Ammonia level help required quickly

[Bec]

Hi all,

I've just checked the ammonia and nitrite levels on one of my tanks as I noticed one fish was a little sluggish in it. The nitrate was fine but the ammonia was a little elevated. I did a 50% water change (80 litre tank) and now the reading is even higher. I used stress zyme and amino lock in the new water... could the stress zyme be adding to the reading?? I have a seachem ammonia alert gadget(goes inside the tank) and it was reading no ammonia and still reads no ammonia. HELP!

Bec

[fishbites]

If you have Seachem's Prime or Safe or Sera's Toxivec they can do a quick number on Ammonia levels I think.... (check the bottle's label for doses). Don't know about stresszyme. Ammo lock is supposed to lock down ammonia I think.

Don't forget though that these chemicals just change the ammonia to less toxic versions and these can still be detected by ammonia test kits and so will seem as though you have high levels (test kit instructions should advise of this).

Water changes should reduce the ammonia levels quickly (personally I don't add stuff to the new water as I filter it through a carbon filter).

[zhong89]

That tag doesn't work at all. I have too, I did a water test (test tube one) and my ammonia reading was 0.25 while the tag showed no detectable ammonia. I also recommend the prime water conditioner, it helps neutralise ammonia. But I think water changes are the quickest, I once did two 50% water changes within one day and did one water change per day after that.

Good luck with your tank. Just to be safe do another test to make sure it's not a false reading or something.

[Bettarazzi]

I think while ammo lock neutralises ammonia, it still shows up in water tests. You know these test kits can drive you absolutely bonkers, don't you. How do the fish look? If they seem fine, I wouldn't worry or tinker any more. Heater working?

[paul]

That doesn't really make any sense Bec. The fresh water should reduce the ammonia levels immediately by the amount of water changed (50%WC = 50%reduction in ammonia levels). One of the products your using could have a cross reactivity with the ammonia test kit that you have and cause "falsely elevated" ammonia levels. Check the product description.

You may want to experiment with the products and test how they react with the ammonia test kit you have i.e. test the following:

1. water only - should read 0 ammonia

2. water plus amino lock -

3. water plus stress zyme -

4. water plus both -

this should reveal the source of the elevated reading. If you've done the water change - you're work should be done for now. Relax a little!

[Bec]

I agree it does not make sense Paul. There must be an explanation... I have added some purigen to the filter as a safe guard and the amino lock says on the bottle it will neutralize the ammonia but it will still give a reading. The indicator reading higher suggests maybe the stress zyme may have ammonia in some form in it or maybe I didn't rinse the tube out enough.

I am confident the fish are fine, there are seven other fish in the tank and they are all behaving very normally and the sulky one ate his worms and looks healthy enough, albeit he does not normally hang out at the bottom of his tank. I shall keep a firm eye on him and the others.

I agree the test kits can drive one nutty, I think when I first started up I spent more time checking them than I did changing water!

I change all the tanks (a third change) on a four day rotating roster, as that way I always have aged water on hand. I add the amino lock or stress coat as I add a little hot water straight from the tap and the stress zyme to keep up with the cycling as most of my tanks are not that established.

Has been a stressful evening with one fish looking like he has slightly pine coned scales around the back of his 'neck'(yes, a Thai fish and I have added antibiotics but if it is dropsy I doubt they will do any good. I gave all some live brine shrimp on Saturday and he has been rather quite since Sunday so I am thinking they did not agree with him).

And to make matters really bad I came home to my dog limping on three legs. She suffers from luxating patellas and we were told she would be lucky if we would not need to put her down by the time she was one. She is six now and has learned to walk so her knees don't pop out. Unfortunately an operation is not really an option as the shape of her shin bones are just as much a problem as the joint itself and vets are sceptically of the outcome. She had her knee 'popped' back in and was drugged up with pain killers and anti inflames but it is looking like the end for her (I have heard that before ... hopefully she just overdid it and popped it out and it will calm down and go back to the way it was).