Need Help, Ammonia Spike!

Warthur · Jun 12, 2017

Hey guys,
My tank completed its cycle recently and I have one fish (golden dwarf moray) and 7 Halloween hermits in a 30. I got the eel a few days ago for the first time and attempted to feed. He initially took a little and then decided not to go for it. I added some dr tims one and only to give the tank a boost before the attempted feeding and now have a reading of 1ppm ammonia. Does dr tims raise the ammonia before bringing it back down again. All of my animals are okay right now but I am debating whether or not I should do a water change or if this is just how dr tims works and it will take care of itself overnight

mtraylor · Jun 12, 2017

I would keep an eye on it and be ready to make a water change if needed. 1ppm is pretty low, so you can monitor to see if it levels out and you are out of the cycle.

Claus84 · Jun 12, 2017

I had read anything above 0.25ppm was potentially dangerous to livestock and cause for immediate action. I would add some Amquel or similar detoxifier but make sure you keep your O2 levels up, Amquel also tends to drop the pH slightly. You can dose every 24hours until it comes back down but monitor the ph each time as you may have to buffer. I'm not good with chemistry but apparently once the ammonia is detoxified it is less harmful but still available to the bacteria so will not stall your cycle but not all test kits will register it as ammonia, hopefully someone who knows more about chemistry can advise which type of test is best to use (nessler or salicyate). Or you could water change but you would risk removing the bacteria that is still in the water column if you have only just dosed the dr tims.