Advice needed re nitrite/ammonia spikes

Need some advice please. Strange nitrite and Ammonia spikes in my 115 l (30g) community tank that has been running for 3 yrs.
I cleaned out filter on Wednesday as last resort to get nitrates down. Been struggling for weeks to get it below 40 and have exhausted all other possible explanations. Lightly rinsed electric filter sponge in tank water, no wringing or twisting,and changed the cotton wool layer in one of my biological filters as it had been in for about 8 months ( I have two in the tank). Silly mistake, I know. Probably removed too much BB at once and sent my tank into a mini cycle. Since then have ammonia and nitrite spikes. Dosed with prime and got it under control again. ( ammonia 2, nitrites 1, Nitrate 20)
What I cant understand however, is the water parameters were much better last night ( amonia . 25, nitrites 0, Nitrate 10). Decided to do a 25% pwc and again dosed with prime (approx 1.5 caps). For some reason, this set off a new nitrite/Ammonia spike.
Water parameters currently ammonia 1.0, Nitrite 0.5
What on earth is happening and any suggestions how to fix? Water I am using has no nitrite or ammonia and nitrite 10/20
Please help before I kill my poor fish!

 

Hi Bliss .. was ti this tanks https://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/threads/hello-finally.29376/#post-371124 ?

Does not look like you have loads of plants in it ... so - unless you have something dying in the tank then I would say you filter is starting up again. If this is the case the adding some thing like the scape's bac-up or other bacterial starter might help you. I hope the struggles before the cleaning was no related to the messy eaters and that you filtration is actually battling to say on top of things. What do you feed your fish - esp Mr P?

Later Ferdie

 

Hi Ferdie,

Thank you for your reply and advice, much appreciated.

That is the tank, yes. I think the problems before cleaning was mostly related to the filters not being cleaned for a very long time and the water I was using. My tap water had always had great parameters until they fixed a burst pipe down the road, then suddenly it had nitrites, ammonia and very high nitrates (80ppm).

I feed my fish the usual flakes mostly with a bit of shrimp brine, blood worms and tubifex once a week/ bi-weekly. For Mr P and my catfish I add a few algae wafers or bottom feeder pellets every 3 days. Once in a while I would treat them with some veggies, always remove uneaten food the next morning and do a pwc after feeding bloodworms or tubifex.
Will be getting some bac up first thing in the morning

 

Ps: I have three filters in my tank ( one electric with sponge and two biological) so confident that filtration was not the problem to start with. Just silly idiot me who should've known better than to change so much of the filter media at once

 

Your fish will probably be ok ... it is hard keeping things going pear when you only rely on filtration - so well planted tanks are a blessing in some ways.

Yeah I have seen this also ... new pipe and the water quality goes south for the winter while things normalized, I wonder if they do not overdose the supply in an area when they are having plumbing issues.

don't stress - small changes, this hobby is supposed to relax you ;-)

Have a safe weekend.

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks Ferdie! You're right, it should be relaxing. I just hate the idea of my fish suffering because of my mistakes.
Just tested again and nitrites 0, amonia .25. Prime is a lifesaver sometimes...
Adding some bac up tomorrow then will leave my tank alone for a day or so to settle.

Wishing you a peaceful weekend

 

1. You can get false ammonia readings using Prime and using certain types of test kits, search the Seachem site under FAQ to get the full explanation. Also Prime detoxifies ammonia it doesn't remove it.