Ammonia Spike/Dead Fish

[Newtonbetta]

I moved my fish to a new town and new water source. One of them was at least 2 years old and the other is a lot younger.

I emptied the water out in my move, but left the gravel with a little of the old water in there. I had a biological filter, etc and replaced none of the media after the move. It's a 10 gallon tank, divided, heated, filtered and one fish on each side.

I noticed one day after the move the older fish's gills were labored. The younger fish looked unaffected. I did an ammonia test - 3.0!!!!! I have done full water changes before and never had this problem. I bought some Kardon Ammonia Reducer yesterday and treated the tank. When I woke up, the older fish was dead.

Does water changes like this cause ammonia spikes? What can I do to bring it down?

[MSG]

Not sure how long your move took but you should have kept at least a couple gallons of the tank water and kept the filter media in another sealed container to keep the bacteria alive.

Now with your spike, you're going to have to do a series of tests on your....

• water from your tap
• water from your 10 gallon tank
• water changes would help lower the ammonia, but for now run tests & move the betta.

You may want to keep your betta in a small 1 gallon container with clean conditioned water while you run these tests.

It also wouldn't hurt to post the results here so other people can give you better suggestions.

[Olympia]

Just a speculation, if you allowed the filter or substrate to dry out, this would kill the bacteria.
I'm skeptical that two bettas would bring ammonia up that high in such short time. But, check the tap and test for ammonia.

[LizzyP]

Just a quick question...If the filter wasn't in water, won't it kill all the BB? Then when you turn it back on, won't it just shoot out ammonia? I thought I read that somewhere, but I could be wrong.

[Perseusmom]

I bet it was a combination of things that killed your fish which I am so sorry to hear, first the move is stressful if it was a long trip, new water to adjust to and then the ammonia problem. What type of water conditioner were you using ? Most detoxifies the ammonia for 48 hours I know Prime does at least. Do you know the ph of the water they were in before the move and the ph of the new water ?

Again I am very sorry you lost the one fish and hopes the younger one will be okay.

[Olympia]

Originally Posted by LizzyP

Just a quick question...If the filter wasn't in water, won't it kill all the BB? Then when you turn it back on, won't it just shoot out ammonia? I thought I read that somewhere, but I could be wrong.

It could, but I am not sure how significant the spike would have been from dead bacteria.

[Newtonbetta]

I appreciate everyone's responses so far. I just did a test of the fresh tap water itself. Below are the results. The other fish is still acting normally and eating.


Ammonia: Between .25 and .5
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
hardness 50
alkalinity 50
ph 7.6

The only difference I note (other than the ammonia) from my old town's water is that my ph at the other source was in the low 6's.

Perseusmom: I have been using API stress coat conditioner - and I used it the day i added the water.

[BettaQi]

It might just be stress.

I had a much younger fish die after he was shipped to me -- all animals can be very sensitive, and even when we do our best they can be overwhelmed.