Help please, freaking out

[squirrilah fish]

If you read my post about the water change from hell, well hang onto you seat it gets worse.

A big part of this clean out/ water change was adding Purigen for the first time.

After everything was said and done, I did my 50% WC, and cleaning, I tested my levels, and Ammonia and Nitrites where dangerously high. So I did another 50 % change, added prime and stability.
I tested again and it was still really high, nitrites had gone down some, but not the 59% I took out.
I did some googling and found out that Prime can give you a false positive for these chemicals as well as nitrate, although I did not detect any nitrate.
Could Purigen, and/or Prime be causing these false readings, the fish seem fine, although it's hard to tell because I just did a WC. I am thinking the first water change the water was colder than normal, but still well above. 60 degrees. Could I have killed off all my bio with too cold of water in an hour? I have to work all day tomorrow, and I am scared if I am actually having some crazy nitrite spike I could come home to dead fish. Should I take the Purigen out? That's tge only thing new, I didn't even clean the filters, just the tank. The other thing I was thinking is I I trapped nitrogen has in the sand, and that's the problem, but I don't know how that works, and imagine the bio would have taken any nitrite out.
My tank is very well established. I know it's not cycling, unless I royally screwed something up somehow. .

 

[Alan79]

I'm not sure about the false reading with Prime but i have seen that some people have high reading for ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate from their tap. Maybe you could test your tap water and see if that is giving you the unexpected results.

 

[treemanone2003]

I emailed Seachem and they sent a long response. Here it is.

Thank you for your email. The false positive that will show on an ammonia test kit in the presence of Prime is not the result of an indication of ammonia when there is not any present. The "false positive" is referring to showing a false positive for toxic free ammonia. Since Prime has bound all of the ammonia in a system to an ionized NH4 form, it will still show up on a test kit as total ammonia, but it will be present in the system in a form that is not toxic to the fish. The only way to differentiate between NH3 and NH4 ammonia in the presence of Prime will be by using gas exchange technology such as what is utilized in our Ammonia Alert or MultiTest: Ammonia test kit or the Ammonia Alert. If you are using other conventional test kits on the market in the presence of Prime then you will get a reading for total ammonia, even though there will not be any toxic ammonia present in the system as long as you have used the proper concentration to fully bind the ammonia present.

 

[treemanone2003]

Also, if you are using another manufacturers test kit (API) and not Seachem, you will get this result as well. hth.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Moved to the appropriate forum

 

[squirrilah fish]

Thanks, phew

 

[Rivercats]

You need to test your tap water because you shouldn't be getting high ammonia or nitrite readings in a cycled tank. What is your ph? I've used Prime for many many years and even if I've overdosed it I still do not get any false positive readings. Do you test often and if so has these readings been high in the past?

 

[squirrilah fish]

I test often, my water has been consistently good, I always use Prime, and maintenance stability.

I am sure whatever was happening last night was some fluke/false reading. I got home just now and tested the water. Everything is PERFECT.

I read online that testing while active prime is in the water can give you a false positive. And I'm wondering if the new addition if Purigen was to Blane as well.

Any how, things are perfect now. And the fish, and water look great.

Thanks

 

[squirrilah fish]

You need to test your tap water because you shouldn't be getting high ammonia or nitrite readings in a cycled tank. What is your ph? I've used Prime for many many years and even if I've overdosed it I still do not get any false positive readings. Do you test often and if so has these readings been high in the past?

It was really strange to me. I have not done anything new other than add Purigen for the first time. I have used the same tap water and prime for years, and never had a reading like that either.
Until last night.
But 12 hours later it's perfect.

Nitrate: 0
Nitrite : 0
Hardness "hard"
Alkalinity: "ideal"
Ph 7.8
Ammonia: 0

 

[venymae]

well that's good to know!

 

[bogart]

Anyone getting a high reading of ammonia that does make sense should read:

Test kits have a problem measuring low Ammonia. I did a search on Aquarium Advice and found the following super article:

Community Moderator
jetajockey's Avatar
Your Guide to Ammonia Toxicity
If you haven't read, this is must reading.

 

[Brookster123]

Squirrlah.. Do you use test strips or liquid kit?

 

[Mebbid]

Adding prime to the water doesn't give you a false reading. What they mean by that is the the available ammonia is temporarily converted to ammonium. There is a constant balance between ammonia and ammonium going on in the aquarium based on ph anyways.

The ammonia test kits we use don't differentiate between ammonia vs ammonium so that is the "false reading" that people get. It doesn't create an ammonia reading from nothing.

 

[squirrilah fish]

I use Tetra test strips. I think I figured out where it came from. It wasn't the Prime, that doesn't make sense because using the same water, and same prime for years, and that has never happened.
What I think happened is the Purigen was binding with the cloramine which degenerates into ammonia , and possibly nitrites and that is what caused the reading. So when I say false reading, it's not false in the sense that those chemicals weren't present, but false because those chemicals were not in a toxic state.
All I know for certain is it's fine now. Did another test a little while ago, and it was still perfect.