I noticed that my big fish were breathing hard this morning so I did a 50% water change (with deep gravel cleaning) and added some aeration - I figured it might just have been an issue with the filters having reduced in flow a bit and affecting the surface agitation. I checked the nitrates anyway and they were 10 before the change, so I just assumed it was that. More air = problem solved.
Except I just went back there and they're still gasping. I've never seen a datnoid gasping before. Puzzled, I dug out the ammonia test kit. Oddly, it's sporting a .50 ammonia level even after today's water change. This is higher than I'd expect even if I had a large fish die overnight (none did).
This is a 2 year established tank with no history of anything at all. It's a 125 running two FX5s. This should be overkill. There haven't been any power outages, and the flow is slightly reduced and I guess the FX5s are due for some maintenance, but it hasn't been that long.
How the heck did I suddenly get a ton of ammonia?
There are three things I can think of:
1) I added three 12" black Aros to the tank (not their permanent home, obviously... a 415 is). But that was 3 weeks ago and they haven't had big appetites. This started this morning.
2) perhaps there was something wrong with the market shrimp I fed them last night and they had upset stomachs and there was a sudden onslaught of poop. Or maybe it was OK but I fed too much (possible. I'm not usually a big powerfeeder but I got a bit carried away last night. It all got eaten though.)
3) My remark just yesterday about not having lost a fish in this tank in nearly a year jinxed me despite knocking on wood, and the entire tank is doomed.
Still... it's not like I dumped an entire bag of food in or anything. They got maybe double their usual portion, tops. How on earth could that have caused an ammonia spike from nothing to .50 even after a 50% WC on a tank with 2 FX5s? This is nuts.
Assuming the BB didn't mysteriously die (no idea how that'd happen), shouldn't 2 FX5s worth of bio media be able to handle this?
I'm kind of worried, because it'll be a few hours til I can do another water change. I've never seen ammonia this high in an established tank before, not even when I thought I killed some bacteria in my overcrowded planted tank.
Except I just went back there and they're still gasping. I've never seen a datnoid gasping before. Puzzled, I dug out the ammonia test kit. Oddly, it's sporting a .50 ammonia level even after today's water change. This is higher than I'd expect even if I had a large fish die overnight (none did).
This is a 2 year established tank with no history of anything at all. It's a 125 running two FX5s. This should be overkill. There haven't been any power outages, and the flow is slightly reduced and I guess the FX5s are due for some maintenance, but it hasn't been that long.
How the heck did I suddenly get a ton of ammonia?
There are three things I can think of:
1) I added three 12" black Aros to the tank (not their permanent home, obviously... a 415 is). But that was 3 weeks ago and they haven't had big appetites. This started this morning.
2) perhaps there was something wrong with the market shrimp I fed them last night and they had upset stomachs and there was a sudden onslaught of poop. Or maybe it was OK but I fed too much (possible. I'm not usually a big powerfeeder but I got a bit carried away last night. It all got eaten though.)
3) My remark just yesterday about not having lost a fish in this tank in nearly a year jinxed me despite knocking on wood, and the entire tank is doomed.
Still... it's not like I dumped an entire bag of food in or anything. They got maybe double their usual portion, tops. How on earth could that have caused an ammonia spike from nothing to .50 even after a 50% WC on a tank with 2 FX5s? This is nuts.
Assuming the BB didn't mysteriously die (no idea how that'd happen), shouldn't 2 FX5s worth of bio media be able to handle this?
I'm kind of worried, because it'll be a few hours til I can do another water change. I've never seen ammonia this high in an established tank before, not even when I thought I killed some bacteria in my overcrowded planted tank.
