High Ammonia in a matter of hours?

[acsuth]

Hi,

I am in the middle of another 90% water change as I type this. My API master test kit arrived today, so I tried it out and I had zero nitrites, zero nitrates, a ph of about 6.7 but the ammonia levels were really high. Between 1 and 2 ppm!! I have a seachem hanging ammonia meter and it shows me in the safe range of under .05 ppm I think it is.

I just did a 90% water change last night around 11pm central time.

What could explain my high ammonia levels? I do have a lot of fish in the tank, but they are all babies. I have 8 one inch or less discus fry and 6 angelfish fry the same size, 5 albino cories. I do feed them a lot. But the day before yesterday I also did a 90% water change.

I am stumped - any suggestions? I even tested the tap water just as a control and it has no ammonia of course.

thanks

oh the tank is 29 gallons.

[PAR23]

How long has your tank been up and running? Known cycled filter? Substrates or no?

[acsuth]

Ok, the tank has been running about 2.5 months, but everything in it has been growing like a weed, no clamped fins, my cories are even showing some breeding behavior. The only substrate is a couple mm of sand in two corners, for the cories, then a few smooth stones and a cave decoration. Most of the bottom is bare for easy vacuuming. The whole thing was bare until some cory experts advised me that bare bottom isn't good for them. I also have one small java fern and some water wisteria which are growing ok and the discus seem to like them.

I spoke too soon about the tap water testing ok -- as I was finishing up the water change I took another look at the tube and it is registering a lot of ammonia as well. I rinsed out the test tube really well and I tested some fresh tap water.

I will try to attach a photo of the tap water results. The tank results were about the same I guess.

72683

Do I have a bad test kit?

[acsuth]

Ok, it seems I might have hurt my fish with the water change :( I am so sad. We had a storm 2 nights ago, maybe that released ammonia in the water. They were all healthy looking and happy before this damn water change . . . now the discus have clamped fins and huddled in a corner. I added a little extra Prime. I don't know if it will do any good. The angel fish seem better off, but that is no surprise. I guess I just hope most of them survive. What an ironic twist. I thought the water change would help, not if it has ammonia.

What would you all suggest I do now? I was thinking maybe I will keep checking the tap water daily and feeding a lot less . . . then resume the water changes when the ammonia goes away?

I am going to test some bottled spring water to rule out anything wrong with the test kit . . . though with how my discus are clamped right now, I suspect the kit is all right.

ETA: the bottled water shows no ammonia, I checked at 5 and 10 minutes, so I guess my tap water really does contain ammonia.

On a positive note, the fish all seem to have perked up and are all searching for food. Perhaps it was more the stress of the water change? What an emotional rollercoaster lol I am still wondering why the high ammonia is not doing more damage - shouldn't it be burning them if it is really 1 ppm? my seachem meter doesn't even go higher than .5 which is marked "danger".

[cjr8420]

fill this out we need more info
This questionnaire may be used to either help you to describe your new tank setup for discus or
be a “food for thought” checklist while you consider what your goals are with your new discus tank setup.

1) Please Introduce your self and tell us what your experience is with fishkeeping, give us as much information as possible as to how long in the hobby, what you have kept in the past and what you currently are working with.

2) If you have no previous experience with keeping discus, have you done any research to properly prepare yourself, e.g. have you read any Stickies in this section of SimplyDiscus, or other material?

3) Describe your tank, its size and dimensions, breeding or display. Include how long it has been setup or if it is still being cycled.

4) Describe the décor for the tank; type of substrate or bare bottom (BB), whether the tank will be planted or a biotope.

5) Describe your water changes planned or practiced, percentage and how often. Include if you age your water and use of tap/RO or mix.

6) Describe the type of filtration planned/used for the tank; sponge, HOB and/or sump. Also include the other equipment you are, or will be, using in your tank, e.g. heater, lighting, etc.

7) If the tank is already setup and running, include the water parameters;

- temp _____

- tank ph _____

- Ph of the water straight out of your tap _____

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____

- nitrate reading ____

- well water ____

- municipal water ____


8) Describe your current or planned stocking levels; number/size of discus and number/type of dither fish. Where did you get your discus from or do you have a proposed source for getting your discus?

9) Describe your planned or existing feeding regimen. Include what and how often you are feeding on a daily basis.

10) What are your goals in this hobby? For example are you looking to keep discus in a planted community tank, or do you hope to become a hobby breeder of Discus? Do you want to raise Discus with the hopes of competing in shows?

find out if ur water company uses chloramines instead of chlorine.call them,online water reports can be old and worthless mine still shows only chlorine and they switched to chloramines over a year ago.if they do that could be why ur getting an ammonia reading but still fill out the form

[acsuth]

fill this out we need more info
This questionnaire may be used to either help you to describe your new tank setup for discus or
be a “food for thought” checklist while you consider what your goals are with your new discus tank setup.

1) Please Introduce your self and tell us what your experience is with fishkeeping, give us as much information as possible as to how long in the hobby, what you have kept in the past and what you currently are working with. I have been keeping and breeding different types of fish for over 15 years . . . I took a break from the hobby after my last child was born a few years ago and just started back up over 2 months ago.


2) If you have no previous experience with keeping discus, have you done any research to properly prepare yourself, e.g. have you read any Stickies in this section of SimplyDiscus, or other material? in 2004 I had a group of 4 discus and did a really poor job with them, I had no idea what I was doing at the time . . . sad, but I did learn a lot I believe. I have read a bunch of the stickies.


3) Describe your tank, its size and dimensions, breeding or display. Include how long it has been setup or if it is still being cycled. A regular 29 gallon, same l and w as a 20 long, just taller. It has been set up over 2 months.


4) Describe the décor for the tank; type of substrate or bare bottom (BB), whether the tank will be planted or a biotope. over half bb, some sand in two corners for the cories . . . a cave decoration, a java fern, some water wisteria, some large smooth tiger eye stones


5) Describe your water changes planned or practiced, percentage and how often. Include if you age your water and use of tap/RO or mix. tap water, not aged. I live in an apartment so there are space issues. I can't afford to buy 30 gallons of bottled water per day either, nor could I haul it all upstairs etc, I have a bad knee.


6) Describe the type of filtration planned/used for the tank; sponge, HOB and/or sump. Also include the other equipment you are, or will be, using in your tank, e.g. heater, lighting, etc. HOB with a sponge prefilter I rinse during each water change.

7) If the tank is already setup and running, include the water parameters;

- temp _____ 84-86

- tank ph _____ 6.7

- Ph of the water straight out of your tap _____ 6.7

- ammonia reading ____ about 1.00ppm

- nitrite reading ____ 0

- nitrate reading ____ 0

- well water ____ no

- municipal water ____ yes



8) Describe your current or planned stocking levels; number/size of discus and number/type of dither fish. Where did you get your discus from or do you have a proposed source for getting your discus? I bought my discus as pea sized fry from a seller on aquabid. I have 8 that are 3/4 to an inch now and 6 angel fry the same size in a 29 gallons. This is a fry tank right now. I do plan on upgrading to probably a 55 gallon next, maybe another later. I haven't decided fully.


9) Describe your planned or existing feeding regimen. Include what and how often you are feeding on a daily basis. I feed many times per day including beefheart, beefheart flakes, color pellets, bloodworms and daphnia . . . I just asked for a blackworm sample, I may use it instead of bloodworms if they take to it.


10) What are your goals in this hobby? For example are you looking to keep discus in a planted community tank, or do you hope to become a hobby breeder of Discus? Do you want to raise Discus with the hopes of competing in shows? I definitely want to breed them when they are of age, it would be a big personal accomplishment. I would like to try my hand at shows, I've done it with betta splendens years back, but I believe it might take awhile. I am keeping angelfish at the same time, I like them both and plan to breed them both. I like specific colors.


find out if ur water company uses chloramines instead of chlorine.call them,online water reports can be old and worthless mine still shows only chlorine and they switched to chloramines over a year ago.if they do that could be why ur getting an ammonia reading but still fill out the form. Well, the worthless test strips I was using before I got my kit showed no chlorine, my test kit doesnt include a test for chlorine. It is Sunday, I'll have to try them tomorrow or later in the week

chloramines huh? I make my coffee with this tap water, maybe this is why I got sick a lot this past year . . . probably also why I can't keep freshwater shrimp alive this time around.

[Skip]

what water conditioner are you using!???

[acsuth]

what water conditioner are you using!???

Prime

[cjr8420]

chloramines huh? I make my coffee with this tap water, maybe this is why I got sick a lot this past year . . . probably also why I can't keep freshwater shrimp alive this time around.
chloramines are chlorine and ammonia bonded and it is what water companys are switching to instead of just chlorine.its not really harmful to u but u need the right water dechor for fish or they can have problems.but with chloramines u will read ammomia from the tap when u dose with a proper dechlor u will still read it but it is harmless to the fish and ur bio will take care of it.a proper dechlor is seachem prime/safe or kordons amquel both neutralize ammonia from chloramines

[cjr8420]

lol guess i was a little slow typing lol if useing prime dont worry about the ammonia it will be a false reading

[acsuth]

lol guess i was a little slow typing lol if useing prime dont worry about the ammonia it will be a false reading

Well, that really takes a load off my mind! thanks . . . somehow it still isn't good for freshwater shrimp, but the fish have seemed healthy and growing well.

[PAR23]

Hopefully your tap water will resume its prior consistency soon. Keep using prime during your WCs. I would even consider feeding less for next day or two and hold off on the WCs until your tap water is back to "normal".