I think my otto cats are keeping my ammonia in my ten gallon up

[Shidohari]

no i turned the corys into the petstore to be rehomed because as lady hobs said it was not a full school and would not be best in my tank because they would outgrow it.

There is some plant matter stuck to my intake bottom, will have to check sponge formerly charcoal thingie but i washed it when i did sunday's wc... i have twice vaccumed the gravel fully

[fishmommie]

There is some plant matter stuck to my intake bottom, will have to check sponge formerly charcoal thingie but i washed it when i did sunday's wc... i have twice vaccumed the gravel fully

When you say you 'washed' it what did you wash it in?

[Shidohari]

old tank water naturally when i was syphoning it out

[fishmommie]

Well, you're doing everything right. So I'm not sure what's causing the ammonia to spike. Doesn't seem as thought that little bit of plant matter could be causing the problem.

It could be possible that you're over cleaning your tank - just grasping at straws here - since the betta and 3 ottos and a snail could not be too much of a bio load in the 10 gallon.

Generally once monthly filter media cleaning is adequate - more often than that and you could lose some of the BB in the filter. If you change your filter media too often (I don't change mine unless it's falling apart) you could lose more BB. If you wash/rinse your filter media too aggressively, you risk losing BB. If you clean your actual filter to aggressively and too often you could also risk losing BBl
Vacuuming too often and too heavily -- all of those things could contribute to the loss of your BB and possibly cause a small ammonia spike.

Your water out of the tap might also have some ammonia in it and temporarily cause a little spike. You might check that if you haven't already.

For now, I wouldn't return the ottos. I'd do a few W/C to get the ammonia back under control then let the tank set for a week or so before messing with it again.

see if cutting back on filter maintance and vaccing don't settle things down again. Even though your tank was cycled in November, the cycle is still new and fragile ... I suspect it will settle back down as it matures.

If anyone else has any suggestions ... fire away.

[Lady Hobbs]

I don't believe I said they are a schooling fish but they do like a bit of company of their own. There's nothing wrong with keeping 2 or 3 in a tank but that has to depend on the size of the tank. In a small tank, too many of them and they will soon run out of food to eat.

Something is wrong with your parameters, however. It appears to me that the tank is being set-back for some reason. Are you sure you are using dechlorinator with each water change and not cleaning out the filter too much?

[Shidohari]

Ah...well i know the Nitrates were rising with the cory cats in there that's why followed your advice...

Just pulled a 25 percent WC drain with heavy on the vaccuming, i have found that there was alot of crud still under there...don't ask me how...after two vaccumings and i still have the other 25 percent of water to drain.

Like i said i've seen one of my oto's making a very long string of poop one day after i had come home...

none of my fish have been fed this week yet.

Also, the snail is alive, i put him in Jack's tank so i could watch him better, and he's totally moving around slowly but moving.

[fishmommie]

Are you sure you are using dechlorinator with each water change and not cleaning out the filter too much?

Exactly what I suggested in the post just before yours LH (we must have been typing at the same time) I, too am wondering if she's over cleaning and dislodging her BB and it doesn't have time to recover before she cleans again.

[Shidohari]

I use prime and stability with each water change. i only wash out what used to be that carbon thing once a week if doing multiple water changes in the old tank water.

also jack can't play nice with snaily as i saw him trying to nip at him, so since i've verified he's still alive i put him back in the community tank

[fishmommie]

I use prime and stability with each water change. i only wash out what used to be that carbon thing once a week if doing multiple water changes in the old tank water.

I think we have hit on your problem. You should not be cleaning 'what used to be that carbon thing' once a week. That's your filter media where most of your BB is housed. YOu shouldn't do anything but gently rinse that once a month or so OR if your nitrates rise above 20.

And don't deep vac weekly either. In a 10 gal stocked as lightly as you are stocked you should get by with a deep vac monthly and light vac every other week

So resist the urge to clean the filter ... no matter how brown and ugly it gets. Just leave it be for a month and see if things don't straighten out.

good luck!

[Shidohari]

alright also since i've got you two here...i know i have leftover plant rot in the bottom of the finished fishless cycle tank, (that's been changed to fake plants too) i've been leaving it in there because it's a stable .5 ammo reading and i'm using it to feed the bacteria until i am able to get some fish this weekend when i get paid...:: hoping for the ember tetras assassin snail and nerite snail i wanted, though one of my LFS may get cherry shrimps in tomorrow too). Am i doing the right thing? I figure at a constant .5 reading i shouldn't have to worry about adding ammo.

I have nudged the temp up on the living room ten gallon tank to get the BB growing back faster, may have to nudge it down again if it gets too warm for the oto cats...Prior to WC it was 77.8 i think.

Anything else i should do?