Slight ammonia reading

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batang_mcdo

Polypterus
MFK Member
Apr 24, 2006
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Manila
Noticed my Arowana has been shedding some slime.
I checked the water parameters and has a reading of .5PPM in my ammonia tester.
that was yestderdaym I made a 50% water change and dosed with seachem safe, added some salt also.
What could be causing the ammonia reading?
Tonight i tested and there was still the .5ppm reading.
Can't find any dead fish in the tank.
My tank is 8x2.5x2.5 , with a 6x2x1.5 Sump filled with Matala mats, Scrubbies and filter mat. also have some Ceramic rings and Crushed coral in there.

Any suggestions? could it be my Sump could not handle the bio load?
or is there something else?
Inhabitants are 3 22 inch super red arowanas, ! 8 inch pleco and 10 5-7 inch clown loaches.
I do water change every week, 30%

I'm a little bit puzzled as to whats causing the ammonia?
nitrite is 0.
ph is quite high at 8.
I'll remove some crushed corals.
 
It would surprise me if your sump couldnt handle that bio-load.

Maybe something initiated a mini-cycle?
 
I wouldnt change the filtration too much, the pH is affected by the ammonia so if you try to fix it now, your pH will change some again once you get the ammonia dialed in, besides its usually best to let the fish adjust to the pH then have the pH shift around.

That is a pretty stocked tank, even for a sump that size. Is it posibble that you have debris in your gravel or mechanical filter that is breaking down? If they havent been cleaned they can produce nitrates if your bio filtration cant keep up. Also, Id recommend doing larger water changes, or do a couple of 30% changes a week. What are your nitrates at? I have a feeling they may be on the high side
 
The only time I see ammonia reading on established tanks is when fish outgrow the filtration, or a major change is made in feeding ect... when was the last time your bio media ect was rinsed/degunked? if your bio-media is gunked up that can cause a sudden crash in your bacteria cycle ect. or any filtration changes made recently? removal of live plants ect? usually there is a trigger and it will balance itself in a week or two... if there is no obviouse trigger.. def keep an eye on it. never hurts to add more bio-media and increase water changes abit during the meantime.

.5 wouldn't bother me unless it persisted after checking the above pieces of the puzzle.
 
thanks guys , I degunked my sump a month or 2 ago.
Did 2 chambers at a time.
I did feed my 2 aros chicken breast. but was expecting my bio filter to handle that. I'll test nitrate level.
 
batang_mcdo said:
What could be causing the ammonia reading?
Click to expand...

Food ---> protein ---> ammonia. Although it's possible that your source water has some ammonia, it's unlikely that it's that high. Barring that you have a dead animal in the tank, the ammonia is coming from the food, although you might want to test the source water as well.

At a ph of 8.0, .5ppm of ammonia will have lethal, sub lethal or no effect on fish depending on species and temperature. The higher the temp, the more lethal it becomes.

Some species can handle that amount while others perish. Keep in mind that a sudden spike in the ph (e.g., to 8.5) could become suddenly lethal while it was tolerable before.
 
thanks! I'll start removing some crushed corals, I've had some bad ph crashes before , so added crushed corals and brought my ph too high.
 
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