Ammonia won't go away!

[Erynn]

I have been cycling this 10 gallon for maybe 2 and a half weeks now. I have 4 zebra danios in there right now. I started seeing signs of ammonia about a week ago....I have been testing it and every time it gets high (1.0 or 2.0) I do a 50% water change which lowers it. HOWEVER, it has been holding steady at 1.0 now for three days....I did two water changes yesterday and this morning it was 1.0 again. I have stopped feeding them....didn't feed them this morning. I know I'm not overfeeding them. I added gravel and a plant from one of my established tanks last weekend.

Is it normal for the ammonia to just stay steady no matter how many water changes you do? Nitrites are at 0.

[Faramir]

Test your tap water. You may find that your test kit is reading 1.0 when it is in fact 0, because of contamination on the tubes from your hands.

Happened to me.

If it is, thoroughly clean your tubes then retest.

BUT

Your nitrites are 0? This would imply no cycling is yet taking place. But you seeded your gravel/filter from an established tank.

Is the plant large? It might just be absorbing the nitrites itself. Perhaps take the plant out overnight and see if the nitrite spikes.

[JSchmidt]

Even better, test a sample of distilled water. If you tap water has chloramine, your test will register ammonia. If you're certain your tap water doesn't contain chloramine, go ahead and use it for your test check.

You can also take a sample to the LFS and see if their test results agree with yours...

Jim

[Erynn]

The plant isn't a real plant. When I first set up the tank I tested the ammonia and it read 0. That was before I added fish. Only after did it start reading so I'm pretty sure that the test kit is accurate.

I have no idea why the nitrites are a 0....but if there is ammonia present then the tank must have started a cycle right?

I am VERY confused with this! Even more confused as to why the ammonia won't go down with water changes now. :confused:

[wetmanNY]

Do you have chloramines? Are you using AmQuel?

Was the gravel and single plant you added last weekend the first seeding you've done? Can you switch filter media with an established tank? Can you raise the oxygen in the system with more splash from the filter outlet ? (Nitrification demands more oxygen than familiar respiration.) Is the plant actively growing? If not, it's contributing ammonia as leaves yellow.

Are you burying the nitrifying layer of gravel with vigorous gravel vacuuming?

[Erynn]

Yes I have cholorimes, I am using Ammo-lock (bad I know...what should I use?).

Yes it is the first seeding, yes I can switch filter media, yes I can raise the oxygen but not through my filter...would have to add an air stone, the plant is fake.

I don't vacuum the gravel in cycling tanks as it disturbs the bacteria. I simply syphon water out and replace it.

[JSchmidt]

Ammo-Lock is not necessarily bad, especially if you have chloramines, but ammonia-lockers are notorious for playing hob with ammonia test results (especially Nessler, or single reagent, tests). If you plan to continue to use Ammo-Lock or Amquel to treat your chloriminated water (a good idea, I think) you might want to invest in a salicylate ammonia test. (These generally have two sets of reagents.)

My water has chloramines, and it has about 1 ppm ammonia right out of the tap. You'll need distilled or RO water to check your test kit.

Also, opinions on this differ, but I think the benefits of vacuuming the gravel, even in a cycling tank, far outweigh any risks. (This is true only in a non-planted tank, of course.) It's a fairly minor point in any case, I just wanted to reassure that even if you got a bit vigorous in your vacuuming, you won't do any harm.


HTH,
Jim

[Faramir]

I have no idea why the nitrites are a 0....but if there is ammonia present then the tank must have started a cycle right?

No. Ammonia is produced directly by the fish. It really looks like there has been no cycle started yet. Why is a real puzzler!

What's the pH?

[amy]

I'm not sure what is in ammo-lock, but it could be that is what is keeping the tank from cycling. Take out the ammo-lock but keep up your water changes.

Since you seeded the tank, maybe you brought in enough bacteria to skip the nitrite peak. What are your nitrates?

[Erynn]

Is it possible to skip the nitrite peak? I brought in quite a bit of gravel from an established 20 gallon that has been set up for a good 6 years. Plus a plant from that same tank with some algae on it.

Ammolock (just for the record) is a chemical you add to your water when doing a water change to remove chlorine and chlorimines......I'll keep using it.

I should probably get a ph and nitrate test kit....I'll get those this weekend.

[wetmanNY]

Faramir's got the good skinny on Ammo-Lock. Just be prepared for some "false positive" NH3 readings. BTW, AmQuel sequesters the ammonia in a form the nitrifiers can still take up, so it doesn't compromise the "cycling." See If Ammo-Lock does the same. (There's a website listed on the bottle.)

Stirring the gravel's not so much the problem as taking the top layer, where the nitrifiers depend on lots of oxygen, and plowing it under, where they'll stifle. All decay of organics produces NH3, so cleanliness is next to godliness. Still you do need some sources of ammonia. The fish may be enough.

The "nitrite spike" isn't essential. It's an artifact, produced byb the fact that nitrite-respiring bacteria are a little slow to reproduce and a little intolerant of ammonia, at least it would seem. With easy cycling, as in a fully-planted tank, there's very little nitrite spike, IME.

[wetmanNY]

(Erynn's saga continues on a separate thread freaked out-- no nitrites)