Ammonia spike?

[DED65]

Hi,
I have a 30 gallon tank set up for quarantine and I purchased a clown and two anthias. I had the sponge from an Eheim canister filter in my other tank for about a month. I set up the tank and dosed a little ammonia to have a cycle. Everything looked good and ammonia was not detectable and nitrite at .25 after two weeks. On the advice of the LFS, I added Fritzyme 9 (not expired). After the smell from this product, I tested for ammonia and immediately had a spike between .25 and .5 (API test). Fortunately I have another 10 gallon set up with live rock, Kenya tree and a couple of Emerald crabs that I could put the fish into after acclimating them. I have had this tank set up for months. Do these products spike the ammonia at first? On the bottle it says that there will be an earthy smell and the smell is more like rotten eggs. Should I give the product more time to work or do a complete water change? Thanks in advance!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

To me it smelled like skunk. When I dosed enough for a 100g tank, I almost had to leave the house! It's nasty.

 

[DED65]

The ammonia went back down to zero overnight, the nitrite is still at .25. If I were to use the product again, I would not add the fish immediately. I would also do it when I can air the house out, it was cold and snowing a little!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds like some of the bacteria in the bottle may have died and degraded. It certainly isn't desirable for a product designed to reduce ammonia to add it.