Ammonia spike in cycled tank

[allendehl]

My tank cycle was over about a week ago. Ammonia and nitrites went to 0.
My fish are still in qt so my tank only has CC, a peppermint shrimp and an emerald crab.
I measured ammonia and nitrates today and got readings of
Ammonia: 0.50 ppm
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20 ppm

What could be the cause of the presence of ammonia and why the bacteria is nor processing it into nitrites and so on?

Thanks!



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[Rover88]

Could be you overfed, something died and decomposed, or the cycle wasn't as complete as you thought.

The cycle is a game of constant 'catch up' between the bacteria and your bio-load. If something changed, you will get a mini-cycle. It should balance out in a day or so. Just measure again and stay on top of it, if it gets very bad you might want to do a partial water change.

 

[mcgyvr]

Or a false reading..
Ignore it IMO..

Post cycle I never test for ammonia.. Nor nitrites..

 

[allendehl]

Yeah, I wasn't going to check it but as I am getting close to put fish in I wanted to make sure everything was ok with the tank.
I still need to do one more WC to lower nitrates a bit and will check ammonia and nitrites one more time to confirm my bacteria are not slacking.
Now, should I ghost feed a bit to keep the CUC, shrimp and crab happy? My shrimp was supposed to tale care of a couple of Aptasia but I gave up after a week so I think I should feed him something

 

[mcgyvr]

Now, should I ghost feed a bit to keep the CUC, shrimp and crab happy? My shrimp was supposed to tale care of a couple of Aptasia but I gave up after a week so I think I should feed him something

No.. You need to have patience with those shrimp (1 week.. come on ) and with your TBS rock there is no need to feed anything for the CUC.. There is plenty I'm sure..

 

[MrsReefK]

Definitely need patience with the shrimp. The more you feed them, the less aiptasia they'll eat.

I had a pretty bad aiptasia infestation. I'm at about 5 weeks since adding the pepps and definitely have seen an improvement, even on the large aiptasia!


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[allendehl]

No.. You need to have patience with those shrimp (1 week.. come on ) and with your TBS rock there is no need to feed anything for the CUC.. There is plenty I'm sure..

A week to clean up some aptasia??? I should probably get him a wife...

I keep moving the rock with the aptasia around to the front of whatever cave he chooses to spend the night on but he continues to ignore it. I am getting ready to boil it (the aptasia) before it spreads around.

The TBS rock is super rich and I have a huge hitchhiker hermit crab that is doing a terrific job on it. The other members of the CUC are too busy strolling the sand and dry rock and trying to escape from the tank, not always on the live one.

 

[mcgyvr]

A week to clean up some aptasia???

What I meant was that it can take some time for the shrimp to decide to go after aiptasia.. Its not their "favorite" food so you must have patience..
It took about a month in my previous tank for the shrimp to do their thing then one day I woke up and said.. "Oh crap.. where did the aiptasia go"

 

[sde1500]

I am getting ready to boil it (the aptasia) before it spreads around.

Super great way to get yourself killed, quite literally. If you mean boil the rock of course.

Shrimp are hit or miss. Moving a rock around harassing the shrimp to eat it will not work. Let them do their thing. Or they won't. There is no guarantee.

 

[allendehl]

Super great way to get yourself killed, quite literally. If you mean boil the rock of course.

No, I meant blasting the aptasia with boiling water in a syringe lol.

 

[allendehl]

What I meant was that it can take some time for the shrimp to decide to go after aiptasia.. Its not their "favorite" food so you must have patience..
It took about a month in my previous tank for the shrimp to do their thing then one day I woke up and said.. "Oh crap.. where did the aiptasia go"

Got it, hope he won't starve to death before going at it.

Thanks!