Ammonia issue in established tank

[Corydora0101]

first off, I do biweekly 25% wc but this morning and last week I had an ammonia reading of .25ppm.. its. 54 gal community tank with variety of life such as fish, snails live plants. Are my bacteria having issues so its not removing the ammonia? Nitrites and nitrates are 0. Help please

 

[FishBoy101]

first off, I do biweekly 25% wc but this morning and last week I had an ammonia reading of .25ppm.. its. 54 gal community tank with variety of life such as fish, snails live plants. Are my bacteria having issues so its not removing the ammonia? Nitrites and nitrates are 0. Help please

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[mattgirl]

first off, I do biweekly 25% wc but this morning and last week I had an ammonia reading of .25ppm.. its. 54 gal community tank with variety of life such as fish, snails live plants. Are my bacteria having issues so its not removing the ammonia? Nitrites and nitrates are 0. Help please

We will need a bit more information about this tank. To start with. How long has it been up and running? What is the pH level.

 

[BluMan1914]

Just going by what you posted, 25% water change every two weeks is not enough.
If you are gonna stick with biweekly changes, I suggest that you do at least 75% water change.
For example, I have a 75 gallon, with a Fluval FX6 with 5 Rasboras, 5 Blood Fins, and today I bought a 2" Red Tail Shark. Every week, I do a 75% water change.

 

[Fisch]

Just going by what you posted, 25% water change every two weeks is not enough.
If you are gonna stick with biweekly changes, I suggest that you do at least 75% water change.
For example, I have a 75 gallon, with a Fluval FX6 with 5 Rasboras, 5 Blood Fins, and today I bought a 2" Red Tail Shark. Every week, I do a 75% water change.

But with the WC he should have a nitrate elevation, not necessarily Ammonia. As mattgirl stated, more background info is needed.

 

[BluMan1914]

But with the WC he should have a nitrate elevation, not necessarily Ammonia. As mattgirl stated, more background info is needed.

True.
But as I stated, I was going just by what was posted.
Also, depending on how heavily planted the tank is, the plants may eat up the nitrAtes, and may not show up, or be so low that it will not show up when testing.
But yes, more info is needed.

 

[Corydora0101]

So biweekly I mean twice a week, every 3-4 days. Ph is soft .. i have a water softener for the house which is where their water comes from.. tank has been running about 1 year, heavily planted. Moderate fish stock probably around f 75% capacity

 

[mattgirl]

So biweekly I mean twice a week, every 3-4 days. Ph is soft .. i have a water softener for the house which is where their water comes from.. tank has been running about 1 year, heavily planted. Moderate fish stock probably around f 75% capacity

To some folks this is going to go against my normal recommendations since I am such a proponent of water changes. I am going to suggest you stop doing 2 water changes a week and instead of 25% water changes I will suggest you do a 50% water change once a week.

Have you run the ammonia test on your source water? Could something have changed with it? Maybe your water company has started using chloramines in place of chlorine. If that is the case you may now get an ammonia reading in your tap water and that could be where this .25 reading is coming from.

A lightly stocked tank with 2 water changes a week explains the 0 nitrate reading so is really of no concern.

 

[BluMan1914]

mattgirl, you beat me to it.

 

[Corydora0101]

To some folks this is going to go against my normal recommendations since I am such a proponent of water changes. I am going to suggest you stop doing 2 water changes a week and instead of 25% water changes I will suggest you do a 50% water change once a week.

Have you run the ammonia test on your source water? Could something have changed with it? Maybe your water company has started using chloramines in place of chlorine. If that is the case you may now get an ammonia reading in your tap water and that could be where this .25 reading is coming from.

A lightly stocked tank with 2 water changes a week explains the 0 nitrate reading so is really of no concern.

I haven't done an ammonia test on the source but I will today so see if that could have changed. I've read everywhere that any ammonia is harmful, other than the 50% wc once a week is there going to be anything I can do? Thanks for your advice! Much appreciated, to you and everyone else that chimed in!

 

[mattgirl]

I haven't done an ammonia test on the source but I will today so see if that could have changed. I've read everywhere that any ammonia is harmful, other than the 50% wc once a week is there going to be anything I can do? Thanks for your advice! Much appreciated, to you and everyone else that chimed in!

As long as you don't see it going any higher than what you are seeing now I wouldn't be overly concerned about it. If you don't already have it I will recommend you get a bottle of Seachem Prime. It is first and foremost a water conditioner designed to remove chlorine/chloramines and some heavy metals much like any other water conditioner but it goes one step farther and also detoxes low levels of ammonia. I consider it just extra insurance when there is a chance of an ammonia spike. It may seem more expensive that other water conditioners but it is very concentrated so a little goes a long way.

 

[Corydora0101]

I've already got that in my wc regimen to do it so I'm ahead of the ball on that. Thanks!

 

[Corydora0101]

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