Need help with ammonia spike after meds..

catfishacr

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2014
355
18
18
Iowa City, IA
Hey so title says it. I have recently had bad luck with stocking my new tank and have had outbreaks of velvet and ick in the last two months. ( yes I now have a QT tank :) ) When treating the velvet for two weeks with seachem paraguard, I had no water issues. Two weeks after treating the velvet, I got ick and treated for 7 days with paraguard, this time I had my ammonia pop up to .5-1 ppm and its stayed there for about 10 days and I cant get down. The tank has not had any meds in it for about 5 days and the ammonia has stayed steady at .5-1ppm. I've read that paraguard is filter safe, does anyone have experience with it killing off the bacteria?? The only thing i can think of is that the paraguard killed my filter.

Tank is 300 gallons and been up and running for 4 months had fish in it for 3 months. Tank was properly cycled with a fish less cycle . Had perfect water conditions until now.

So here's what I've done since I detected the ammonia. I've done a 20% water change every other day and dosed tank with prime every other day. For the past two days ive added seachems stability, thinking my bacteria might have been killed off. Ammonia still not budging as of today. (tap water ammonia by the way is at 0)

Water P's : Ammonia .5-1, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 15, Ph 8.2, Temp 82

Current stock in 300 gallon: 5 3-4" Silverdollars, 1 6" Lima shovelnose, 1 4" Four-lined pictus, 4" 1 Flagtail, 1 3-4" Clown knife..

Filtration: 2 Fx6's filled with matrix and ceramic rings, 2 huge sponge fileter as well. Ill be adding more filtration once my fish get bigger and can handle more current :)

I'm guessing that my filter has taken a hit and I'm just going through the process of getting my bacteria colonies back up. I wanted to see what you guys think just to make sure im on the right track?

Thanks in advance!
 

catfishacr

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2014
355
18
18
Iowa City, IA
Anyone?? I'm very familiar with the nitrogen cycle and nitrifying bacteria, so you don't have to explain everything to me, if that helps :) I have the knowledge just not alot of experience, I could really use some advice!

OK so update: water P's today .5-0-10.
Last Sunday I had a 1 ppm reading of Nitrite, .5 ppm on Monday and 0 on Tuesday. Ammonia stayed steady at .5 while nitrite came and went.

I just cant cant get this ammonia to budge. Its s been about 16 days now of ammonia holding @ .5.

- For over two weeks I have done 20% WC every other day.
- For the last week I been adding Seachems Stability everyday.
- Dosing tank with prime every other day
- Added some carbon three days ago to make sure there are no meds left in the water and help remove any organics
- Added some ammo chips yesterday
- No dead fish decaying
- Have only been feeding a couple times a week. (usually feed daily)
- added extra air pump

Any ideas or advice? Keep doing what im doing?
Should I keep using stablilty past sevens days? Keep dosing with prime?

Thanks so much!
 

Jauch21

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2015
9
0
16
Idaho
I've also had this problem. I am not an expert and new to this forum. When I had my spike, I believe it was due to adding several new fish. I tested the water every day and did water changes everyday I even thought there was ammonia. When I did the water changes I dosed with prime. After a week my cycle was back to normal.

You may have killed off some of the bacteria, but there is still some there. It'll all come back.
 

DN328

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Aug 14, 2014
2,416
1,097
164
Fish Tank
If it were me considering the parameters you had reported last. What's your nitrate at?

1) Reduce the frequency of water changes. PWC is good thing, but I personally would not do every other day at this point. Continue to add Stability each time (I wouldn't do each day at this point).
2) Keep dosing with Prime every other day is fine

From your last readings it looks like your building back up your BB colonies as our readings are fluctuating. So it's a matter of time for your ecosystem to stabilize.
 

catfishacr

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2014
355
18
18
Iowa City, IA
If it were me considering the parameters you had reported last. What's your nitrate at?

1) Reduce the frequency of water changes. PWC is good thing, but I personally would not do every other day at this point. Continue to add Stability each time (I wouldn't do each day at this point).
2) Keep dosing with Prime every other day is fine

From your last readings it looks like your building back up your BB colonies as our readings are fluctuating. So it's a matter of time for your ecosystem to stabilize.
Thanks for the advice! I will go back to normal WC schedule and prime every other day to keep ammonia non-toxic. Ammonia is still present but seems to be getting better very slowly. Today its higher than .25 but not .5!
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store