Ammonia issue :(

[daitenshi]

At the moment my 20G (I think it's 20g) is having ammonia spikes. I'm doing 20-50% water changes every other day. It's been setup for at least 5 months now so it's not cycling.
It's only started happening in the last month.
I haven't added any new fish for awhile either.
Only new addition has been some rocks which I have removed.
PH level is a bit low at 6.2
nitrite is close to 0
The tank isn't overstocked.
5 neon tetra
4 3" bristle nose catfish
4 3" clown loaches (actually 3 now. 1 jumped out last night )
3 three spot gourami
2 bolivian butterfly fish

I have 2 canister filters rated at 220G an hour each with ehieim substrat pro in 1 of them.
I can't understand why the ammonia keeps on spiking every couple of days and it's driving me nuts.

Any suggestions?

 

[Miguel]

someone dead in there...slightly , but slightly overstocked and underfiltered, perhaps, but no reason for the spike.

sure tests are ok?

 

[daitenshi]

Yeah, the testing equipment is fine.
Got 2 different brand test kits and they are testing almost exactly the same.

Head count is showing everyone there.

I thought that it might be under filtration but the 2 filters should be turning the tanks water over 22 times...(I'm guessing it's probably about 10-15 times though)

I've washed the filter media in tank water last week and I condition the water before doing changes.

Just finished a 50% water change now. Ammonia is still high after the change. Will do another 50% water change tonight.

 

[Miguel]

Do you feed too much?

 

[Tycoon]

whats the reading of your ammonia?

 

[daitenshi]

I have been feeding every 2nd day. And only a little bit.

Ammonia is reading between 6-7 ppm

That was before the water change. Guessing it should be around 3-4 ppm right now. Will do another 50% water change later tonight. Don't have the time right now.

It's really doing my head in because the tank was running fine before. Doing weekly 20-30% water changes with no issues what so ever. And only in the past month the ammonia in the tank has just gone out of control.

 

[Tycoon]

What the f....!

You're lucky none of your fish have died yet... I dunno how this could happen but maybe when you washed your filter media, most of your bacterias died?

 

[thatoldguy]

I have been feeding every 2nd day. And only a little bit.

Ammonia is reading between 6-7 ppm

That was before the water change. Guessing it should be around 3-4 ppm right now. Will do another 50% water change later tonight. Don't have the time right now.

It's really doing my head in because the tank was running fine before. Doing weekly 20-30% water changes with no issues what so ever. And only in the past month the ammonia in the tank has just gone out of control.

My guess would be that there is something in the substrate...maybe a bacteria die off causing the ammonia spike?

 

[daitenshi]

My guess would be that there is something in the substrate...maybe a bacteria die off causing the ammonia spike?

Hadn't thought of that.

The tank was running fine on just 1 of the cannister filters a couple of months ago. I added the 2nd just to over filter it cause I took down the 6' tank and had 2 spare filters. Thought I might as well put them to use.

About to do another 50% water change now which I hope will drop down the ammonia levels again. But the fish are looking stressed right now

Really hate seeing the fish stressed.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Do whatever PWC's you need to do to get the ammonia levels down to under .5ppm. 70% is fine. The larger the PWC, the better. I normally do 50% PWC's weekly myself, as well as a 85%-90% on occasion. I did a 90% on my 55G last night. Keeps nitrate levels to a bare minimum.