Sudden ammonia spike in established tank?

[MonsterMinis]

Did you lower the flow or has it resulted in time? It could be a compaction in a filter chamber and w/out enough aggitation in the canister an area of you bio media has died off and has been leaking into your system. That could explaine why after a water change your ammonia is still high. I'de also rip the tank up to bare bones more or less and check for decaying food ect. rinse everything off well and replace it. deep gravel beds can also harbor this type of ammonia leak, though generally it's Nitrite leaks. Did you check those levels as well? Has your water source gone threw a flush at the plant lately, assumeing your on "city" water? Melafix can and does cause "gasping" but rarely have i seen any deaths ect from proper use. My bet would be on one or both of the filters, if you haven't figured the problem out.

ps- when i moved from the chicagoland area 6 years ago they did not add chlorine to the water but the did add chloromines which are a far more stable form of chlorine and DO need to be treated to get rid of. setting your water out for days wouldn't allow it to "dissipate" a quick call to the local system treatment plant and they can give you answers as to what they use. And they do "flush" the system from time to time w/ a heavy dose of chems.

 

[Ricko]

I would guess a prob with the bacteria in your filters for the ammonia spike. A big feed, fish spitting out a shrimp, couple of poo's, etc will not cause an ammonia spike if two fx5's are in good order!

 

[DaveB]

I have a feeling that the ammonia spike and the gasping symptoms may not necessarily be related, as I have seen first hand with my own fish in the past begin to gasp quite heavily immediately after the addtion of melafix to treat a wound. back when I worked at the LFS, I had a few customers say the same thing, so I stopped recommending it..for a while though, I was on the bandwagaon

in fact, if I am not mistaken it used to say right on the bottle to increase aeration -not sure if it still does.

apparently, the melaleucea extract can 'consume' oxygen in the water coloumn (ie reacts with the dissolved O2)

the thing is, that obviously .5 ammonia is not good, but usually the level has to be higher than that with most fish to have them all up at the top gasping..somewhere more like 4-5 mg/L rather than 0.5..

I've seen firsthand the effect of Melafix on O2 levels - I killed my original two distichodus almost exactly a year ago when I treated with Melafix and didn't notice that my spray bar had slipped down the glass an inch or so. If I hadn't gone to the kitchen for a glass of water at 2am I'd have lost the entire tank. This wasn't anywhere near as bad as that (though no, they no longer say that on the bottle for some reason) and ever since then whenever I add it I make sure there's more than the usual amount of aeration. Plus it had been a few days between that and the gasping.

IME it's great for repairing fin and body damage, and since my lussoso has been a bastard to the bala sharks lately, they're a bit dinged up so I treated. I'm not sure I believe it works on disease though.

Did you lower the flow or has it resulted in time? It could be a compaction in a filter chamber and w/out enough aggitation in the canister an area of you bio media has died off and has been leaking into your system. That could explaine why after a water change your ammonia is still high. I'de also rip the tank up to bare bones more or less and check for decaying food ect. rinse everything off well and replace it. deep gravel beds can also harbor this type of ammonia leak, though generally it's Nitrite leaks. Did you check those levels as well? Has your water source gone threw a flush at the plant lately, assumeing your on "city" water? Melafix can and does cause "gasping" but rarely have i seen any deaths ect from proper use. My bet would be on one or both of the filters, if you haven't figured the problem out.

One of the two filters has gradually reduced flow over time, though lately it seems significantly slower. This is the same filter that will make the annoying trickle/sucking noise no matter what I do. Maybe the two are related. Maybe there are flow symmetry issues or something? I don't quite understand how air would ever be getting in there since everything is submerged and the lid is super tight, so I'm obviously missing something. There's no hidden source inside the tank though - the gravel is less than an inch deep and well vaccuumed and I deep clean it regularly (and just last week). The tank has been significantly dirtier at times in the past without any issue.

So something dying in the filter would seem to be the most likely.... just have to figure out why now.

 

[swede]

ammonia can cause fish to gasp at the surface and move their gills rapidly. lack of oxygen/too much CO2 can cause the same symptoms. as for the ammonia, you may have old tank syndrome.

 

[Ricko]

ammonia can cause fish to gasp at the surface and move their gills rapidly. lack of oxygen/too much CO2 can cause the same symptoms. as for the ammonia, you may have old tank syndrome.

Do you mind giving your definition of "old tank syndrome"???

 

[12 Volt Man]

ammonia can cause fish to gasp at the surface and move their gills rapidly

absolutely. but why I was thinking it was more the melafix was because 0.5mg/l is not usually high enough to cause these symptoms. it usually must be higher than that to cause that sort of gasping.

unless the level was much higher, but when the level was tested it was on the down swing because the bacteria are oxidizing it quickly?

that test is a 'snapshot' in time. it may have been much higher the day before, for example.

 

[swede]

I can't remember who explained it in the forums, but I think it was lupin. I can't remember it clear enough to go out on a limb and explain old tank syndrome. I don't want to explain it incorrectly and be misleading. I would use prime and do WC every few days until you can get an idea of what is going on

 

[swede]

he did say that the .5 ammonia was AFTER the WC too which is kinda scary

 

[Ricko]

he did say that the .5 ammonia was AFTER the WC too which is kinda scary

True, that is scary.

With asking your def of old tank syndrome i was only curious. I personally don't believe in it but was curious of your thoughts about it (and anyone else if they want to) ,,I wasn't havin a go at you if that's what you thought.

 

[swede]

no i didn't take it that way at all. i was vague about what it is cuz i can't remember exactly. but what i would be scared of is 1. ammonia coming from tap water...... or 2. the bio took a dive. oxygen is needed for bio in tank to do well. if the bio took a hit, it could've started the cycling all over again