# Ammonia spike from Osmocote.



## ebrammer252 (Jun 4, 2015)

Seven days ago I did a little rescaping on my 10 gallon, at the same time I pushed 4 DIY Osmocote tabs into the substrate. All had been fine until this evening I noticed my Amanos were darting around the tank wildly, I did a test and my ammonia was pretty high as was the nitrates. I did a quick 70-80% water change and everyone has seemingly calmed down. 

I figure it has to be the Osmocote as I had a similar problem when I first set the tank to and had no inhabitants yet. I determined the problem was I only had about a half an inch of substrate and the fertilizer leached into the water column, I had to tear it down and redo it with approx. 1.5" of substrate. I added Osmocote then and everything went well, but apparently I didn't get these deep enough this time or something? 

What can I do here? Aside from checking the water and doing changes frequently until it subsides? Do I need to move the inhabitants and rip the whole tank apart? Should I be using deeper substrate? Does anyone else have this issue with Osmocote?


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## Mango (Dec 12, 2015)

You need deeper substrate.

Redo the tank if you can't remove all the osmocote.


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## SwissCheeseHead (Dec 24, 2014)

It's not your osmocote. There's nothing in it that would cause an ammonia spike. What else is in your tank? How old is it? Did you do a baseline test of your tap water? You can get away with 1/2 inch of substrate, though it's not ideal for plants that are root feeders, as they can't develope strong root systems.


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## ebrammer252 (Jun 4, 2015)

The tank has been running for almost a year now. 7 Pygmy cories, 2 Nerites, 4 Amanos and a plethora of RCS. 

Respectfully however I disagree, it has to be the Osmocote. When I had the first issue way back when I actually did a small test with Osmocote in water alone, one jar with Osmocote under a small layer of substrate and a control with just water. Osmocote ones had ammonia levels, the one with no substrate was off the charts with ammonia however. 

http://www.plantedtank.net/#/forumsite/20495/topics/888369?page=5


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

SwissCheeseHead said:


> It's not your osmocote. There's nothing in it that would cause an ammonia spike.



http://www.alliedbotanical.com/pdf/Osmocote15912.pdf

For the O+ 15-9-12 formula (N-P-K)
contain 15% Total Nitrogen (N)
7% being Ammoniacal Nitrogen
8% being Nitrate Nitrogen

Popular thread here regarding ammonia from Osmocote
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...rameters/122085-warning-osmocote-peoples.html




To the OP, your substrate is too thin for how far you need to push the O+ down into it. Planted tanks commonly do 3-4" of substrate.

The problem is if the O+ is too high in the substrate (some even rise/make their way above the substrate), it does get more water contact and therefore dissolves faster, releasing ammonia and nutrients faster than wanted.

You can still get away with the thin amount of substrate, you just have to be aware of the aforementioned and so, use less O+ to avoid the high levels of ammonia. 

Or find some other fert that doesn't use ammonia as a Nitrogen source. Do keep in mind though that the increased water contact due to being place higher in the substrate will still lead to the quicker release of nutrients with any root tab you use, and so the tabs will exhaust quicker than they normally would (doubt nutrient toxicity for plants would be reached, but I guess it is a possibility).


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## ebrammer252 (Jun 4, 2015)

WaterLife said:


> SwissCheeseHead said:
> 
> 
> > It's not your osmocote. There's nothing in it that would cause an ammonia spike.
> ...



Looks like I should remove all critters to a bucket with the heater/filter running and add in more substrate? Should that be okay?


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

In my opinion, 4 Osmocote tabs are far less likely an ammonia culprit than the fact that you did a rescape and stirred up the substrate, exposing built-up gunk that is now rapidly decomposing. It's pretty common for this to happen after rescapes.

On an unrelated note, yes, you could do with doubling the substrate depth.


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

You should always follow any significant disturbance with a very big water change. Also agree that you need more substrate to keep the O+ better contained.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Oh yeah, forgot to touch on that (was confusing this with another thread). Disturbing substrates during rescapes, as mentioned, can kick up a bunch of organics and cause some ammonia spikes. 

Does the water look cloudy (bacterial bloom? heterotrophic bacteria converting organics into ammonia)?

What ammonia level readings were you getting? 
I honestly don't know how much (ppm) ammonia is in the O+, so I'm no sure what levels would be released/shown on tests. But depending on the levels you are getting, it does sound like you shouldn't be having too much of an ammonia issue from the 4 O+. Even if you placed 4 O+ in open water in a 10 gallon tank (ok, maybe not, or maybe? I don't know for this one).

Either way, whether the ammonia is from the gunk kicked up by disturbing the substrate, or from the O+, get some water changes going to lower the ammonia levels. Test the level frequently to keep an eye on them and do more water changes as necessary.


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## ebrammer252 (Jun 4, 2015)

But an ammonia spike ten days after rescaping? All I did was pull up plants and replace them in different locations. Furthermore my shrimp are acting funny again today, ammonia must be high again.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

Well, regardless of the reason, benefecial bacteria will compensate for additional ammonia ...at some point. Keep up the water changes, and when they're no longer necessary you can consider adding additional substrate a bit at a time. Use some sort of tube to transfer new substrate directly to the bottom after removing plants from that side, then replant (during a water change would be an ideal time). Do maybe a third of the tank at a time, wait a few days, then do the next third the same way, and repeat.


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## algaewar (Sep 15, 2015)

Same happened to me on my 125 gal. Added around 15 osmocote tabs in the evening and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night or some fish "guardian angel" woke me up to check on the tank, and thankfully he did because there was chaos in the tank. The angels were scraping their fins on the gravel and some were swimming/floating upside down, all the fish seemed like they're dying. I immediately did a 90% water change, removed all the osmocote tabs and everything returned to normal luckily no deaths either. Will never add a product not meant for a aquarium to a aquarium with fauna.


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## quiquik (Dec 13, 2013)

When I do add O+ I usually just add 1 ball of it at a time or maybe 2-3 around a specific plant and around 2.5 inches deep in bdbs substrate. If I do add a 00 capsule the capsule is only filled maybe half way and I put 1 for a area of about 8 inch by 8 inch. Have not had any problems in my 50 gal. with about 32 assorted tetras and corys. Filtration 2 Aquaclear 70's. I also watch how much I move plants around or replant others so as not to disturb the substrate too much, but one should not disturb the substrate in excess whether there is O+ in it or not. Saturdays are when I do my trimming, replanting and maintenance on the tank so this also includes a 50 percent wc. I feel that when I change out that much of the water it also eliminates any contaminates that come from doing my little bit of rescaping.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

I know this Forum is called 'Planted' Tank, but, just for contrast, let's say you didn't have substrate, just floating plants. Then only fish create the ammonia. 'Old Tank Syndrome' is so common in well established tanks, because so much mulm has gathered in the substrate. I think it is a good thing to replace substrate yearly.


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## CharleeFoxtrot (Jan 29, 2004)

So if the osmocote did cause an ammonia spike would Purigen help remove it?


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

CharleeFoxtrot said:


> So if the osmocote did cause an ammonia spike would Purigen help remove it?


Water changes are better than chemicals.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

When I suspect an ammonia spike, I normally keep some of the items for locking up ammonia on the shelf. Currently I like using Ammo-carb but there are others. Ammo-carb has both the ammonia removing and some carbon so I find it handy for times when I might need to remove color, odors, or meds as well as ammonia emergencies. 
Ammo-chips is for straight ammonia removal. Depending on time and ease of water changes, I might go with Ammo-carb combined with water changes. I like that it can be renewed and the cheap price. I don't spend much time changing water to avoid using a one time $7 item that can be reused?


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## CharleeFoxtrot (Jan 29, 2004)

AWolf said:


> Water changes are better than chemicals.


I do understand that, however it may not be possible to do massive water changes-say your RO unit will only do 25 gallons a day, etc. which is why I asked about using Purigen if it was on hand.


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## AWolf (Jun 13, 2014)

CharleeFoxtrot said:


> I do understand that, however it may not be possible to do massive water changes-say your RO unit will only do 25 gallons a day, etc. which is why I asked about using Purigen if it was on hand.


Yea, very true.


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## Mango (Dec 12, 2015)

CharleeFoxtrot said:


> I do understand that, however it may not be possible to do massive water changes-say your RO unit will only do 25 gallons a day, etc. which is why I asked about using Purigen if it was on hand.



Purigen does NOT remove ammonia. It only removes organics before it enters the ammonia>nitrite>nitrate cycle.


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## CharleeFoxtrot (Jan 29, 2004)

Thanks! That's why I asked


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

When the ammonia stops spiking,you might see sudden jumps in nitrites and nitrates too,so be sure to test for those as well as the ammonia.

I've been doing daily 50% w/c to keep ammonia down and suddenly nitrites went to .25 and nitrates to 40 ppm.


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## lookslegit (Feb 14, 2020)

osmocote plus has ammoniacal nitrogen,which made my ammonia go up to 8.0 on an api master kit test,so it will affect the levels if it comes out of the substrate,and even faster the higher your temps are in your tank,ive tested this,i believe it to be a true statement.


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