Ammonia Spike. Help!

uncpmatt

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 20, 2007
44
3
38
Fayetteville, NC
Hey everyone, I have a 60g tank moderately planted with Amazon Swords, with two small pieces of driftwood, gravel substrate, and some slate. After about a year of the tank doing well, I had a serious ammonia Spike and lost all the fish. It has been two weeks since there has been any fish in the tank, I have been doing water changes every other day (40% the first time, 25% every time since). I can't get the ammonia down. The nitrAtes have finally come down quite a bit but the ammonia won't budge. NitrItes are testing 0. pH is testing 6.0 or lower. Any suggestions for how to get my tank back into good shape?
 

poppalina

Gambusia
MFK Member
Sep 26, 2010
669
27
18
Boston
How old is your test kit, it doesn't sound right to still be reading ammonia with no fish and with all the water changes. If you are conditioning your water with prime it can give you a false reading for ammonia.
 

uncpmatt

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 20, 2007
44
3
38
Fayetteville, NC
I have prime but since there was no fish to worry about I haven't used it. The test kit may be outdated, is there an expiration date (API)?

EDIT: just wanted to say I have lifted the slate and looked for any dead fish or decaying food, all of that has been out of the tank over a week.
 

poppalina

Gambusia
MFK Member
Sep 26, 2010
669
27
18
Boston
You still want to use prime as the chlorine in the water will kill off your BB, that may be the problem.
 

uncpmatt

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 20, 2007
44
3
38
Fayetteville, NC
I'm using a water treatment, just not prime. Was saving the prime for temporary treating of any ammonia spikes once I get fish. Prime is usually hard to find around here.
 

administrator

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 21, 2011
395
8
18
I had a similar problem a while back. Luckily I did not loose any fish but my ammonia was off the charts for one of my tanks. The problem was plant debris. Hidden dead leaves and stems decomposing was the culprit. I rearranged the plants and cleaned up around them to prevent this from happening again. After a few water changes everything was back to normal and has been since. Hope that helps b/c this was driving me crazy when I had the issue.
 
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