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Can spawning fish cause an ammonia spike?
Can spawning fish cause an ammonia spike?
It can be highly rewarding when your fish start to have babies or lay eggs. The sight of lots of happy and healthy fish fry populating your aquarium can bring a lot of satisfaction and joy, but it can also have its pitfalls. Some fish, like Bristlenose Pleco, can spawn dozens, even hundreds of fry at a time.
An influx of fry in a fish tank that isn't cycled, or has weak filtration, can cause and increase in ammonia fast and will lead to toxicity problems that can often be fatal. When cycled properly, filters become colonised with vital beneficial bacteria which convert toxic ammonia produced by the fish to relatively harmless nitrate.
A sudden influx of fry will produce more fish waste, and could see ammonia readings spike above 3 really quickly - a reading of 0 is ideal for a happy and healthy aquarium. If your filter fails to bring this down quickly, or the ammonia starts to increase, a partial (even 50%) water change or even a spare quarantine tank for emergencies will help mitigate the effects.
Suddenly adding a large population of fish to your aquarium can cause filters to struggle to process the ammonia effectively, which often leads to rapid fish deaths or mass die-offs in the tank. Adding good bacteria will help to remove some of the ammonia but it will not solve the problem of an immature filter. Regular water changes and water testing will help bring the ammonia down, proper cycling and having a filter that can cope will further solve the issue.
Click here to find out more about cycling a fish tank filter.
For more products that help control ammonia can be found via this link.
Photo credit(s): Shutterstock: Discuss Fry Feeding on Skin Parents (main) /
A shoal of 6 weeks old Krobia (insert).
Related keyword searches: Tackle ammonia in an aquarium, Good bacteria for cycling filters, test kits for aquarium water testing, filters for fish fry.
