Weird ammonia spike..

boofish2

boofish2

show me your fish
Aug 5, 2006
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This is weird... I've been medicating my tank with coppersafe and doing 30-40% WC daily for the past three days. Fish are looking better but I just tested the perameters last night and found a very suprising result of over 1.0 ppm ammonia!! The funny thing is that nitrite - 0 and nitrate - 5<!! Huh? Today I tested and againg the ammonia is a little over 1!! Could the coppersafe be effecting my ammonia readings? My fish are acting normally - and if anything, better then before adding the medication. This is an established tank and even in the beginning I don't recall the ammonia ever getting that high. How is this poss. after a 40% WC just last night? I'm using a liquid/beaker test, not strips. It's almost like the test is somehow flawed.....
 
Well, I know that medications can destroy the good bacteria in a filter, which can send an established tank into a mini-cycle. Perhaps the copper is doing the same.

This is why many people medicate in a Quarantine Tank, so the established filter isn't destroyed...
 
oh, of course. Should I cease medicating and just continue the water changes?
But why would the nitrites be at zero? - Because it's at the very beginning of the mini cycle? Any ideas on how long tihs will last?
 
I would medicate for the recommended time period on the package. You may need to re-cycle your tank when the fish are feeling better though. Some people use carbon in their filter and a few large water changes to get rid of the meds when the medication period is over.

If your tank was established, nitrites were probably at 0. Now that ammonia is registering it will take a little time for the nitrites to show up.

I would guess that there is still some surviving nitrifying bacteria, so the re-cycle should take less time that the initial one. Hard to say how long though. Maybe someone else can confirm as I've never had to re-cycle...
 
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ms. bubbles - Thanks so much. The problem is, with Coppersafe the doseage time is somewhat inconclusive. All it really says is that it will stay in the tank for up to a month and should be replaced with WCs. Does this mean medicate for a month? I don't know. I think I'll just try to remove the Coppersafe with a few large wcs and re-medicate with something else more specific. I have some decorations that I had removed, maybe I'll re-introduce that seeded material and hopefully that will get the bio-filter going.
 
internal/external parasites.
 
If you mean ich you could treat with salt and elevated temperature. Apparantly very effective and safer to your biofilter than meds...
 
oh, we're waaaay beyond ich. We're talkin' ich and white stringy poop, gill/mouth spasams, pits/erosions on heads/gill plates, lateral line erosion.... BAD STUFF :( I need a lot more then salt unfortunately....
 
Yikes.

I've got a package of Maracyn 2 here, and under "Parasites" it treats for: worms, gill flukes, leeches, gyrodactylus, trichodina, multicellular external parasites or white spots on body of fish...

Sorry, but this is the best I can offer. Good luck boofish.
 
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