Ammonia Heavy Tap Water- Alternative water sources?

Hi! So, I just moved to a new town a couple months ago and I didn’t even think to retest the new tap water that i’ve been using for water changes in my 5 gallon betta fish tank. Well, my bettas been looking a little off lately so I tested the tap water and it has crazy high ammonia levels- like 1.0 ppm. The ammonia levels in my tank are 0 or pretty close it it. But i was wondering if anyone has any ideas for what to use for water changes in my tank since I can’t use the tap water anymore? Thanks so much!

 

Jugs of spring water from the store, maybe.

 

Jugs of spring water from the store, maybe.

okay! i can definitely try this

 

If the ammonia is 1ppm in the tap water, doing a 25% water change would only raise the ammonia level in the tank to .25 I recommend using Prime for anyone seeing ammonia in their tap water. Prime is going to detox that low level of ammonia long enough for the bacteria to clear it out. Just add enough Prime with each water change to treat the full 5 gallons instead of just the amount of water you are changing.

You can of course start buying water but in that case you have to depend on it having the same parameters every time you buy a new supply of it.

 

If you use Prime as a dechlorinater, wouldn't it tie up the ammonia long enough for the filter to deal with it?

mattgirl beat me to it.

 

If the ammonia is 1ppm in the tap water, doing a 25% water change would only raise the ammonia level in the tank to .25 I recommend using Prime for anyone seeing ammonia in their tap water. Prime is going to detox that low level of ammonia long enough for the bacteria to clear it out. Just add enough Prime with each water change to treat the full 5 gallons instead of just the amount of water you are changing.

You can of course start buying water but in that case you have to depend on it having the same parameters every time you buy a new supply of it.

I’ve been doing 2 drops of prime per gallon- so 10 drops each time i change? thanks!

 

I’ve been doing 2 drops of prime per gallon- so 10 drops each time i change? thanks!

That should work perfectly. If the ammonia is causing problems for your little guy adding more Prime should help protect him. If you've been doing 50% weekly water changes you may want to drop it down to 25% and maybe instead of once a week do them twice a week. As long as your nitrates are staying fairly low 25% once a week may be all that is needed since there is just the one little fish in there. If I was doing 25% once a week I would do a 50% once a month.

 

You can order syringes without needles online if you want to measure small amounts.