Ammonia in mature tank - what is the cause

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GregRM

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 1, 2007
205
0
16
Toronto
Hi Everyone.

I have a thread out there more specific to what to do about it but I would like to solicit some feedback on the subject thread specifically.

To summarize.

2 X Eheim 2217
90 gal
1 oscar and 2 silver dollars.
three clown loaches (5 inches - now transfered to discuss tank).

WC schedule = 80% once a week.
Nitrate has never been greater than 20ppm.

There was some overfeeding lately by my girldfriend while I was away on business. I came back - huge algae bloom and sky high ammonia. This was Friday.

3-4 times 80% WC. major gravel vac (times 2). Feeding Oscar 1/5 of what he is used to. Skiped water change on Sunday and on Monday morning you guessed it - masive ammonia again.

So I did another 90% WC and added Seachems 'stabilize'. This morning the tank is crystal clear. I obviously have lost all my bbacteria.

Filters were cleaned 6 months ago (1 eheim) and the other 2months ago. My WC process is as follows: Drain water until oscar can no longer swim. Add half dose of prime, fill half way to top, other half dose of prime and top off, turn back on the filters (filters never get exposed to clorine). Temperature never fluctuates more than 2 degress F.

So how does one lose bbacteria, why did this happen? and how do I avoid this in the future. I research everything in great detail and maintain my tanks with obsessive care but did not expect this at all.

Any throughts or advise would be very much apreciated.

Thanks,

Greg
 
Was there a power outage, or perhaps the filters were turned off while you were gone? The lack of oxygen could kill off your bacteria. Either that or there was a ton of excess waste that the filters couldn't cope with...
 
I am not aware of any power outages and I had an airstone going at all times.... this is very strange. Wouldn't a ton of waste cause more bacteria to build up and not less...

I figured my tank couldn't cope with all the waste until I did these major water changes, stoped feeding and still got high readings after 48 hours.

Thanks for your feedback but it doesn't seem that your suggestions were the cause.
 
Overfeeding can be the cause. And also, did you clean your filters with your aquarium water? If you used straight tap water to clean your filters, the clorine will kill your good bacteria.
 
GregRM;4705265;4705265 said:
I am not aware of any power outages and I had an airstone going at all times.... this is very strange. Wouldn't a ton of waste cause more bacteria to build up and not less...

I figured my tank couldn't cope with all the waste until I did these major water changes, stoped feeding and still got high readings after 48 hours.

Thanks for your feedback but it doesn't seem that your suggestions were the cause.
Click to expand...
An airstone in the tank would keep the fish alive, not the bacteria in your filters. 'IF' the power went out, the bacteria would be sitting in stagnant water with no oxygen, and would die off in a matter of hours.

As for overfeeding, bacteria do not become established overnight. As you know when cycling a tank, it takes 4-6 weeks for bacteria levels to become established and start consuming the ammonia. You don't have "extra" or spare bacteria in the tank. They are only equal to the bioload in the tank. If that bioload increases all of the sudden (a lot of excees food/waste), it will take time for the bactera to re-colonize, if you will, to cope with the increased bio load.
 
Why are you doing weekly %80 water changes? Does this not strike anyone else as odd?
 
jcardona1;4705305; said:
An airstone in the tank would keep the fish alive, not the bacteria in your filters. 'IF' the power went out, the bacteria would be sitting in stagnant water with no oxygen, and would die off in a matter of hours.

As for overfeeding, bacteria do not become established overnight. As you know when cycling a tank, it takes 4-6 weeks for bacteria levels to become established and start consuming the ammonia. You don't have "extra" or spare bacteria in the tank. They are only equal to the bioload in the tank. If that bioload increases all of the sudden (a lot of excees food/waste), it will take time for the bactera to re-colonize, if you will, to cope with the increased bio load.
Click to expand...

I agree with the power outage, and the tap water cleaning killing off your BB. Bacteria grows exponentially though so even if there was over feeding there would have been only the slightest bump in NH3/4 and NO2 for a very short period of time but the NO3 would be sky high. Thats why when you cycle a tank after you wait long enough the readings bottom out suddenly. If he has a persistant NH3/4 problem then somthing killed his BB colony plain an simple and the tank is cycling again.

Piscine;4705353; said:
Why are you doing weekly %80 water changes? Does this not strike anyone else as odd?
Click to expand...

I used to do 80% WC's on my juvi discus tank 3x a week back in the day and never had a problem. WC's wont kill you BB because your BB dont live in the water. What I find odd is people with 50+ppm NO3 and only do 10/20% WC's every other week and wonder why they have HITH, stunting and other problems when they have a python and a jug of prime. If they just took the extra 20min a week to do a 50, 60 or even 80% wc's and knock the poo out of their filters more than once a year they would have pristine water and healthier fish, true story.
 
ar0wan;4705364; said:
Strikes me as the problem

Cloudy Water - Mature Tank
Click to expand...
Certainly not.
If it were possible, a 100% WC would have no effect on bacterial activity.

If that bioload increases all of the sudden (a lot of excees food/waste)
+1
You mentioned an algae bloom.
I would suspect the algae die off as an excellent suspect for your ammonia.

tap water cleaning killing off your BB.
Myth, wive`s tale, and overstated.
Chlorine levels in tap water that you use for drinking, will not kill off all your BB by rinsing your media.
Bacteria are pretty tough buggers.
The colonies do not require the "kid glove" handling most often mentioned.
I would guess clogged, insufficiently cleaned media kills off more bacteria then we know.
We will not notice a big change in water parameters because the bacterial activity in the tank will increase as the colonies in the filters die off.

My guess is the overfeeding and algae die off are the cause of your ammonia.
A thorough tank and filter cleaning should bring your tank back into balance.
 
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