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  1. #1

    Amonia spike bluh bluh bluh

    Hey my fellow fish keepers sorry if this is one that comes up all the time but I have my own questions on it so thought I’d post away!

    So I had a new pond last year and had amonia spike and nitrite spikes this was my fault to much feeding and not matured filters.

    It took around a month for them to stable out and go to zero. I slowly realised my feeding wasn’t consistent and I was over feeding and was more worried about the fish going without food than the water quality.

    Anyway this year I redone the pond and made it bigger etc and brought over the filters from the old pond which are fully matured. Didnt bring over any of the old pond water as I put the water through a water meter to clock the volume of water so I knew what it went.

    So first month everything was fine feeding around 2-3 times a day. Doing weekly checks then realised my amonia had creeped up. So I stopped the feeding to like a tiny handful a week so the filters can catch up.

    So I have seen the amonia on two occasions drop very close to the zero (yellow color) but then pop back up (green) again so I’m kind of suprised as I thought once it gone down it would stay down as I have been feeding the littlest of amounts and totally missing days of feeding aswel probably feeding two days a week and really small amounts of food.

    Last year the nitrites slowly came down over a month. This year new pond nitrites are zero every time I checked but amonia seems to be jumping up and down within the space of two weeks ? Is this normal ? Only my 2nd year keeping pondfish so still fairly new for me. Thanks Amonia spike bluh bluh bluh


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  2. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Mikeh83's Avatar
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    What capacity is the new pond, how many fish and what is your filtration? Has anything else changed since the new pond? New fish added?

    I am now about 14 months in to koi keeping and I have not had any issues this year with my water and I am feeding around 6 times a day.

    I would assume you are aware that although you moved the filters over the pond itself will also need time to mature.

    Have you seen a nitrite spike yet?
    How is the nitrate levels?

    I assume as this is your second season you are aware of the nitrogen cycle process.

    Fishless cycling

    Sorry I’m not much help in explaining why you are having the spikes but you are doing the right thing with reducing the feeding, dilution via water change and reduce/stop feeding in the spikes

    Hope it stables for you soon.


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  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Mikeh83 View Post
    What capacity is the new pond, how many fish and what is your filtration? Has anything else changed since the new pond? New fish added?

    I am now about 14 months in to koi keeping and I have not had any issues this year with my water and I am feeding around 6 times a day.

    I would assume you are aware that although you moved the filters over the pond itself will also need time to mature.

    Have you seen a nitrite spike yet?
    How is the nitrate levels?

    I assume as this is your second season you are aware of the nitrogen cycle process.

    Fishless cycling

    Sorry I’m not much help in explaining why you are having the spikes but you are doing the right thing with reducing the feeding, dilution via water change and reduce/stop feeding in the spikes

    Hope it stables for you soon.


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    Hey bud, thanks for the response.
    My ponds just over 1000gallons and I have around 7 koi and a few goldfish all small biggest 25cm and the rest are a lot smaller. Filtration is pump fed to uv to sieve to foam to 36litre k1 moving bed then return to pond. I put the filters on the first pond and also done fish-less cycling on them before that so they would be ready for the new pond also. But yeah I am aware of the pond itself having to mature and the nitrogen cycle... that’s why I thought it was odd it was bouncing up and down and not staying steady and slowly lowering.


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  6. #4
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by charco123 View Post
    Hey bud, thanks for the response.
    My ponds just over 1000gallons and I have around 7 koi and a few goldfish all small biggest 25cm and the rest are a lot smaller. Filtration is pump fed to uv to sieve to foam to 36litre k1 moving bed then return to pond. I put the filters on the first pond and also done fish-less cycling on them before that so they would be ready for the new pond also. But yeah I am aware of the pond itself having to mature and the nitrogen cycle... that’s why I thought it was odd it was bouncing up and down and not staying steady and slowly lowering.


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    What you have done is take away the pond
    Maturity. Which could equate to a 1/4 or half. Of your pond bio side of things. It all has to re mature. So in other words you have mild new pond syndrome Chaz.
    Plus if you add a drum. I think it states in the instructions. With draco. It could affect your parameters for a while lol. I think it was RS told me about that lol. So your setup has completely changed from your last pond lol. It shouldn't take that long to come right. With mature media already in the filters. So just feed less and water changes mate. And patience.
    Fred

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  7. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Here it is lol.
    Draco instructions
    I know it says nitrites and nitrates.
    But the cycle all starts with ammonia.
    Lol
    Fred

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  8. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by freddyboy View Post
    What you have done is take away the pond
    Maturity. Which could equate to a 1/4 or half. Of your pond bio side of things. It all has to re mature. So in other words you have mild new pond syndrome Chaz.
    Plus if you add a drum. I think it states in the instructions. With draco. It could affect your parameters for a while lol. I think it was RS told me about that lol. So your setup has completely changed from your last pond lol. It shouldn't take that long to come right. With mature media already in the filters. So just feed less and water changes mate. And patience.
    Fred

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    Cheers Fred mate. I haven’t lost any fish this year except from the jumper so that’s one thing! Definatly helps stopping feeding completly if water is thrown off! Last year I slowered down on feeding and lost fish this year I stopped all together prity much and seems to have done a lot better Amonia spike bluh bluh bluh


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  9. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by charco123 View Post
    Cheers Fred mate. I haven’t lost any fish this year except from the jumper so that’s one thing! Definatly helps stopping feeding completly if water is thrown off! Last year I slowered down on feeding and lost fish this year I stopped all together prity much and seems to have done a lot better Amonia spike bluh bluh bluh


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    thats because your more experienced lol. you know your fish better. and you know what to look for in NPS, and how to act on it.
    nice one
    fred

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  11. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    Basically it down to the weather really hot some days and cool on others.
    The koi have stay hydrated so drink alot more which means they need to wee an awful lot so as a result you tend to get ammonia spikes.
    hope this helps
    Last edited by Sim; 11-07-2020 at 04:34 PM.

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  13. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    Ok perhaps Freddy’s right

  14. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Sim View Post
    Basically it down to the weather really hot some days and cool on others.
    The koi have stay hydrated so drink alot more which means they need to wee an awful lot so as a result you tend to get ammonia spikes.
    hope this helps
    Nice one cheers sim never had it explained like that before but that makes sense il have a little bit further look into this. Cheers mate


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  15. #11
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion anne's Avatar
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    Your not takin the pith are you Sim.................

  16. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Gazkoi's Avatar
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    In my experience, Ammonia will spike occasionally, however it’s Nitrite than can be difficult to shift over at times which for prolonged periods can lead to brown blood disease for the Koi.

    Salt can protect the koi during this phase mate if needed.

    Cheers

    Gaz
    Hobby and business gone but when you’re hooked you’re hooked.

    Always happy to help!!

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  18. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Kyusai Sim's Avatar
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    How me

  19. #14
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion anne's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=Sim;341729]How me ..........Sim you've gone all back to front on me............

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  21. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Gazkoi View Post
    In my experience, Ammonia will spike occasionally, however it’s Nitrite than can be difficult to shift over at times which for prolonged periods can lead to brown blood disease for the Koi.

    Salt can protect the koi during this phase mate if needed.

    Cheers

    Gaz
    Cheers gaz mate Amonia spike bluh bluh bluh


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  23. #16
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Give it a couple more weeks and Ammonia will be the last thing on your mind lol.

    Ammonia can spike up and down a bit at first but will settle relatively quickly.

    Nitrite is the one I found to be a real pig.

    Took me 9 months to get rid of it then once it went I've never had a reading since, whereas even now I still get the occasional Ammonia wobble, especially in spring.

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  25. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by RS2OOO View Post
    Give it a couple more weeks and Ammonia will be the last thing on your mind lol.

    Ammonia can spike up and down a bit at first but will settle relatively quickly.

    Nitrite is the one I found to be a real pig.

    Took me 9 months to get rid of it then once it went I've never had a reading since, whereas even now I still get the occasional Ammonia wobble, especially in spring.

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    Thanks for the response rs. I done a amonia test today and it has creeped up again even though it was nearly at zero on Sunday. It’s seems to be jumping from zero to a 0.25ppm and on the odd time I reckon 0.40ppm which is the time I have been worried. My chart goes from 0.25 then next one is 0.50 so I’m predicting 0.40ppm on the odd occasion as doesn’t seem to be as high at the 0.50 on the chart. But I’m having a zero nitrite reading though. Would it not have creeped up by now you reckon this has been going on for about 2-3 weeks I’d say. I’m feeding such little amounts I’m even getting concerned for the fish not being fed over a long period of time. I’m adding bioballs to the moving bed probably 2-3 a week. Around four handfuls for the week so a decent amount of bio balls. Just a learning lesson this one as I didn’t experience ammonia like this last year i had it show then once under control it never came back this time seems to be in and out throughout the week. Very odd.


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  27. #18
    Thought I would post an update on this, so it’s been almost three months since the new pond was finished. I had mature filters but the pond itself was new. As you can probably see from this post thread within a month of the new pond I started to run into amonia issues.... but I think I am out of the woods on that one now. Been increasing feeding for nearly a week now and had no spike from nitrite or amonia. I’m trying to make the most of the feeding now as the koi have been on rations due to the battle with amonia. I thought It would be worth updating just if someone’s having similar issues. Amonia spike bluh bluh bluh

    IMG_0944.JPG


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  29. #19
    Senior Member Rank = Adult Champion Gazkoi's Avatar
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    Ace mate

    Cheers

    Gaz
    Hobby and business gone but when you’re hooked you’re hooked.

    Always happy to help!!

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  31. #20
    Senior Member Rank = Mature Champion dbs's Avatar
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    Tbats got to be a relief for you, one part of my new pond I am not looking forward too!!

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