Help!

[Lavender]

I have this betta, named Bluey. He had to be moved from his old tank for a new tank I’m setting up. Anyways, I cycled his tank until my plants began growing, nitrates showed up with my test kit, and some algae happened. My filter was precycled from his old tank.
 

However, now my ammonia levels have spiked up to 0.25, so I have a sneaking suspicion it didn’t cycle, or the cycle crashed, and now he’s in a cycling tank…do I leave him in and do a fish-in cycle, or do I get out a big Tupperware and put him in while his tank cycles? I immediately did a 50% water change when the ammonia showed up, but I’m worried. His tank is heavily planted, so that might help. I think it might also be a ammonia spike, which isn’t much better, but at least it doesn’t mean the havoc of a fish-in cycle or putting him in a Tupperware. It’s blackwater, if that matters.

Water parameters

0.25 ppm Ammonia

10 ppm Nitrates

6.4 PH.

0 ppm Nitrites

Edited June 18, 2023 by Lavender

[Lennie]

Hello there, 

If you are using API test kit, a lot of people mention that they read false 0.25. You can find numerous topics both in this forum and online regarding this issue.

if you cycled the tank and using his old filter, I think it should be good to go until something unexpectedly crashed your cycle.

Also you mentioned your ph as 6.4. Basically at that ph it is mostly ammonium rather than ammonia, if the test is not reading false. Basically with a 0.25 ammonium reading in a 6.4ph, you should be fine anyway I think.

This video may help you to understand it:

Try to observe any side effects of ammonia poisoning like gasping on the surface, red gills, etc just in case. But I don’t think there is an actual issue going on. Keep the nitrites in check for a while just to make sure the cycle is not crashed by any means

Edited June 18, 2023 by Lennie

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/17/2023 at 8:08 PM, Lavender said:

However, now my ammonia levels have spiked up to 0.25, so I have a sneaking suspicion it didn’t cycle, or the cycle crashed, and now he’s in a cycling tank…do I leave him in and do a fish-in cycle, or do I get out a big Tupperware and put him in while his tank cycles?

No he's honestly better off in the tank with the plants then anything else.

You would just keep doing daily 50% WCs until you see that ammonia go down.  What is your nitrite?

For ammonia 0.25-0.5 is "of concern" but when you get into 2.0ppm ammonia is when you really freak out about the ammonia source.
For nitrite it's a similar range for ammonia that is of concern.

Normal response to all of these would be to do a 30-50% water change.  If you have it in the very high range, then it's often recommended to do a one time 80-90% water change and try to find the source of ammonia in the tank.

It is also important, go ahead and test your tap water.  Ammonia in the tap means you're probably dealing with chloramine in the water.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Agreed that if the old filter went in, it should be able to handle the load, assuming you’re feeding the same. The filter doesn’t care what tank it’s in, it simply processes the load that has been established. 
 

I would test daily, and any time ammonia got to .5ppm or above I would do a 50% water change. You could also use a dose of Prime to help get through any ammonia that is present. Test daily, water change as necessary, use Prime or Fritz Complete if you have it and want to skip a water change, and you should be back to fully cycled in no time. 

[Lavender]

Well, that makes a lot of sense: he’s swimming around perfectly fine in his new tank, acting like a normal betta. I think I’ll veer on the side of caution and keep a eye on it, but that’s a lot better than a crashed cycle. Thanks, everyone! I’m feeding the same, yeah.

[Mmiller2001]

Triple dose API Quick Start and any potential problem is solved. Otherwise, 50% water changes if you believe ammonia is spiking.