Crashed Cycle? Need some advice!!

[Hoagii]

History: I set up my tank (30G) in late December. Spiked it with used water from my axolotl, who was in an unfiltered tank getting constant water changes. Moved Fozz in at the end of February. Have had minimal problems with the tank- a small ammonia spike after he poops, but a water change always brought it back down to 0. Test it every week and usually do ~10% water change once a week. Tests always came back as 0.0.

Last week, I was doing my usual maintenance, getting ready to do a water change and tested it. My ammonia was at 1.0ppm!! I panicked. Did about a 20% water change. I've been doing 10% changes every day since.

I test in the morning and it's between 0-0.25ppm. Then in the evening, I test before the water change and it will be a strong 0.25ppm. I don't know what to do! This hasn't happened to be before.

I'm terrified that something will happen to by beloved Fozz. He hasn't shown any signs of stress; he even ate a big worm right before I found out about my high ammonia.

Any advice? How could this have happened? Do I need to do larger daily water changes? What else can I try? Should I remove Fozz? Is 0.25ppm dangerous for an extended period of time?

Please help! Any advice is appreciated.

 

[SammyTheLotus]

Don't panic! I'm sure your little guy will be fine.. 0.25 ppm ammonia can cause problems long term, but for a little while it won't hurt, hopefully we can help you determine the cause of the problem!
What are your other parameters, first of all? Specifically nitrites and nitrates. I had an issue before where my nitrites were so high that it backed up my cycle a bit, my ammonia spiked and I had to do a few large water changes to get everything down.
I'd suggest that to start, do maybe a 40-50% change and see if that lowers your levels at all.
Also, have you done anything recently that would mess up your cycle? Like removing substrate, filter media, etc? Stuff like that has been known to cause some weird fluctuations in cycling.
I tried to cycle my first tank for months before I had success haha, and I had several setbacks along the way so don't worry, you're definitely not alone!
Keep us posted!

 

[SammyTheLotus]

Also forgot to mention if it makes you feel better you can remove Fozz and put him in a large container of conditioned water, you'll need to change this every day until he goes back into his usual tank.
Might be an idea if you're worried about the ammonia bothering him!

 

[Hoagii]

Hi Sammy, thanks for the reply. My tank is a 30G with sand on the bottom. Tonight my parameters were thus:

Ammonia: 0.5ppm
Nitrate: 0-5.0ppm
Nitrite: 0-0.25ppm
Temp:65F
pH: ~6.5 but my strips suck

I did about a 20% water change because that's how much water I had prepared, but I will make up more tonight.

I can't honestly think of anything that may have triggered it. On April 30th Fozz got injured (dislocated a finger) and i guessed that it must have gotten caught in the filter uptake so I moved some plants around to kind of block the intake a little. That's really the only change.

I'm so worried I'm going to pull out some tubs and keep him in them if I can find a place that my cat can't get to. Fozz lived in tubs with constant water changes for a long time before I was able to get this tank established. I'm devastated that We have to do it again. It's stressful for both of us

 

[SammyTheLotus]

Hi Sammy, thanks for the reply. My tank is a 30G with sand on the bottom. Tonight my parameters were thus:

Ammonia: 0.5ppm
Nitrate: 0-5.0ppm
Nitrite: 0-0.25ppm
Temp:65F
pH: ~6.5 but my strips suck

I did about a 20% water change because that's how much water I had prepared, but I will make up more tonight.

I can't honestly think of anything that may have triggered it. On April 30th Fozz got injured (dislocated a finger) and i guessed that it must have gotten caught in the filter uptake so I moved some plants around to kind of block the intake a little. That's really the only change.

I'm so worried I'm going to pull out some tubs and keep him in them if I can find a place that my cat can't get to. Fozz lived in tubs with constant water changes for a long time before I was able to get this tank established. I'm devastated that We have to do it again. It's stressful for both of us

Yeah, I hear you on that! It sounds like your cycle may have crashed, your nitrites should be 0 if it is fully established.
I knew my tank was cycled when it could turn ~2PPM of ammonia into nitrates in a 12 hour period.
I think the safest thing to do for now is to keep Fozz in a tub and just keep monitoring your tank.

 

[Hoagii]

Just got home from work and tested:
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.50
Nitrate: 5.0

I take this as a sign that my cycle is starting to catch up? Since Nitrite and Nitrates are spiking.

Fozz is safely in a tub of fresh water. So I guess the question now is: what next? Should I let my cycle take care of itself and then do a water change once ammonia and nitrites are gone?

 

[SammyTheLotus]

Just got home from work and tested:
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.50
Nitrate: 5.0

I take this as a sign that my cycle is starting to catch up? Since Nitrite and Nitrates are spiking.

Fozz is safely in a tub of fresh water. So I guess the question now is: what next? Should I let my cycle take care of itself and then do a water change once ammonia and nitrites are gone?

That sounds like a good plan to me! Just keep monitoring the parameters.. Eventually once you have enough nitrifying bacteria your ammonia will drop to zero, your nitrites might spike and then eventually drop to zero and your nitrates will be at about a 20.