Possible ammonia spike. Update lost 1 fish. Advice needed.

[pleconut]

Hi I put a topic on earlier today as I may have had an ammonia spike in last few days water parameters where ammonia 0 nitrate 10 nitrate higher than usual at 5 always maintained at ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 10 the action i took straight away was a water change 25% an equipment inspection filter pads were rinsed no other media required cleaning it's a 4ft tank with a few tetras oto's i added some more L397s a few weeks ago taking it to a group of 8 . Temperature of the tank is maintained at 81-82 faranheit. Debris cleaned out /10% water change daily When i turned the lights on this morning the L397s appeared generally stressed 2 were fighting over a cave when they know who's cave is who's (there is plenty of caves) one had typical pleco stress colouration their appetite has been slightly reduced for a couple of days) i left the lights off today to reduce stress. There's been a significant snail problem in the a tank i've added aeration and an extra internal filter to counteract while inspecting filters i also cleared them out of snails I've been setting another 4ft tank up for the plecos and intend to srip down the one theyre in and start again new tank is fully cycled but i was wanting to mature it a bit longer before moving them. My concern is it possible the levels of snails are becoming detrimental. I've repeated all the info from my topic posted this morning but in addition I've now discovered one of them has died although the others are more settled stress marking reduced eating and creating plenty of waste. The one that died had damaged his pectoral fin i suspect in transit when I got him so I'd been keeping the tank as clean as i could because of this and no signs of infection. Could the snail population be a risk to the plecos is it better to move them than to leave them even when considering the additional stress the move may create. Thanks in advance

[JamesFish]

Best advice is not to move the fish as if they have something wrong they may introduce the issue to another tank.

If you are concerned your filter is not working correctly or has lost its bacteria introduce a mature 2nd one to help it out while it rebuilds its bacteria. That should help you deal with any spike. You can steal media from another one but be sure not to put the media from the tank with a problem into any other tanks.

If in doubt change the water.

[JamesFish]

TBH snails are usually unsightly but not a major cause of concern and I've captured a take away tub in a week from a 2ft so yes if its MTS they are a pain to control but it can be done and virtually eradicated in some of my tanks.

I use bumble bee snails and a snail trap to control them. It takes a while but works.

[bekateen]

Hi Teresa, Sorry to hear about your pleco dying. I hope the worst is over.

I'm curious about why you're sure it's an ammonia spike and not something else, especially since this dead fish was one of your new arrivals.

Also, you have the ability to delete your own old post if you want: When you view your own post, you'll see four icons to the upper right of the post. They are Edit (a pencil icon), Delete (an X icon), Quote ( " icon), and Report ( ! icon). I don't know their order without looking, so you'll just have to check them out. Anyway, you can use the delete icon to remove your own post.

Since I'm not convinced it's an ammonia spike (although it could be), I'm not sure what to recommend to you. Hopefully someone else has some good advice.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

Have done a water change no concern over filters, mature no loss of bacteria. My bigger concern is of the impact the overpopulated snails may be having on system. (possible cause of ammonia spike?) Plecos would be moved into a set up just for them alone, or is it better to leave until stress levels in plecos fall? The new group added a few weeks ago all were well settling in eating well even the one with damaged fin seemed ok otherwise.

[bekateen]

With my Panaqolus maccus, they get mostly wood to eat, with just the occasional sweet potato or algae wafer added as a supplement. The poop they make is so nutrient poor that the snails in my tank barely survive as a population - I see a few snails but they just aren't getting enough food to explode as a group. Could you be overfeeding your tank?

[pleconut]

They do get courgette but a lot less so now as I was advised by Rob Rensen here who knows his stuff in regards to panaques/panaquolus it's not the best for them as main diet is wood plenty in tank and ultimately want to enourage they eat this the females are better at eating wood but males won't leave the caves at least when i'm around(hence my answer wooden caves!) so ive cut right back on courgette and now add sweet potato some eat it some won't reason for not yet completely abandoning courgette so veg 3 times a week obviously trying to cut back even more on veg to help control snail population and replace with repashy morning wood limited again as snails eat it i mixed with a bit of soilent green this week that plecos dont eat they ate the morning wood without the soilent green so will cut out soilent green i put in a very small cube each of repashy food during a lights out period in the daytime then left for them to graze on I put in 1 new era pleco pellet cut in small pieces or 2 sticks of new era rift lake green each at night and remove any uneaten food and waste the next morning normally no uneaten food remains but last couple of days there has been uneaten food. You're probably aware eating wise has been a really tricky area when they had an abnormally long time of not eating then some Iosses though I don't think these were feeding related i do get a bit hung up on the feeding and the fact they seem quite fussy. Attempting what is considered a weaning procees with my ultimate goal being they eat primarily wood but supplemented rather than seemingly the other way round.