HELP!!! Ammonia spike!

bex90

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Please help!! The last few days I’ve tested my water and ammonia has been 0, nitrite 0.25 and nitrate 10!
Tested today and ammonia is 2 nitrite 0.1!
what could of caused this spike? What can I do? Fish are fine!
 

TheBear78

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Hi there.
Lots could be going on here and not all of it necessarily bad or even true!!
Please give more details on tank age, size, inhabitants, feeding and cleaning regimen and most importantly test kits!!
If this is a relatively new tank then nitrate and nitrite testing accuracy will go out of the window during cycling as the tests are affected when both are present.
Also, some ammonia test kits make it difficult to distinguish an accurate reading once any ammonia has been detected.
 

KING KONG

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Please help!! The last few days I’ve tested my water and ammonia has been 0, nitrite 0.25 and nitrate 10!
Tested today and ammonia is 2 nitrite 0.1!
what could of caused this spike? What can I do? Fish are fine!
How old is your tank? Adding too many new fish, uncured rocks, changing position of too many rocks at a same time,overfeeding or equipment failure can cause this. If your tank is new, then it is a new tank syndrome. Check your protein skimmer if u had.

Also when something dies,amonia spikes
#reefsquad
 
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bex90

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How old is your tank? Adding too many new fish, uncured rocks, changing position of too many rocks at a same time,overfeeding or equipment failure can cause this. If your tank is new, then it is a new tank syndrome. Check your protein skimmer if u had.

Also when something dies,amonia spikes
#reefsquad
Thankyou. I haven’t added any new fish within the last week so don’t think it’s that. Tank has been running about 6 weeks so fairly new. Only thing I can think that I’ve done different is turn on the protein skimmer and last night I turned it off? Could it because I turned it off?
 
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bex90

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How old is your tank? Adding too many new fish, uncured rocks, changing position of too many rocks at a same time,overfeeding or equipment failure can cause this. If your tank is new, then it is a new tank syndrome. Check your protein skimmer if u

Also when something dies,amonia spikes
#reefsquad
Tank is about 6 weeks old. I have 4 fish.
Hi there.
Lots could be going on here and not all of it necessarily bad or even true!!
Please give more details on tank age, size, inhabitants, feeding and cleaning regimen and most importantly test kits!!
If this is a relatively new tank then nitrate and nitrite testing accuracy will go out of the window during cycling as the tests are affected when both are present.
Also, some ammonia test kits make it difficult to distinguish an accurate reading once any ammonia has been detected.
Tank is about 6 weeks old. 60litres a few fish not many. I feed twice a day. I use salifert tests. Yesterday the ammonia was very clearly 0. Today very very clearly almost 2! Only thing I’ve done different is turn my skimmer on and then a day later turn it off as I didn’t think it was working properly
 

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Tank is about 6 weeks old. I have 4 fish.

Tank is about 6 weeks old. 60litres a few fish not many. I feed twice a day. I use salifert tests. Yesterday the ammonia was very clearly 0. Today very very clearly almost 2! Only thing I’ve done different is turn my skimmer on and then a day later turn it off as I didn’t think it was working properly
Are the 4 fish recent additions? All at once? I’m assuming the tank cycled somehow? Double check the method on the test kit and follow it word for word. A tank pic would be nice, perhaps even a pic of the test against the ammonia colour card.
 

Dan_P

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Please help!! The last few days I’ve tested my water and ammonia has been 0, nitrite 0.25 and nitrate 10!
Tested today and ammonia is 2 nitrite 0.1!
what could of caused this spike? What can I do? Fish are fine!
Fishing for clues. This sounds like a testing error but let’s check. By the way, if the system has measurable nitrite, it interferes with the nitrate test, so don’t bother testing nitrate.

Did you retest the water after measuring 2 ppm?

How did you cycle your aquarium?
 
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bex90

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Fishing for clues. This sounds like a testing error but let’s check. By the way, if the system has measurable nitrite, it interferes with the nitrate test, so don’t bother testing nitrate.

Did you retest the water after measuring 2 ppm?

How did you cycle your aquarium?
Thankyou. I didn’t retest as I had to leave for work. I have 4 fish in there and a CUC. Only thing I’ve done different is clean the inside of the glass last night (I’m at the ugly stage) and turn my skimmer off as I was unsure that it was working properly. I feed twice a day?
 
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bex90

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Are the 4 fish recent additions? All at once? I’m assuming the tank cycled somehow? Double check the method on the test kit and follow it word for word. A tank pic would be nice, perhaps even a pic of the test against the ammonia colour card.
No fish aren’t new additions. I added one by one slowly.
 
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bex90

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Fishing for clues. This sounds like a testing error but let’s check. By the way, if the system has measurable nitrite, it interferes with the nitrate test, so don’t bother testing nitrate.

Did you retest the water after measuring 2 ppm?

How did you cycle your aquarium?
I cycled with fritzturbo start and 2 clowns. They’ve been in there 5 weeks now.
 

Mr. Mojo Rising

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go slow. 4 fish in 6 weeks in a 20 gallon is just way too fast. Cycling the tank with fish is not neccessary,. Your tank is now fully stocked, I wouldn't add any more fish.
 

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I think your test kit is lying lol.. if everything is fine and the tank is cycled there’s no reason to be texting ammonia anyways
“Yo ammonia, I hate you irl. Go away. You aren’t wanted here.”
;1). Couldn’t resist.
 
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