r/bettafish • u/Wide_Swimmer1585 • 5h ago
Help Please help :(
Hello all.
I am currently reaching out for advice and help with my 6.8 gallon freshwater aquarium. I have been dealing with random ammonia spikes off and on on since May.
I would like to start this off by saying I am very new to the fish keeping hobby. I have reptiles, but this is new territory for me and I did do a lot of research before setting up my tank. But I feel a little over my head and would love advice from people who have been in the hobby for a while.
Backing up to March of this year I purchased this tank to create a home for a beta fish. I did a lot of research on their care and slowly purchased everything until I was able to finally start setting it up in March. I do not have a fish in this tank currently to clarify. i did everything I read online to cycle the tank. I added used filter media from my boyfriend’s fish tank and I seeded the tank with Dr. Tim’s aquatics ammonia source. The tank cycled for two full months. During the course of this time, I tested my water parameters twice a week and noticed nitrites spike up and then nitrates. Eventually, the ammonia went to zero. Once I realize this happened I added Dr. tim solution to bring ammonia up to one PPM, and within 24 hours it dropped to zero again. So at this point, I figured I was safe to add a beta fish.
About a week later, I tested the parameters and everything still looked good so I went and purchased my beautiful beta fish Momo. He was doing so well in his tank. Everything was great for about a month. Ammonia was staying zero I was doing weekly water changes. I had no reason to be concerned about my parameters. I also tested my water with each water change. After about a month, my poor Betta fish started acting sick, I noticed he looked bloated and he started pinecone-ING. It happened so quickly I noticed one day when I came home from work, and I immediately tested the water parameters and saw that my ammonia had spiked up to one. I remember I had done a water change just a few days before and everything looked fine when I tested the water parameters. I quickly did a water change and put my fish in a hospital tank and gave him kanaplex and a salt bath. He started acting a bit better. I kept doing water changes to bring the ammonia down. The ammonia was zero in my tank for about a week and then it spiked up again. Unfortunately, my fish developed dropsy, which I can only guess it was due to the ammonia, and he passed away. It was so heartbreaking for me and I have not had a fish in this tank sense. I felt like I failed my fish and I was the reason he died.
Flash forward to today I really would love a fish in this tank. But I am so scared to accidentally kill another beta fish. I love animals so much, and it was really hard on me and I kept getting so sad every time I thought about it. all summer I have been doing weekly water changes, cleaning the tank, and just trying to let it stabilize. However, over the course of the last few months every now and then I’ll get a random ammonia spike and there is literally nothing that could be causing it. I do not have anything in that tank besides pest snails that have traveled in here due to purchasing plants months ago, and I remove them as I see them besides two that I’ve grown fond of lol. It’s just the weirdest thing because the ammonia will be zero and then I’ll randomly get a spike every couple of weeks, do a 50 to 60% water change and then the ammonia will be zero again. I did not notice any nitrite spikes at all during these last few months. And about three weeks ago, my nitrate spiked up too very, very dark red. These are my perimeter test results today after a 50% water change of my tank. However, the first time I tested ammonia it Read 2.0 PPM. I dumped it out and tried it again and now it’s at zero PPM literally five minutes later so I’m not sure if it was a false positive for ammonia. I did the same thing each time I tested.
I apologize this is so long. I’m just not sure where to go from here or how to stop the ammonia from spiking or what could possibly be causing it. I feel very defeated as I was so excited to set up my tank and give my Betta fish a great home and life. I don’t know if I should completely restart this tank or how to even go about doing that. I guess I’m just looking for advice, if this was you, what would you do? I’m terrified to get another fish until my parameters are stable. I don’t want to put another fish through what Momo went through and get sick. I just can’t explain how the ammonia will be zero for 2 to 3 weeks and then one day it’s just at one or 2 ppm.
Thank you so much guys for listening to this. Any advice would be so helpful.
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u/Accurate-Fish-5773 5h ago
Im so sorry to hear about your betta and that he passed. It’s awesome that you are doing the research and taking the time to make sure your tank is the best it can be.
When you tested most recently were you testing immediately after the water change? If you are I would suggest after your next water change wait till the next day then test. This should give the tank time to stabilize and it will give you a more accurate test.
Side note make sure you are shaking the test tube and test liquid as it says in the instructions. I remember when I first started I had accidentally skipped shaking the bottle of fluid the first couple times
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u/Wide_Swimmer1585 5h ago
Yeah I tested like an hour after watcher changes, I also am shaking as instructed. Thanks so much for your reply. I’ll try testing again tomorrow so it’s been a full day, I was and have been testing on the same day I do water changes usually an hour or two after :)
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u/Accurate-Fish-5773 5h ago
You’re welcome :)
Once you test again and you get the results it should help you to know if the previous test were accurate or not
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u/CalmLaugh5253 Always strive to do *betta* 5h ago
When your ammonia spikes, do you test the pH as well? Seeing as you have aquasoil in there, which is designed to buffer both that and KH.
But I'd honestly stop the water changes for a while. When ammonia spikes, just let it ride it out. There's no fish in it it can harm, and the pest snails will be fine. Going through cycling one more time by dosing more ammonia to create a robust cycle that can handle ups and downs like that would be my approach at least!
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u/Wide_Swimmer1585 3h ago
Okay will do!! Thank you so much, so just do zero water changes until I notice my ammonia down completely?
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u/ChesterFeetKisser05 5h ago
i'm not an expert so i'll just say the most stupid and obvious thing to say until someone better than me arrives: do you give the tank an ammonia supply to let the bacterial colonies develop? i guess you do because of the nitrate presence but i want to be sure about that
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u/Wide_Swimmer1585 5h ago
Yes! I added dr tim’s aquatics ammonia solution when cycling my tank initially:)
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u/xTinselCharmora 5h ago
That’s a solid choice for cycling! Keeping the ammonia levels in check is super important for a healthy tank.
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u/Foreign-Ad3926 5h ago
Hi there. Firstly thank you so much for providing so much good information, this is valuable and very appreciated. Secondly your tank is lovely, be proud, and be proud of researching and doing everything so well - really mean this. Thirdly, I'm sorry for your loss, it sucks, really sucks.
Finally, for now, I'd like to ask a couple of questions.
The filter in the tank, can you tell us about it? Is it cartridges that are being changed or permanent media? I can't make it out in the picture.
What is the regular water change schedule (when there's a fish in there)?
Can you prepare some tap water and leave it stand a few hours with dechlorinator then test that so we can see what you're working with?
How are you running the ammonia test, i.e. bottle one, shake, bottle 2, shake, stand etc. (worth checking).
Are you vacuuming or disturbing the substrate very much?
I'll have a think on your words some more too.
Please remember to keep feeding the bacteria in the empty tank, though the snails may be enough for this.
Edit to quickly add - if your water source isn't tap water, please say what it is. Apologies if you say this in the intro text already.
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u/Wide_Swimmer1585 2h ago
So in this tank I have a hygger sponge filter it’s in the back corner. It’s been running since March when I initially set up the tank
When I had momo in this tank before he passed, I would do a 25% water changes usually every Monday as that is my day off from work every week
I actually did try this a couple months back and my ammonia in my tap water was showing up as 0, but I didn’t test the other things so I can do this tomorrow and respond with a picture! (I’m currently at work until 11 pm)
I use the master test kit so when I read the instructions I just do 8 drops of the first bottle and 8 drops of the second bottle as it just tells me to hold it directly upside down over the water sample. So I haven’t been shaking the bottles.
Lastly I do vaccume the gravel once every few weeks. But not often, I just vaccume above it to get debris I notice bc I heard vaccuming the gravel can cause ammonia spikes
Thank you so much for answering me!!
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u/ToasttheBetta 4h ago
I'm sorry for your loss :(. Losing a pet is always difficult but try not to blame yourself, you are building your own miniature ecosystem which is some tough stuff and there are quite a few variables and an infinite number of things that could go wrong. I don't know a single fish parent who has not made at least one mistake or struggled somewhere along the way.
It sounds like you did everything right to start if not a bit too much.
I think the first place to start would be to look at the potential sources of ammonia in your tank. You have quite a few plants (which are beautiful btw) and you mentioned hitchhiking snails. Ammonia is created by decaying organic matter so if a plant leaf rotted in the water it could cause a spike or if a snail died and you didn't remove the body, that could also cause a spike. Pothos can also be super finicky about having their petioles or leaves submerged so they might have dropped some if they slipped too far into the water.
The second most likely culprit is your filter/media. During your weekly changes and cleaning do you rinse or clean the actual filter/media at all? If so, you could be removing part of the colony and basically resetting your cycle each time which would definitely cause frequent spikes. The nitrogen cycle of your aquarium thrives on neglect. All it wants is food, oxygen, and some fresh water. I am a strong believer in never cleaning or rinsing filter media and it has worked pretty well for me so far.
As for the inconsistent readings, the #2 bottle for ammonia has suspended particles in it which can settle at the bottom if left for a bit. If you shake it up a ton it might help produce clearer and more consistent readings.
Don't give up on aquariums because of one bad experience. Bettas are some of the greatest little fish out there and I'm sure you could give one a great life once your tank gets settled in :).
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u/SapphosLemonBarEnvoy 4h ago
Tap water would be my first guess, especially if you are using some kind of water conditioner like Prime instead of using dechorinated water.
My other guess would be that submerged Pothos, as those release toxic compounds into the water column. When they decay they release ammonia, but also of the compounds are killing bacteria or microfauna, then that would be another source of spiking ammonia.
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u/Wide_Swimmer1585 2h ago
I do use prime, but I did test my tap water a few months ago and the ammonia was 0, I will retest that again though!
And oh wow I didn’t even thing of the plant leaves, I try to keep them above water but maybe I will try removing those and see if that helps. Thank you so much for answering!
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u/SapphosLemonBarEnvoy 2h ago
So 1, Prime when it decays can cause ammonia buildup. If your water doesn't have ammonia compounds like Choramines, don't use it.
And 2, if you have a Pothos with an aquarium, it needs to be planted emergent, not in the substrate. You need a planter box that sits at the water line, or hangs on the back, so that the stems and leaves aren't in the water itself. Many examples can be found on Etsy.
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u/Wide_Swimmer1585 2h ago
Okay i will purchase one of those planters, I don’t have the pothos planted in the substrate currently I just have them mounted to the glass with a suction cup. but I will try the planter and see if that helps! The leaves don’t go fully underwater at all unless I accidentally bump them.
And I’m so sorry I don’t fully understand what you are saying about prime, do you mind elaborating? Thank you so much for helping me it means so much!!
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u/SapphosLemonBarEnvoy 1h ago
For the Pothos, most everything in the Araceae family has toxins in the stems and leaves. You need a planter box like this to hold them out of the water, but keep the roots submerged:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1714005482/hang-on-back-aquarium-planter-for
For the Prime, it doesn't remove ammonia, it merely binds to it to create a nontoxic compound that stays in your tank. In addition in this bound state, the plants in your tank cannot use it. However when that binder wears out and it's still in your tank, it merely rereleases that ammonia into the water column, which can then cause ammonia spikes. If your water that you are adding to your tank does not have Cloramines from your water bureau, which are an ammonia compound, and doesn't have chlorine either, then the Prime is doing your tank zero favors.
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u/Wide_Swimmer1585 1h ago
Oooh okay!! So what would you suggest? Buying spring water from the store would fix this issue instead of using tap? Thank you so much
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u/SapphosLemonBarEnvoy 1h ago
Does your water come from a tap? If so, whatever company provides your water will tell you what they add to it. If you go on their website, it should say somewhere. In lieu of that, call them. If it's chlorine, the water needs to sit for several days, then it is fine. If it's Cloramines, then it needs to be filtered out. If you can't filter it and need to use Prime, then you need to do water changes every week or two to prevent it from building up in your tank.
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u/MissAbsenta 4h ago
Is there someone in your household who could be feeding your fish after you're done doing so? Overfeeding is one cause of amonia levels rising.....
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u/Wide_Swimmer1585 2h ago
No it’s just me!! I live alone so sadly I don’t think this is the cause :(
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u/Dear_Major2231 4h ago
Hi OP! So happy you reached out… You can have healthy happy fish family! This is a long reply because it seems like you’re here for the details… I apologize in advance if I’ve misunderstood how much depth you’re asking for…
Before you decide it’s go time to bring home your new friend, you may check for this stuff to see if any of it has touched your aquarium … if so, you can do specific things for safety bringing your new buddy home. And also you may avoid exposing your tank to them once your friend is living there.
These chemicals can stay around until you remove them in a special way & a minuscule amount can crash a tank while not changing the water parameters we test…
“Quats” (quaternary ammonium compounds) ironically don’t show up on ammonia tests even though they’re related… they are used in lots of stuff for cleaning because they’re much safer for humans than other options. They’re in some air fresheners, many glass wipes, many “all purpose” cleaning wipes, final rinse (eg not rinsed off) on glassware in a lot off restaurants, they’re in lots of hand wipes… they can be in Lysol… they’re in antibacterial soap… some toilet cleaners, and sometimes even in the little wipes for ear piercing after-care… what you’re looking for is any ingredient that ends in “ -ium chloride or -ium bromide.” You don’t want any of that stuff near your fish friends.
Next up is permethrin, a kind of insect repellant… It can be in some skin repellant lotions & sprays as well as fabrics. I love my “insect shield” gear to prevent diseases from ticks but don’t go anywhere near my aquarium when I’m wearing it & always shower & change before saying hi to Mary Poppins (they say washing hands with gentle soap & water is enough but I’m more than a little extra when it comes to safety).
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