Ammonia Spike: a quick fix (simple)
- Jan 17, 2021
- Anshika Mishra
- 1098 0 0
What do you do if you have an Ammonia spike in your tank? Maybe you didn't know about the cycling process, and you threw your fishes directly into the aquarium, and now you have ammonia spike, and it is killing them. Whatever is the reason, but now the problem is standing tall. Don't panic; here, you will know a quick and easy fix.
Water Change
For the quick fix, you can quickly do a 50%-80% water change. This is going to get a big chunk of ammonia out of the tank. The reason why it is said 50%-80% is because only you know your fish. If you have got hardy fish and have been doing big water changes, if you think your fishes can tolerate an 80% water change, go ahead and do an 80% water change.
If you are not sure what amount of water change is sustainable for your fish, then go ahead and do a 50% water change. In the following steps:
- Remove water
- Add primer. It is going to detoxify the ammonia that is still in your tank water. Do know that it doesn't remove ammonia. It just de-toxifies it temporarily, making the water safe for your fish.
- Refill your tank. While refilling your tank, you must make sure that your new water temperature matched your new water temperature, or you will shock your fish. This is something that should be done in every water change.
- Add stability. It is basically bacteria in a bottle that will boost your cycle, helping to grow the bacteria you need to convert the deadly ammonia into a less toxic form.
You will have to add primer and stabilizer to your tank daily for a week or until your water comes level comes to zero ammonia or zero nitrites. After a week of you still have ammonia or nitrite in your tank, you will have to repeat the whole process.
Also, do not feed your fish for the first 5-7 days. Your fish will add ammonia into the tank every time they extract waste, and by you adding food, all you are doing is adding more and more ammonia to the tank.
Allowing this procedure will allow you to cycle with fishes in your tank without doing them any harm. It helps your tank get in a liveable state immediately and boosts the time it takes your tank to properly cycled. Not to mention it is going to save your fish's life.
Why do tanks have ammonia spikes?
New Tank Syndrome
The most common reason behind ammonia spikes is the tank not being cycled. The nitrogen cycle is significant, especially while setting up a new aquarium. In short, if your tank isn't cycled, you won't have the mesentery beneficial bacteria that you need to convert this deadly ammonia into a less toxic compound.
Most newbies in the hobby usually neglect this cycle. But many fishes die and aquarium dies because of the very reason. The new tank is so common that it has got the name "New Tank Syndrome."
Let's say you are not a beginner, and your tank is properly cycled, but suddenly, you have got an ammonia spike. There could be multiple reasons for this, also.
Population growth
Did you add a bunch of new fish all of a sudden? Doing this can absolutely cause an ammonia spike. The beneficial bacteria in your tank will only grow as much as the tank need, as much food or ammonia is in the aquarium for them to survive.
Let's say you have got 10 fishes and these 10-fish produces that extra amount of ammonia. Eventually, you will grow the same x amount of beneficial bacteria that will feed on that ammonia and convert it. But if you add a lot of fishes all together, now all those fishes are producing x+10 amount of ammonia, and the x and the x amount of bacterias in your tank cannot handle the plus 10.
There is too much food but not enough mouth to eat it. So, this plus 10 stays inside your tank, and you get the ammonia spike. In a nutshell, by adding more fishes, you add more ammonia to your tank. The beneficial bacteria need time to grow and catch up to this excess amount of ammonia.
Big cleanup
Did you do a big tank cleaning? Maybe you cleaned your filters out, moved the substrate around, removed a big piece of decor.
If you are cleaning your equipment so well with soap and water or with another chemical, you are definitely killing the beneficial bacteria. If you are cleaning your equipment with tap water, the chlorine in the water will kill your beneficial bacteria. If you are watching your bio-media with tap water, you are killing most of the beneficial bacteria.
If you disturb your substrate all at the same time, you can kill bacteria. If you remove a piece of decor that had many bacteria living on it, you decided to clean it up. You are again killing a lot of bacteria. It would help if you always tried to preserve as many beneficial bacteria as possible.
About author