Sudden Ammonia Spike?

[rmschilling]

Hi everyone, so, I've reached a problem, and it's been frustrating me to no end. I've recently gotten busier and busier with a full workload of college and work, and it became harder to keep up with regular, healthier tank maintenance. It started to become a bit worrisome with the tank becoming cloudy which snapped me back into shape and I did a large water change and cleaned up my filter a little bit in the appropriate water (original tank water and/or dechlorinated), along with daily water changes. My Ammonia levels were at ~1.0, and I bought an Ammonia remover filter media to help bring those levels down while I did those water changes daily. The Ammonia did go down, however, it remained stagnant at ~0.50-0.25. No matter how many water changes, it wasn't moving (this was via an API Ammonia Drip Test btw). Some of my filter media had gotten rather old and had no effect anymore, in particular my carbon media, and I wondered if it would potentially help to add a new one (I know to never completely clean nor remove and replace all media). So, I bought new carbon media, replaced the old one, and.....my Ammonia spiked. To 4.0+. I am absolutely perplexed, I looked up if Carbon adds Ammonia, etc., and just couldn't really find a straightforward answer, I've never had this problem before. I think, ultimately, I made a bad move and what happened was that I did way too much all at once out of panic. The weirdest part is that my Axolotl seems absolutely healthy, and the water is clean and pristine, so I can't understand these readings? I'm thinking about trying out a different test method and seeing if that'll be different. I already tested the API drip against normal tap which read normally, so, I'm not sure what's going on.

If anyone has any advice, suggestions, and plans of action as to what I should do about this I would be so grateful. Thank you so much

 

[wolfen]

carbon media doesn't remove ammonia nitrite or nitrates it does however remove some chemicals such as chlorine and medications etc. but when it gets old it becomes an ideal home for nitrifying bacteria so when it is removed you are also removing some of your bacteria. do not use any more ammonia remover as you will just be making it harder for the bacteria to remove ammonia and it will just compound the problems. use the water changes to bring the ammonia under control and let the bacteria do their job at get it down, at a temperature of 18°c ph at 7.6 and ammonia at 2 (ammonia tests are testing the total ammonia nitrogen TAN which is NH3+NH4 NH3 is the toxic free ammonia NH4 is the none toxic ammonium) the harmful free ammonia is at 0.0263 which although bad is in tolerable range, do not allow the water to get warmer or the ph higher as this will increase the toxic free ammonia (there are TAN calculators online and if you go to Your Guide to Ammonia Toxicity - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community and scroll down theres a handy toxicity graph). if you are worried or the axie is stressed consider tubbing until things are sorted. always clean filter media in old tank water (the idea is to remove the muck and not getting it back to looking like new). keep a eye on the nitrites as they are toxic at all levels. I had a look at the toxicity chart and if you ph was at 7.2 at a temperature of less than 18°c then if the TAN are 4ppm then the NH3 are at 0.0211 which is within tolerable range (NH3 under 0.0250 are safe tolerable, under 0.0500 are warning getting dangerous, 0.05 and up deadly) which would explain why you axie didn't seem affected at 4ppm ammonia. also check the dechlorinated water before adding, for ammonia as it is the end result of some dechlorinaters.

 

[rmschilling]

carbon media doesn't remove ammonia nitrite or nitrates it does however remove some chemicals such as chlorine and medications etc. but when it gets old it becomes an ideal home for nitrifying bacteria so when it is removed you are also removing some of your bacteria. do not use any more ammonia remover as you will just be making it harder for the bacteria to remove ammonia and it will just compound the problems. use the water changes to bring the ammonia under control and let the bacteria do their job at get it down, at a temperature of 18°c ph at 7.6 and ammonia at 2 (ammonia tests are testing the total ammonia nitrogen TAN which is NH3+NH4 NH3 is the toxic free ammonia NH4 is the none toxic ammonium) the harmful free ammonia is at 0.0263 which although bad is in tolerable range, do not allow the water to get warmer or the ph higher as this will increase the toxic free ammonia (there are TAN calculators online and if you go to Your Guide to Ammonia Toxicity - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community and scroll down theres a handy toxicity graph). if you are worried or the axie is stressed consider tubbing until things are sorted. always clean filter media in old tank water (the idea is to remove the muck and not getting it back to looking like new). keep a eye on the nitrites as they are toxic at all levels. I had a look at the toxicity chart and if you ph was at 7.2 at a temperature of less than 18°c then if the TAN are 4ppm then the NH3 are at 0.0211 which is within tolerable range (NH3 under 0.0250 are safe tolerable, under 0.0500 are warning getting dangerous, 0.05 and up deadly) which would explain why you axie didn't seem affected at 4ppm ammonia. also check the dechlorinated water before adding, for ammonia as it is the end result of some dechlorinaters.

Thank you so much for this reply, it was truly helpful. I'm still battling this issue but now I think I have a better idea of where to go about it, it makes a lot more sense now that you've explained it. My Ammonia remover has been a filter media, so should I take out this media? I'm worried about removing too many things at this point though and causing further damage to the bacteria's recovery. In regards to water changes, how should I go about them? Should I be doing daily 50% water changes?

 

[wolfen]

if the ammonia remover is sponge just rinse/squeeze in old tank water to remove muck (usually monthly), no need to replace unless falling apart (should last for years), if it is zeolite rinse/immerse in salt water to renew it (usually done monthly) replaced/add if powdered, if ceramic/resin/plastic rinse in old tank water to remove muck (only needed to be done if there is muck buildup).
water changes are normally required once a week unless for emergency ie.. nitrites or very high nitrates, even though water should be dechlorinated before adding to the tank it can still disrupt the filter bacteria because of a sudden change in water parameters.
activated carbon should be changed monthly to prevent it from becoming bio-media.
try adding a air/sponge filter to the tank for added bio/muck filtration, this can be quick started with bottled nitrifying bacteria.