Holy Ammonia

Ok this one has got me perplexed.. One of my tanks, a 10 gallon, has been cycled for two months now. All levels were fine. Then last week my ammonia was off the charts. I assume most ammonia's testers are alike and go from yellow to green, and mine was dark dark blue. My nitrite was 0ppm and nitrate at the normal 20ppm when I was about to do the water change. I changed 50% of the water and treated with AmmonLock sp?... This week same thing, and another big water change. The fish seem fine, there are 2 gold barbs, a small red tail shark and 4 two month old Mollies. Any thoughts??

_AB_

 

Did you clean your tubes very well? I have discovered that two of the testing chemicals (I believe pH and the ammonia chems) react to create a violet or blue color. I had the exact same reaction you did when this happened to me. I tested the water again, though, and got a "0" on the ammonia reading.

 

I typically try to keep one tube for each, and lately i've been using strips for the pH.. their not as accurate but good enough to show a major change. Should I soap and water them? I usually just rinse them out with tap water.

AB

 

NO! Don't use soap and water. Soap sticks to everything, and it only takes a very little bit to make your fish really sick. Rinsing several times should be good. Is it at all possible that you just got your different tubes mixed up? It might have been one of the other chems that caused the reaction that I saw, as I'm not organized enough to keep my tubes separate.

Another thought I had, try taking from a different place in your tank. Example, hold your finger over the tube, keeping the air in, and putting the tube about halfway to the bottom of the tank before letting the water in. Then pull it out and pour off the excess. It might be that you have a stagnant spot, where the water isn't circulating right (not likely in a small tank, but I try not to assume anything)

 

I agree. This is very weird. Weirder still that your fish aren't dead if your ammonia is indeed that high! Can you possibly take a sample of the water to a LFS to confirm your test results? Perhaps your test kit has expired?

Another possibility I've heard about (although I don't know this for certain) is that some products that detoxify ammonia may prevent the ammonia from hurting the fish but the ammonia may still be present and detectable on the water tests. This still doesn't explain why there was such a spike, though. Have you changed anything about your aquarium lately? Any fish MIA? Any new fish?

 

Excellent point. Look on your test, it should tell you what detox chemicals it works with. Then look at the type of chemical your detox stuff works with.

 

hey, sry for the off-topic question, but how do u like ur clown pleco?
I was thinking about getting one, but heard they didn't really clean the tank like most plecos...
Kevin

 

The AmmoLock does detoxify and not remove so it should be ammonium that i'm seeing not ammonia but it should still turn to nitrite, and that's what worries me. I do like the idea of taking a sample to a LFS, I haven't done that before and I def think it's worth a shot...

hey, sry for the off-topic question, but how do u like ur clown pleco?
I was thinking about getting one, but heard they didn't really clean the tank like most plecos...
Kevin

I do like my clown plec but I RARELY see him. I have to catch him at night and if I get too close he runs and hides but a pretty fish none the less. But no, they do not really clean the tank, in fact he makes it worse... They prefer eating wood and having driftwood is a must, but the waste he produces from the wood out weighs anything he eats. He is also quite territorial, though hidden most of the time, he tends to protect his spot, he is in a tank with two Jack Dempsey's and for his size he holds his own... So I do like him.. but not a good house keeper.

>AB<

 

Well I took some water to my LFS, and had the same results. I went to 3 different places and the only suggestion I was given was keep treating and water changes.. duh. The fish seem ok, including the new fish added about a week ago, so until my 55gal is done (at which I will start this tank over) I plan on treating as I have been.

_AB_

 

It sounds like the addition of that new fish really put your cycle over the edge. Continue what you are doing with the water changes and the ammo lock. When it's time to get more ammo lock, switch over to amquel plus. It seems to keep things a little more stable.

 

I have solved the Ammonia problem... Turns out it was from cleaning products used elsewhere in the same room.. apparently the filter can pull in a decent amount of air and potentially pollute the water. It came about from a certain carpet cleaner I use when I vacuum. Our townhouse has no air ducts, the heat is electric so there is little air flow when the windows are closed and AC off. So anytime we weren't home or at night the fish filter was the only thing moving air... I guess this added to the insane levels. Took me some 3 weeks to figure this out.. but a carbon air filter is being used and ozonizers for the tanks are a possibility.

-Leave it to me to stumble across the most difficult way to cause problems, hopefully at least someone else will avoid it.

_AB_

 

whoa.. that's definitely an unexpected answer.. I hadn't thought about potential level raising from the air. Congrats on figuring it out and we'll have to keep that in mind when looking at possible causes of a tank chemistry problem.

 

If nothing else, thank you for helping all of us remember just how much what we do outside of our tanks affects the inside of our tanks. Also a good reminder that the effects of what we do may spread farther than we think.
Glad you figured that out before your fishies suffered for it.