Ammonia issues

I will start by saying I am new to this forum. After trying everything I know how to do, I am now seeking help. I have a 80 gallon freshwater fish tank. Currently in the tank is 2 black phantom tetra, 1 angel fish, and 2 small feeder sized gold fish. I have had the tank running for slightly over a year. Everything was going great. I was doing routine water changes, testing my water with the API drop test kit and keeping up with other maintenance. After returning home from a 13 day vacation I noticed something just wasn’t right with the tank, so I began testing the water. My ammonia went off the charts! The color was a dark dark green color. Well past the measurements on the chart. So I quickly did a 50% water change, and added some neutralizer to the water as I was refilling the water. I let it sit for 24 hours and tested it again. Ammonia levels were still very high, around 2.0.. So I did another 30% water change. That helped with the levels however I was still showing over .75 so I waited a few days, retested and just now did another 50% water change. It seems my water is just now stuck in the .75 range and won’t go lower.

Tank size 80 gallons
PH level is 7.0
Ammonia is stuck at .75

My tap water does test positive for ammonia but only as .25 so I have planned for that.

 

Keep doing water changes- at least 30% daily until the number goes down. You basically have a mini cycle going. You should start to see nitrites soon and then they will convert to nitrates. Anything happen to cause the spike? Did any fish die, uneaten food or just too much poo and the normal water change was missed?

 

Keep doing water changes- at least 30% daily until the number goes down. You basically have a mini cycle going. You should start to see nitrites soon and then they will convert to nitrates. Anything happen to cause the spike? Did any fish die, uneaten food or just too much poo and the normal water change was missed?

Thank you for the reply! There was one dead fish when I got home, however I had someone watching my house who claimed they didn’t notice any dead fish in the tank 2 days prior to me arriving back home. So if that is true the dead fish would have only been in my tank for a max of 24 hours, probably less. Due to being on vacation for nearly 2 weeks though, I did miss 2 partial water changes that would have been completed if I were home. I just now tested my Nitrate levels and they’re reading around 40 with the API drop test kit. Since I already completed a 50% water change today, I will wait until tomorrow and do another 30% water change around the same time as today.

 

Thank you for the reply! There was one dead fish when I got home, however I had someone watching my house who claimed they didn’t notice any dead fish in the tank 2 days prior to me arriving back home. So if that is true the dead fish would have only been in my tank for a max of 24 hours, probably less. Due to being on vacation for nearly 2 weeks though, I did miss 2 partial water changes that would have been completed if I were home. I just now tested my Nitrate levels and they’re reading around 40 with the API drop test kit. Since I already completed a 50% water change today, I will wait until tomorrow and do another 30% water change around the same time as today.

Decaying fish can definitely cause a mini cycle. It could have been dead for days on the bottom and finally just floated up to the top to see. With schooling fish I have to count daily...lol. Just keep doing water changes to keep the nitrites and nitrates down. Since you already have a filter and substrate full of beneficial bacteria it should hopefully be a quick cycle. You just need to keep levels down so your fish don't end up more stressed.

 

Decaying fish can definitely cause a mini cycle. It could have been dead for days on the bottom and finally just floated up to the top to see. With schooling fish I have to count daily...lol. Just keep doing water changes to keep the nitrites and nitrates down. Since you already have a filter and substrate full of beneficial bacteria it should hopefully be a quick cycle. You just need to keep levels down so your fish don't end up more stressed.

Im almost always double checking the number of fish in my tank, that just wasn’t possible being on vacation of course! I’m not sure if the person I had watching my house knew to look all over the tank and not only at the top, for dead fish. I didn’t even think of telling him to look all over. I will definitely keep up with the water changes. Tomorrow I will do another 30% - 50% water change and see if that gets me closer to where I need to be. Thank you for your time, I appreciate the response!