Ammonia spike

nerdyguy83

nerdyguy83

AC Members
May 11, 2006
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Erie, PA, US
My ammonia is spiking out of control. I am in the middle of a fishy cycle, and my ammonia is spiking from 1ppm to over 8ppm in 24 hours. I have done 75% changes two nights in a row to get it down, but the next day it spikes and is up to 8ppm again. This came after about a 2 weeks of sitting relatively low (1-2ppm before changes). I got about 10 pounds of cultured gravel from my lfs. Is it possible that all the bacteria died and is contributing to the spikes?
 
Are you adding dechlorinator to your water? Also does your water contain chlorine or chloramine?
 
10 Gallon - Bio Wheel 100
3 Fancy Guppies (1M/2F)
3 Sunset Coral Dwarf Platies (3F)
2 Otocinclus
Click to expand...

Is this the tank that is fishy cycling? That is a LOT of fish to try to cycle a 10 gallon with! I would suggest doing your water changes more often for right now. When I fishy cycled my 10 (with 3 harlequin rasboras who are still here to tell about it), there were days that I did 3 50% changes. What dechlor are you using? Something like Prime or Amquel+ will help ease the discomfort to the fish while this is going on as well. Good luck!
 
I am using Prime as a dechlorinator. To answer my own question I put some dechlorinated tap water in a bucket with a scoop of gravel over night, and the ammonia is still nil. (I've check water parameters for my local and there is no ammonia added and something like .2ppm chlorine officially. No ammonia shows up in testing either.) My ammonia in the tank hasn't spiked either in the first 12 hours, so I'll just make sure I do a water change in the morning and that should help.
 
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