Ammonia spike in fry tank :(

[Kelly0727]

So since this was around the time that I lost my last spawn I was paranoid and tested my water.. the PH and Ammonia spiked! Ph some how ended up being 8.2 and ammonia somehow ended up being 2.0

Is there any way I can fix this without harming the fry? They arent even free swimming yet! Just hatched at 12:15am :/

[Oldfishlady]

What kind of test product are you using, how old is it and what are all the readings...ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH of both the tank and source water.
What is the source water

How big is the spawning tank, substrate, water level, live plants, how long setup before you added the breeders, how long before they spawned, any water changes made during this time, type of additives used, any tannins used, any snails in the tank. Can you post a pic....

[Kelly0727]

It' the master test kit, liquid not strips and its maybe a year or two old.

Fry's tank:
ph: 8.2
Ammonia: 2.0ppm
Nitrite: 0.25ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

Tap water: (coming right out from the sink)
Ph:8.0
Ammonia:0-0.25ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate:0ppm


I get the water right out of the sink.. but I let it sit in a bucket for a week first. I was testing the ph levels until it said the same thing 3 days in a row.. it was at 7.6 for three days.. and I added it into the tank. No live plants but a heater at 82-84 and a long bubble wand barely blowing out at all but enough to keep the top of the water clean. I only had one plant in there to stop the water movement towards the bubble nest area.

Getting a close up of the tank it does have something on the bottom of it but I have no clue as to what it is.. I haven't put any food in there at all but its all over the tank except for right under the foam cup. I will try to get a picture.

[Oldfishlady]

What kind of additives...how long has the tank been setup, how long the breeders in the tank...etc....tank size...etc.....any substrate.....tannins...etc.....More details and answers to the questions the better we can help figure out the cause and what the best next step will be......until then.......

Ammonia 2ppm normally will kill fry and if the fry are not dead-it might be a false reading...lets hope that is what it is...How are the fry and male acting-Is the male still in the tank....

Do you have access to any live plants-if so, add them and make a water change-try to vacuum if you can and use the drip or gravity method to replace the like temp dechlorinated water on the far end of the tank so not to disturb the nest.

[Kelly0727]

The tank has only been set up for 2-3 days now. It's a 10 gallon tank that I filled maybe 5-6 inches high? Nothing special was added for this spawn because my last spawn I ended up with a lot of gunk on the bottom of the tank after using IAL leaves..

I will add water wisteria right now and do a water change along with trying to get as much off the bottom as possible. He never really made a nest though but the fry are alive, or at least some of them are, he could have eaten any that passed since I only see a couple falling now where as there was at least 10 falling before (it was a small spawn to begin with)

The male is acting completely normal, the fry I am assuming is normal.. They will occasionally fall and daddy spits them back up. They do look dead when they hit the ground because they don't move but I'm assuming that is normal behavior... especially since they aren't even a day old yet.

[Oldfishlady]

Sounds like normal behavior-they also will attach themselves to the side of the tank walls.

I wouldn't worry about the dirt caused by the IALeaves-usually that is fine and can even help create microorganism for the fry to eat.

I wouldn't worry about your pH either at this point since that might be normal degassing....Its a gradual change.

I wouldn't change more than 25% at a time-but you can do that 2-3 times a day if needed. When you add the like temp dechlorinated tannin stained water-add 10% more than you removed on a daily basis by gravity over 20-30min.

[Kelly0727]

I only thought maybe the dirt from the IAL could have done harm because it was the only thing off in the spawning tank last time when I lost my spawn. Guess I still dont really know what caused that..

Anyway I did a 5-10% water change just to get the bottom cleaned off a bit. I really do hope the ammonia reading was false but I will probably test it again tomorrow to see just in case, or at least see if its at least lower.. (and hopefully gone!) Thank you so much for the help OFL I really appreciate it.