Once Nitrites and Ammonia are zero you will find your Nitrates high. Then you can do a water change

J

mattgeezer · 01-13-2007, 05:02 PM

what is this ammolock stuff?

is it similar to stresszyme?

ronmichel1115 · 01-13-2007, 05:40 PM

Yes, ammo lock by API says it does not remove the ammonia but makes it non-toxic for the fish.... I only used it once.. and threw it out today.......

bouraganes · 01-13-2007, 08:49 PM

Yeah I didn't realize your tank was so new- just relax and let nature take its course