Help! My Ammo's back!

[Kissyboots]

6.6g
Finfin the betta
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
pH: 7.6
AMMONIA: .25!!!

It's back!
I just put in the biospira a couple weeks ago. And now the ammo's back. What do I do? I cleaned the tank on Sat., forgot to test so I tested today. Could it be the new gravel and fake plants? I originally had the ugly castle thing and two fake plants. They had biospira on them. Now only the castle is left in there. What happened? Help! (Oh and I'm dosing with coppersafe cuz I think Finfin has ich! Could that be it?)

 

[emmanuelchavez]

If you took something out, then you lowered the amount of nitrifying bacteria in your tank, so it's trying to catch up. It'll lower itself back down, don't worry about it too much. Just monitor the levels.

 

[punkrockfish]

just keep an eye on it, and do a water change if needed.

 

[nrstype]

I'm thirding all the responses to your question... let the tank progress, water change if the ammonia increases.

 

[Lotus]

As other said, removing the gravel/decorations caused the problem. The bacteria live on the hard surfaces, in addition to the filter media. Changing out those things in a new tank can cause an ammonia spike.