Ammonia spike...algae die off?

[Goldy]

I have a cycled non-planted tank that has been going since the end of May. Have had no issues with it. 10 gallon---1 betta, 6 danios, 1 RCC. Penguin 170 filter with bio-wheel. Weekly water changes and testing going fine.
Algae was becoming a problem. All I did was move something to block some sunshine from the tank. The algae turned brown, I assume died. Now the past couple of days ammonia levels are up. Could this be from the algae die off? I vaccumed the gravel last night and today, scraped off more algae from the glass, and changed the filter media. Also did another water change, 30%. I have some good sized decor in it, a sculpture of a sunken ship with silk plants on it. It also has algae on it. Should I rinse it too? I'm worried about moving too much around and causing my bacteria to die off.

 

[anonapersona]

yes

Yes, the algae will decay into ammonia, plus the algae consumes ammonia. Water changes are the key. Keep that up. Does your water conditioner treat for ammonia or chloramines? A bit of that will help detox the ammonia if more appears.

But water changes are best.

Now, make sure you are not overfeeding. Rinse the filter lightly in tank water to be sure it flows well. Gravel cleaning is good and bad, good that it removes the waste in the gravel, bad that it disturbs the top level of bacteria that require oxygen to work, mixing them with the lower level bacteria. So, if you gravel vac, try to just do the top 3/4 inch or just do a bit at a time to not disturb that bacteria too much now while things are unsettled.

 

[Goldy]

Thanks anonapersona. I'm definately not overfeeding. I try to be real careful about that. I use a water conditioner for chlorine and chloramines but not ammonia. I think I got most of the dead algae off the bottom. I'll probably test my water twice a day for awhile until things settle down, and do water changes as needed. I'll leave the decor alone then as, hopefully, there is a good supply of bacteria on it.