Ammonia 0.50 Helpppppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone,

My clowns were acting weird again yesterday night, so I decided to test the water again...... Anyhow, they look better this morning... I'm gonna be a pro at that anytime soon!!! lol.... My ammonia is spiking up, nitrites are at 0, and nitrates(compared to last time) are going down... Anyone understands this??? My ammonia is almost at 0.50!!! This can not be good for my fish......What should I do??? i just made a waterchange(approx 25%) last saturday(3 days ago).... Should I do another water change??? Why is my ammonia spiking up meanwhile my Nitrates are going down...?

Water temp: 78 Degrees
Salinity: 1.022- 1.023
Ammonia: 0.50
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates :5 (was previously reading 20 and then 10) now down to 5....
KH: 161.1
Calcium: up the roof still.... 620
Phos: 0

your ammonia is going to fluctuate right now your clowns are the only livestock you have added so it is your tank adjusting when livestock excretes fluid (pees) its is adding ammonia to your tank it will adjust I promise nothing to be worried about.

So it is all normal that my ammonia is spiking up??? My clowns will be ok even tho ammonia was at 0.50 yesterday night...... So it will go back down??? No need to do a water change??? U sure it won't keep on spiking up until it gets real bad..?

It shouldnt unless you had something die in there that was rather large. No you dont need to do a water change it will go back down by itself. just give it time no need to panic I have seen fish live in ALOT worse scenarios.

Hum.. Alright then.... I will just keep on testing it every couple days...

Thanx for the great advices again!!!

One more question, Is it going to do that everytime I add a fish or an invertabrate??? Or is it just cause the tank is fairly new...?

it is just because its new when the bacteria colonies have populated enough it wont spike again unless something bad happens and your welcome anytime.

It will only do that every time you add a new animal if your tank can't handle a new addition. If you stock your tank slowly, it shouldn't happen in the future. Clowns are tough little troopers and they should be okay through this mini-cycle.

Bifferwine, They better be tough little troopers!!!! lol..... One decided to suicide(I guess my tank wasn't good enogh for him). LMAO.... Anyhow, they are hagning in there for now.... The new clown I went to purchase to replace the one hat suicided is amazing. He is smaller then the other one, but seems to be full of energie!

Do I have to feed my clowns with flakes??? They guy at the LFS told me to feed them one day with flakes, and the next with the frozen marine diet.... They seem to like the frozen stuff way better.. Flakes, they just eat it and spit it back out..... And with flakes, i have to make it sink cause they won't go on top to eat it..... Would the Marine frozen diet stuff provide a good enogh nutrition, or should they just starve the day they're supposed to eat flakes..??? Cause they don't seem to eat a lot when it's flakes night! lol...

you dont have to feed the flakes.All my fish get is frozen,but I got about 4 different kinds of frozen that I alternate.
My fish never seemed to like the flakes either.