Ammonia still an issue :(

[SarahBear1009]

So I don't know if anyone remembers my original post, but it was a while ago, and I'm still having ammonia issues.

Been doing water changes, adding prime, still feeding every other day, and my ammonia is still not budging. I have been adding stability only once or twice a week.

Fish all look healthy and fine, which I'm happy about, but I'm just puzzled why this ammonia hasn't gone down.

Ammonia: between .25 and .5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10.

I have added quite a few live plants, hoping that those might be able to lessen the ammonia some, but my levels aren't budging.

No plants are rotting or causing this spike as I had this issue before I even added the plants. No dead fish either.

Since my original post about this, I have added a sponge on the intake tube to my HOB, but I know it'll take time for BB to colonize there.

My tap water checks out fine too. 0 for everything in my tap.

Any help would be great. Perhaps someone notices something I'm missing. I would really like to avoid starting all over, as I would have to re-home all my fish since I only have the one tank.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Delapool]

What is ph?

 

[dalto]

What is ph?

+1 on this question.

If ph crashes completely ammonia becomes non-toxic and your bacteria colonies can't grow.

 

[SarahBear1009]

What is ph?

My PH has remained the same at 7.6.

BUT! I went and bought a stand alone ammonia test kit as I really thought it was odd id still be having issues, and testing with the new kit I have no ammonia.

So, i bought a new master test kit, and retested yesterday. Now, I did have some slight ammonia, but there was a lot of poo on the sand and a few dead plant leaves. But my ammonia wasn't even
.25. Nitrite still 0 and 10 for nitrate.

The master test kit I was using was in storage in a garage for a year and half, as I was moving around a bit at that timex and didn't have a tank for awhile. I should have thought about that before using it again with this tank, but that never even crossed my mind.

So it sounds like it was my test kit.

Now, do I need to keep the test kit in the fridge??? I have them in there now thinking that might help.

 

[Delapool]

I've heard of test kits going off in summer in north Australia but usually pretty hot days / caps left off (not very long either). My ammonia test kit must be over 3 or 4 years old now (must check expiry!). I don't know of any issues. Will have to test tap water and check (tap water here is 0). I have been using it recently and getting a slight reading but just put it down to a small tank suddenly stocked and could see it coming back down. My kit just sits in cupboard.

My old nitrate test kit was reading slightly high (maybe +10ppm compared to new test, would have to check) just before it ran out and I bought a new one to replace.

The nitrate one seems the most problematic as it needs to be shaken so much.

Nice finding! I've been discussing this elsewhere and while I agree these hobby test kits are what you pay for (ie not a lab test), generally I see them able to be used ok. Hoping your new test kit lasts longer.