First fish added: ammonia increase?

[Aliu]

Hi everyone,

I've had my 14g biocube for over 6 weeks now. The tank finished cycling around the 4th week and I waited a bit longer till this past weekend to get my first fish. My wife and I decided on a clown.

Anyways, it's been 3 days since putting him in and I just tested my water. It seems like my ammonia went up to 0.25ppm. Nitrite is still 0ppm and Nitrates are at 10ppm.

Can anyone experienced give me some advice? Is it normal for the increase of ammonia to be THAT much? How long will the clown last if the ammonia is at 0.25ppm? Should I do a water change too, just in case?

Attached is a pic of what I just tested.

 

[surfnsalt]

How much are you feeding and what are you feeding?

 

[Dtackett]

api is not the most reliable test kit. I suggest picking up a red sea or salifert.

anytime you add livestock youre adding more bioload that your current bacteria colony cant sustain. you will always get a slight ammonia increase but normally its so minimal and over so fast that we never notice it and neither do the fish. if after 3 days you still have ammonia, one of 2 things is happening. either your test kit is inaccurate (most likely the case here, api is known to be junk in saltwater) or you don't have a proper cycle. not having a proper cycle could be caused by a lot of things, but most often is caused by allowing a tank to go sterile during a cycle. during your cycle did you have an ammonia and nitrite spike? what were your nitrates at the end of the cycle? 2 weeks without food for the bacteria can kill all bacteria in the tank.

chances are its your test kit, however I would pick up some Mb7 or Dr. tims one and only and dose it just to be sure.

 

[melypr1985]

doing a water change never hurts! When in doubt do a water change. Ammonia is toxic to fish so I would suggest to a water change to "water down" that ammonia quickly. I would upgrade test kits anyway.

 

[RMS18]

By any chance did you empty the bag of water that your fish came into your display tank?
I have been using api tests for ammonia, and nitrates and as long as the expiration date is good they are fine to use. If you need to test for mag, ph, alk, cal then be sure to get a kit like red sea. Perform a water change like @melyper1985 said. It's a good idea to keep a product called prime in the cabinet for emergency cases like this if you are not able to make your own salt water at command.

 

[Luka]

Normal for ammonia to go up after adding new fish your adding bioload. Before you put your fish in there was only enough bacteria to take care of what you have cycled for example if you shrimp cycled the bacteria could only cover for that shrimp. Basically your bacteria now needs to adapt to the increased bio-load. Just do some water changes but not too much because the bacteria need the bioload from the fish to adapt.