Spikes Question

[Vitaliy]

What causes nitrite spikes? and what causes ammonia spikes?

 

[darkemotion]

I heard that changing all the media in you filter will cause a spike.

 

[shookONES]

I heard that changing all the media in you filter will cause a spike.

If you change it all at once, yes. In essence, by doing that you are ridding your aquarium of any benefical bacteria, thus having to re-cycle the tank.

Ammonia and nitrite spikes can be attributed to anything ranging from a dead fish left unseen or uneaten food forgotten to adding a large number of new fish at the same time.

 

[dialphantom]

with TG

 

[piranha45]

nitrite/ammonia spikes occur when the available nitrifying bacteria in a system are removed/killed by the owner's deliberate/indeliberate actions, or when said bacteria are overwhelmed by the introduction of more ammonia/nitrite than they are capable of handling

so removal of the filter media, failure to dechlorinate introduced water, and introduction of dead organisms are all possible reasons for nitrite/ammonia spikes

 

[sohfatfish]

Most probable cause is uneaten food that has been left to rot in your tank if your tanks has already been established for quite some time.

 

[Vitaliy]

Thank you.