Ammonia all of a sudden in Betta 5g....

TommyR

TommyR

Add water, makes it's own sauce!
Dec 15, 2004
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0
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Hudson Valley of N.Y.
I have a 5 gal. tank going that seemed cycled (0 amm. 0 Nitrites and 5ppm NitrAtes. I have a male Betta in it. Some Java ferns and anacharis. All of a sudden (after about 3 weeks) ammonia is 4+ , no nitrites and 5ppm Nitrates. Water is cloudy. Not sure WHY the ammonia went from 0 to over 4. Has me nuts at the moment. Been doing 1-2 gal water changes a day since. Use Ammo lock to help the betta out for now. Any ideas? Sponge filter. Temp 75 F.

Happy new year to all!

Tom
 
Does your ammonia test read just free ammonia or free and bound ammonia? What is the ammonia reading on your tap water?
 
you should be doing 50% WC's until the ammonia is at 0
(just letting you know,bettas prefer the temp around 78-80 ;) )
sometimes extra food in the tank will cause ammonia,have you checked your tap water?
do you use test strips or a liquid test kit?
 
My tap water does not effect my other tanks so this seems strange. That could be because they are older and far more biologically stable more than likely. I use the test tube AP kits for water testing. Just did a 50% water change out and will do another in mid afternoon. I find it strange that nitrites are 0 and I have good NitrAte levels.
 
Update:
Been doing 50% water changes twice a day. Water clearing up and ammonia seems to be dropping a bit. Nitrites still 0, NitrAtes still at 5. I DO get a 1 on ammonia from my tap. Guess there isn't enough nitrAtes yet to handle it. Just guessing.

Tom
 
yeah.. probably just an anomaly due to an new tank. just keep doing those PWCs until it reads 0.
 
5ppm nitrates isnt bad.

o wait nvm. i didnt realise this was about ammonia.
 
legendaryfrog said:
5ppm nitrates isnt bad.

o wait nvm. i didnt realise this was about ammonia.
Click to expand...


That's o.k., thanks for replying just the same!

Happy new year to all!

Tom
 
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