# osmocote root tabs cause ammonia spikes



## nighthawkpearl (Apr 5, 2019)

my 45gal tank freshwater media has been matured for 2 years till I planted too many osmocote root tabs like 45 tabs under the gravel and now it causes ammonia spikes like 1.0ppm. I was doing 90% WC with seachem prime and still at 1.0ppm. How long for ammonia be back to normal?

the tank has"
the tank has:
6 amazon swords
3 anubias nana
1 anubias barteri
1 moses balls
1 java moss
4 java fern
1 Echinodorus 'Hadi Red Pearl'

about 20 tropical community fishes
8 ghost shrimps and 5 cherry shrimps
3 african dwarf frogs

they seems ok, not see any of them suffer.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Welcome to APC! I don't know how long it will last, but keep doing those water changes.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I think that Prime will protect your fish from the ammonia, but an ammonia test will still show the same amount of ammonia. I remember this from discussions about chloramine being made safe by Prime, but ammonia still showing up on an ammonia test. Maybe someone can verify this?


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## mysiak (Jan 17, 2018)

Osmocote usually releases nutrients for about 4-8 weeks in the tank. Higher temperature causes more rapid release. I would add a bunch of fast growing plants in there to remove the excess nutrients (iron and phosphorus might cause issues too). You can throw them out once the nutrients are depleted. Increasing CO2 levels might speed up the removal as well. Look around the tank if some beads haven't moved above the substrate, these would cause this kind of spike for sure and should be always removed (even if it's PITA). Depending on the filter used, beneficial bacteria will probably catch up with the excess ammonia sooner or later, though won't affect other nutrients.

I was reading the same behavior of Prime as hoppycalif mentions, it will detoxify ammonia for 1-2 days, but tests will read the same value with or without the Prime. It is a good first aid, but I would be concerned using it daily for several weeks. As far as I recall it is not recommended during a tank "cycling", so it might have negative impact on the existing beneficial bacteria with long term usage. 

When I was experimenting with Osmocote tabs, I dosed it per plants - 2-3 tabs for big Echinodorus and 1 tab for smaller ones. 45 tabs sounds way too much, particularly as you have mainly "slow growers" in there, but you probably already know this.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I've used these in the past but always cut them into quarters or smaller.


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