|  |  | 
September 21st, 2009
|
| | Fish Bum
| Ammonia
Now that my tank has aged a bit is a small ammonia reading normal.
I have live plants along with the fishes and everything is growing and doing swimmingly well.
Current readings after a water change today.
Ammonia .25 nitrite 0 nitrate 0 pH 8
Up until a month ago I never had an Ammonia reading. Just curious if it gets to where the bacteria cannot keep up with the Ammonia production?
Thanks as always for the help and encouragement.  | 
| | |
September 21st, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Hi Thansan,
Ammonia is caused by over feeding, over stocking, or not enough water changes.
How often do you do water changes? How much water do you change? | |
| | |
September 21st, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| I don't think any ammonia reading is normal. One of my tiger barbs died when the ammonia was .25 so I would start doing daily 30% water changes until your reading is back to 0. | |
| | |
September 21st, 2009
|
| | Fish Mentor
| Thanson. It is possible that the ammonia readings are a false positive due to presence of chloramines in the source water. Some (but not all) ammonia test could show such false positives.
Your readings of zero Nitrates after a water change, noting you had previous readings of Nitrates at 20 (from your Aquarium Info) make me think that maybe you performed a huge water change. If that's the case I would keep up with partial daily water changes and cut back feeding, as suggested by aquaticmouse and abc123d30, while monitor ammonia and nitrites for a while, in the event that your tank cycle was disrupted.
What are you testing with?
Pepetj
Santo Domingo
Last edited by pepetj; September 21st, 2009 at 11:11 PM.
| |
| | |
September 21st, 2009
|
| | Fish Bum
| I change water about every 10 days and change 50 to 60%. I test with the liquid API. If I had to guess I am overfeeding a bit. Will cut back. My fish have learned to beg. I have such a large Cory Collection and they seem to cruise for any extra food I was not terribly concerned.
Atlas another aquarium lesson learned. | |
| | |
September 22nd, 2009
|
| | Moderator
| Hello Thanson. Keep up with your daily water changes and add Prime (or whatever chemical you use) to detox the ammonia until it's time for your next water change. Hopefully it won't take long to get your readings back in line.
Best of luck!
Ken | |
| | |
September 22nd, 2009
|
| | Fish Helper
| I would change 30% bi-weekly if your tank is properly cycled, this way you wont have huge punctures in your bio content,
Are your fish gasping for air at the top of the aquarium?
And PH8.4 is pretty high for danios and platies do you control your ph?
What are your levels now?
Last edited by ynaggo; September 22nd, 2009 at 07:42 PM.
| |
| | |
September 22nd, 2009
|
| | Fish Master
| if any ammonia is present, it means the tank isnt cycled....so daily partial changes are needed with some kind of ammonia detoxifier like prime or amquel + ..it keeps the fish safe for 24hours but still keeps the ammonia available for the cycle process..you will be cycled when you have 0 ammonia/nitrites, and under 20 nitrates...I wouldnt stop the partial daily changes until then  good luck! | |
| | |
September 22nd, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Another question, are you using any type of plant food? This too with throw your ammonia readings off. | |
| | |
September 22nd, 2009
|
| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by MizRamzi  Another question, are you using any type of plant food? This too with throw your ammonia readings off. | Really? | |
| | |
September 23rd, 2009
|
| | Fish Lore Newbie
| If I could respond based on my experience with ammonia. I have had problems bringing down my ammonia from 2 to finally, zero and it took WEEKS.
I use an API Master test kit to test the tank water. I tested my tap water and found to my amazement that I started with .25 ammonia straight from the TAP!!
I did a ton of pwc, I added Bio, Nitrifying etc.
My ammonia dropped to zero when I doubled the PRIME I typically put in the water. I don't know if that is a conincidence but nothing else seemed to work. I did this and the next reading was zero.
Hope this is of some benefit.
Test your tap water first, then try double the Prime you would typically put in and see if it helps. | |
| | |
September 23rd, 2009
|
| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Fish If I could respond based on my experience with ammonia. I have had problems bringing down my ammonia from 2 to finally, zero and it took WEEKS.
I use an API Master Test Kit to test the tank water. I tested my tap water and found to my amazement that I started with .25 ammonia straight from the TAP!!
I did a ton of pwc, I added Bio, Nitrifying etc.
My ammonia dropped to zero when I doubled the PRIME I typically put in the water. I don't know if that is a conincidence but nothing else seemed to work. I did this and the next reading was zero.
Hope this is of some benefit.
Test your tap water first, then try double the Prime you would typically put in and see if it helps. | the prime detoxifies the ammonia, but will NOT remove it...the 2 weeks of the tank building up beneficial bacteria (cycling) is what did it and even if you have ammonia in your tap, once the tank finishes its cycle, the bacteria should be able to process (eat) all that ammonia up over night with water changes... | |
| | |
September 24th, 2009
|
| | Fish Bum
| Today's readings
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
PH 8
Cut back the fish food and think the bacteria caught up. (Best Guess) Will be adding a piece of driftwood to help with PH and bring out the Clown Pleco I hope.
Thanks again for the info as you guys are my first source of information. | |
| | |
September 24th, 2009
|
| | Moderator
| Hello Thanson. Glad to see that your readings are back to normal!
Best wishes.
Ken | |
| | |
September 24th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Yay! I'm glad the ammonia went back to normal. 
But I would still worry about the PH. It's too high for the fish you are keeping. | |
| | |
September 24th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitsune Really? | Yup it sure will, big time!!! It freaked me out the first time I tested after putting in, Flourish Plant Food and my ammonia levels were off the charts. This is why I asked. | |
| | |
September 24th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| I use Flourish tabs, comprehensive,trace,potass, and iron. I have never noticed a false reading before. Did you get the info from the Seachem forum on their website? I am going to run a test on a 50-50 mixture of water and flourish. Should be a fun experiment! | |
| | | |
Similar Aquarium Fish Forum Threads 
