Spiking Ammonia Levels

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Fishkid

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
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I did a 20% water change today, using AquaPlus tap water conditioner and vacuumed the gravel as I was taking water out. Doing a strip test, my ammonia levels have shot up to 6 on my Apti test kit scale.

What can I do and what did I do wrong?
 
I have had the tank for 3 weeks, adding 3 dwarf gourami after the first cycle. Readings were fine the entire time. On Sunday we added 3 dalmation mollies. All readings were fine.

Today I did a 20% water change after a test at the fish store showed I had high nitrite and high ammonia levels. It seems we were over feeding.

All the fish seem fine so far and not laboring to breath and seem very happy at this point.

I just ran all three test again and here are the results.

Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0-0.5 (was at 1.0 before water change)
pH - higher end of 7, but lower than 7.5 (next on the scale)
KH - 180
GH - 120

Ammonia has come down and seems to be around 3.0 now, but the color is more of a grayish green and does not match to much of either the 3.0 or the 6.0 reading/

What other info can I provide to help answer?

I have had the same goldfish in another tank for over 4 years now and never an issue. They were feeder fish my kid brought home from school and now they are 6-8 inches long and thriving. Just not sure what the heck I did wrong.
 
Test strips can be very inaccurate. I would take some water to the lfs and get them to test for accurate readings.
 
Will definitely get a second opinion on the water, but can you suggest a testing kit that is more accurate?
 
Expect your green water will get worse - with the excess ammonia and all. Sounds like your cycle may not have been complete - 3 weeks is fairly quick. If you were using strips to measure, that might have been the case. Definitely agree with the API kit - it's the standard one many folks use.
 
At this point it seems like a wait and see approach is necessary. Not much I can do with the fish. I do have one other 10 gallon tank, but it has only been established for 3 weeks and I am not adding fish to it for another 1-3 weeks given what has happened.

I just don't want to see the little guys suffer if the testing was accurate.

Will take my water into lfs and then purchase one of the other kits to make sure things are okay.

Thanks for all your help everyone.
 
I have a couple of questions please.
What size is the tank in question?
What is the temp.?
You mentioned "first cycle" what did you mean by that?
Your 10 gallon has been established for 3 weeks, what do you mean by that? Are you fishless cycling? did you add clear pure amonia to cycle?
You will hear this again and again if you hang around long enough.
Goldfish do not belong with tropical fish for a number of reasons.
PS: you need to do another water change. Amonia above 1ppm can be deadly for your fish.
 
I seem to remember that Amquel Plus can cause issues with cycling and ammonia readings. I'm racking my brain trying to remember the exact issue. I'll try searching and get back to you.
 
Fishyfanatic said:
I seem to remember that Amquel Plus can cause issues with cycling and ammonia readings. I'm racking my brain trying to remember the exact issue. I'll try searching and get back to you.
Click to expand...
It is not compatable with the API amonia test kit but no one seems to know why.
I don't know of any issues with cycling and have used it myself while cycling with no adverse reactions.
 
Fishyfanatic said:
I seem to remember that Amquel Plus can cause issues with cycling and ammonia readings. I'm racking my brain trying to remember the exact issue. I'll try searching and get back to you.
Click to expand...
Let's see if i can assist or remember..
I believe when using Amquel+, one should use 2 reagents (Slaicylate Method) Ammonia test kit rather than 1 reagents test kit (Nesslers Reagent). But what I find odd is that Kordon (Co who makes Amquel+) states When Amquel+ is used, API 2 reagent AMMONIA testing will yield distorted readings thus Kordon highly recommends to use their version of NH3 test kit (Dont know how true this is).
 
I think I probably caused some confusion here.

First, someone asked abotu cycling. I set up this tank as new 3 weeks ago. I let it run and had all the water levels checked at the lfs before adding any fish. We added 3 dwarf gouramis first. Did 20% water change twice in that period. Two weeks later we added 3 dalmation mollies. Through all of this I had fine readings until yesterday when I had the water tested. We had high nitrites so I did a 20% water change, cleaning the gravel slightly as I went per the person at the lfs. Then I tested with a strip myself bought at the lfs...and the spike in ammonia.

Second, my goldfish are not in the same tank with the gouramis and mollies. They are in a 20 gallon tank they have been in for the past 4 years and are doing well, with good levels, etc.

I am using Aqua+ which removes chlorine and chloramine. The temperature is a steady 78 degrees. I did not let the water sit out a full 24 hours, but it did sit for 6 hours after using the Aqua+.

Maybe the test kit is the issue. It has been over 24 hours and still no signs of distress or physical characteristics of ammonia poisoning. Also, the other levels, including pH, are either perfect or near perfect.

I think I might skip a feeding this morning just to be safe, but regardless will take my water and get it tested properly. If it is good at the lfs, I will toss the strips and cuss wasting everyone's time.

Really appreciate the help. Not new to fish, but have never had something like this happen before. My kids are getting into the hobby now (this is my 8 year olds new tank) so I don't want to spoil it.
 
Letting the water sit overnight isn't necessary with dechlorinator chemicals. I'm not familiar with Aqua+ but Prime and Amquel are both fine after about 5 minutes as long as you make sure the dechlorinator is thoroughly mixed in. I assume what you're using is the same. The only other purpose of letting the water sit out is to allow temperatures to equalize.

It always makes us nervous when someone says their ammonia is "fine" or "good" rather than "zero." There is no level of ammonia that's acceptable in an established tank. It's inevitable at first if you don't cycle the tank in advance with pure ammonia, but you need to do lots of water changes to keep it down. Maybe you meant it was zero, but please understand I have to ask.

Nobody seems to have noticed that you also reported a nitrite reading. That indicates we have more than an erroneous test going on here. This tank is not cycled yet, and it needs at least daily water changes to keep both ammonia and nitrite below 1ppm, and ideally <.5ppm, until tests show both at zero.

Don't worry about pH. There's nothing special about 7 as long as the number is constant. Don't use chemical buffers to try to adjust it. Fish can generally acclimate to anything from 5.5-8.5 just fine, and many can live a little outside of that. If you have 6 something or 7 something it's not an issue.
 
I just hate to keep putting fish through a water change everyday if it this is all just a false positive reading. Doesn't that stress the fish?

It seems the best answer is to verify the ammonia level at the lfs. I say this because for 3 weeks it has been fine with a weekly testing and then suddenly after a slight increase in my nitrites, due to over feeding, the ammonia is spiking on a home strip test lit, while all other levels (including nitrites) are in perfect ranges after the water change.
 
I use Aqua+ and no you don't have to let the water sit. I use a Python and add the Aqua+ and water directly into the tank.
I asked about cycling for a reason.
You stated you set the tank up and cycled it for 3 weeks before adding fish.
Did you add amonia and a bacterial seed source?
IF you did not add an amonia source you wasted 3 weeks. Your tank did not cycle at all. (google cycling an aquarium)
IF you added an amonia source but no seed source your tank did not complete its cycle. (it takes 6-8 weeks to cycle an unseeded tank)
IF your tank is not cycled the high amonia readings are most likely accurate.
I just hate to keep putting fish through a water change everyday if it this is all just a false positive reading. Doesn't that stress the fish?
Click to expand...
Not as much as the amonia will.
 
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