Ammonia and nitrite spike?

[NaturallyKait]

Today is my usual water change day, so I just did my weekly water tests and found that apparently the tank is having a sudden spike out of no where? This morning’s test results are:

 

ammonia: 0.25-0.5? It’s hard for me to tell

nitrite: 0.25

nitrate: 10

pH: 8.0

salinity: 1.026

 

I have no idea what happened. The tank finished cycling May 23rd. Has been steady at 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite since then, nitrates usually 5-10. Last water change was a little less than a week ago, we moved the tank across the room on Tuesday and changed it then. I know sometimes moving tanks can cause ammonia spikes but there had been none when I tested the day after and again the next day. The rock was kept submerged, and I keep my sand stirred every couple of days normally so I don’t think it was an issue of backed up nutrients in the sand bed. The whole process only took like 20 minutes. 

 

As of last night everything is alive and accounted for. I’m assuming nothing died overnight, but a few things only come out in the evening so I haven’t seen them this morning. 

 

Tank is a 13.5g evo. Current inhabitants are:

 

one yellow clown goby (added June 8 )

pair of clownfish (added July 16) 

 

two turbo snails

one astrea snail

one bumblebee snail

two hermits

one emerald crab

 

I went to add Prime to the tank and realised the stuff my friend gave me is expired, so I’m going to grab some when the LFS opens in an hour. I can add that right to the tank right? I have water mixing for a water change too but I find it takes a few hours to get clear (using instant ocean). 

 

Anything else I should be doing? How do I figure out what caused this? Should I just assume it was moving the tank across the room, even though everything seemed fine in the two days following? None of the livestock is acting weird or anything, I just happened to run my regular weekly tests and this was the result. 

 

 

 

[Clown79]

Disturbing the sand bed can curse an ammonia spike even with frequent cleaning/stirring. When rocks are moved it disturbs areas that normally aren't touched, like under the rocks.

 

Yes you can add prime to the tank but if you are using api testers, it's best to get a seachem ammonia badge as Prime alters liquid regent tests for 48hrs.

[NaturallyKait]

Ok, I hope the answer is that simple. 

 

The ammonia badge was on my list to buy too, I remember reading that. 

[Clown79]

Common cause of an ammonia spike in a cycled system that is moved or a lot of disturbing of rocks/sand is ammonia spike and release of nutrients.

[NaturallyKait]

4 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Common cause of an ammonia spike in a cycled system that is moved or a lot of disturbing of rocks/sand is ammonia spike and release of nutrients.

Fingers crossed this is over soon then. I put prime in the tank and added the badge but then had to leave because of a family emergency so tonight I’ll do the water change. Now that the prime is in the fish and CUC should be safe right? 

[Clown79]

Yes, the prime detoxifies the ammonia and nitrite. While using it your livestock is safe. 

 

I did a reaquascape of my 5.5g and didn't wash the sand, I did a large waterchange but still ended up with a spike. I used Prime until the ammonia had fully processed.

 

With my other tank transfers this never occurred but I used new sand or washed the old sand.

[NaturallyKait]

8 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Yes, the prime detoxifies the ammonia and nitrite. While using it your livestock is safe. 

 

I did a reaquascape of my 5.5g and didn't wash the sand, I did a large waterchange but still ended up with a spike. I used Prime until the ammonia had fully processed.

 

With my other tank transfers this never occurred but I used new sand or washed the old sand.

Perfect, thank you. Glad they’re safe, the tiny reefer would be devastated if his little friends were hurt. He’s quite attached to them. 

[NaturallyKait]

Colour me confused. The ammonia badge seems to say it’s at less than 0.02? 

 

The test earlier definitely was at at least 0.25. The nitrite was 0.25 as clear as day - that one’s much easier to read than the ammonia one (0 is blue, 0.25 is purpleish and distinctly different). 

 

I know if I tested ammonia now it wouldn’t work properly. Could it have cleared up this quickly? 

 

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, NaturallyKait said:

Colour me confused. The ammonia badge seems to say it’s at less than 0.02? 

 

The test earlier definitely was at at least 0.25. The nitrite was 0.25 as clear as day - that one’s much easier to read than the ammonia one (0 is blue, 0.25 is purpleish and distinctly different). 

 

I know if I tested ammonia now it wouldn’t work properly. Could it have cleared up this quickly? 

 

Is the ammonia badge reading after the Prime dosing? That may be why. 

 

 

[Tamberav]

Possible it cleared up....I think the badge works with prime but I could be wrong.

[NaturallyKait]

9 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Is the ammonia badge reading after the Prime dosing? That may be why. 

 

 

It is, but my understanding was that the badge would still show the ammonia because it’s not gone, just no longer harmful. 

6 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Possible it cleared up....I think the badge works with prime but I could be wrong.

That was my understanding. Prime doesn’t actually get rid of ammonia right? Just makes it safe for the fish until the bacteria take care of it/a water change removes it? 

[Clown79]

Yes, it doesn't get rid of ammonia but detoxifies it.

You can test with api in 48hrs and Prine won't effect the results.

 

Another way to double check is getting the lfs to test your water.

[NaturallyKait]

2 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Yes, it doesn't get rid of ammonia but detoxifies it.

You can test with api in 48hrs and Prine won't effect the results.

 

Another way to double check is getting the lfs to test your water.

I don’t know if they do water tests honestly. I’d have to check. Either way, I might just wait for the prime to wear off and test. Do you know if it messes up any other tests? Would my nitrite and nitrate still work?