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Thread: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

  1. #1
    Registered Member fishbubbles's Avatar
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    Default Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    I just finished my nightly water changes on all of my discus tanks and within an hour over 60 fry started gasping at the surface and sinking to the bottom dead. I immediately tested all my water parameters and saw that my ammonia levels were around 1 ppm. It didn't really click right away that my tap would be to blame. I did another 90% water change and cleaned the sponge filters and siphoned the bottom again. The fry continued to suffer and I tested the water a second time, still 1 ppm. I then tested my tap water and it is at 1.5 ppm which has never happened before.

    I'm going to be calling my utilities department in the morning and see what is going on with their system. Has anyone seen this before and is there any way to combat it if this ammonia spike continues?
    Last edited by fishbubbles; 10-03-2017 at 09:40 PM.

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    Registered Member Ryan925's Avatar
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    I believe if you are registering ammonia from your tap it is likely due to chloramine. You may need to go your dose of safe or prime (whatever you use) to neutralize the elevated chloramine levls
    Im not illiterate...only my phone's auto correct is

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    Registered Member fishbubbles's Avatar
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    I did a triple dose of prime once I figured it out. I lost around 20 more fry overnight but the rest seem to be fine so far.

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    Registered Member White Worm's Avatar
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    I'm guessing you do your WC from tap. This has been happening a lot to people lately because we never know what the city is going to put in our water. The safest way is to age, treat and aerate your water for 24 hours. I lost about 100 young angels the same way. It happens quick and by the time you catch it, its too late. I still do WC from tap but no more than 50% and double dose my water conditioner for the full tank volume of water. For fry, I use a bucket and treat the water with conditioner before I put it in the tank.

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    Registered Member fishbubbles's Avatar
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    I use about a 50/50 mix of tap and ro water that I store in a 300 gallon container with aeration for 24 hours. Unfortunately ammonia doesn't disappear with aging and aeration. Looks like I'm going to have to start using a heavier dose of prime from now on.

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    Registered Member 100fuegos's Avatar
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    Ammonia didn't kill your fish, chloramines did.

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    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    Quote Originally Posted by fishbubbles View Post
    I just finished my nightly water changes on all of my discus tanks and within an hour over 60 fry started gasping at the surface and sinking to the bottom dead. I immediately tested all my water parameters and saw that my ammonia levels were around 1 ppm. It didn't really click right away that my tap would be to blame. I did another 90% water change and cleaned the sponge filters and siphoned the bottom again. The fry continued to suffer and I tested the water a second time, still 1 ppm. I then tested my tap water and it is at 1.5 ppm which has never happened before.

    I'm going to be calling my utilities department in the morning and see what is going on with their system. Has anyone seen this before and is there any way to combat it if this ammonia spike continues?
    Kevin, I would call. Ammonia at 1ppm will not kill your fry, and if your pH is neutral to acidic they won't even react with stress. I'd be suspect of chloramines in there. Be sure to find out exactly what they treat your water with. Though Prime will neutralize chlorine,ammonia and Chloramines, its important to know which you are dealing with.

    HTH.
    al
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    Registered Member fishbubbles's Avatar
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    Quote Originally Posted by brewmaster15 View Post
    Kevin, I would call. Ammonia at 1ppm will not kill your fry, and if your pH is neutral to acidic they won't even react with stress. I'd be suspect of chloramines in there. Be sure to find out exactly what they treat your water with. Though Prime will neutralize chlorine,ammonia and Chloramines, its important to know which you are dealing with.

    HTH.
    al
    Thanks Al, Like Ryan said above and what I just learned was that chloramine and ammonia are chemically bonded which may be why I read higher than usual ammonia levels if there was a sudden spike of chloramine. The city is doing a flush on all of the fire hydrants in my part of town and I'm betting that they heavily dosed the chloramine during the flush.

  9. #9
    Administrator brewmaster15's Avatar
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    The city is doing a flush on all of the fire hydrants in my part of town and I'm betting that they heavily dosed the chloramine during the flush
    That would not be the first time its happened... they do flush the lines for various reasons from time to time.
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    Default Re: Extreme ammonia levels in city tap water

    Quote Originally Posted by fishbubbles View Post
    Thanks Al, Like Ryan said above and what I just learned was that chloramine and ammonia are chemically bonded which may be why I read higher than usual ammonia levels if there was a sudden spike of chloramine. The city is doing a flush on all of the fire hydrants in my part of town and I'm betting that they heavily dosed the chloramine during the flush.
    The API test kit can't differentiate chloramine from ammonia. The API test kits detects chloramine by reacting ammonia with bleach then using that as a read out. Over dosing prime should/would give a false negative for ammonia.

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