How do I identify a plant?

[dralarms]

I have this plant in my 55 gal, my 10 gal, and my 3 betta 1 gal tanks, my 55 and my 10 are doing fine with them but the 1 gal's (since there is no filteration) keep giving me weird ammonia readings. I changed 1 tank out last night, the betta was fed once this morning 4 pellets, tested the water tonight and it's showing off the scale for ammonia (which by the way it does not smell like it). I think this plant is messing with me. All I know is it's a floating type plant, and my betta's love to sleep in it. Here is a picture (I hope)

 

[Crow]

It looks like a Cabomba, or an Ambulia of some sort? Or since it's floating maybe hornwort? I'd vote a Cabomba. That's a good looking plant you've got, but I doubt it's the cause of your ammonia problems no matter what it is. . .

 

[dralarms]

I know it's not causing an ammonia problem, but it is messing with my readings. At least as far as I can tell. If the ammonia gets as high as it was reading my betta would have been floating belly up, and you would be able to smell it, this was not the case, my bettas were still making bubble nests, and the water smelled clean.

 

[Guest]

I doubt you would be able to smell the ammonia. And Betta's are very hardy fish that can tolerate much higher levels of ammonia than other fish. The easy way to check things is to get another ammonia test kit and test the water with that. There is NO plant that I know of that will effect the outcome of an ammonia test kit.

 

[dralarms]

Tried 2 different test kits.

 

[Crow]

Then my guess would be an ammonia problem. 1 gal tanks are hard to keep stable, as even a small amount of ammonia can cause a spike. There's just not enough water to dilute the stuff.

 

[dralarms]

OK, Since no one wants to read my post I'll do it again. The tank in question is a 1 gal and was changed out on tuesday evening, Betta was fed 1 time, wendsday evening was when I checked for ammonia, I have had an ammonia problem with my 55 gal before so I know what it smells like . But to make sure I cleaned the tank and removed the plant, this morning I fed him 4 pellets again, I have not tested it as of yet since I just got in from work but I will be testing it very soon. The reason I say it's the plant, not putting ammonia in the tank, but something in the plant causing the test to show ammonia is I have gone for a week before in the same tank and only had a little ammonia. I am going to test the tank in a few minutes and I'll let you know.

 

[dralarms]

Ok first I have to apoligize for my tone, it just seemed that no one wanted to listen but that's my fault,

Now on to the explaination: it is not the plant, but it is not ammonia either, just did another test on my water and it is showing ammonia levels of, well my test goes to 7.0 and if I have to guess it would be alond the line of 20ppm. But the good news is I have found the culprit. My loving wife got me a bottle of Tetraaqua Aquasafe per recommendation from wal mart , any way I just started using it and in my big tanks it's ok, I mean the filter tanks out the whatever it is, but in my unfiltered tanks it just sits there. so people if you have a "non filtered" tank please know that "aquasafe" is not safe. at least where your ammonia tests are concerned. Again I am sorry if I offended anyone with my earlier post.

 

[Guest]

Ok, many water conditioners will show a false positive when used to neutralize chloramines and then testing with a test kit based on Nessler reagents.

 

[dralarms]

Yep, but Jungles "start right" doesn't. But I have also identified my plant (which by the way has grown 2 1/2 inches in 3 days. It's Green Gabomba. Thought it was hornwart but finally got to see a good picture of both and it definatly Cabomba. .

 

[Crow]

Seachem's "Ammonia Alert" isn't fooled by aquasafe. It's a little card that you place in the tank that changes color when free ammonia builds up. They're only a couple of bucks and they last a year. It might be a good idea to get those for your 1 gals where ammonia can spike quickly. You'll know instantly if there's a problem.

 

[dralarms]

Well since I only have enough for 1 more 10 gal change I'm gonna use it and not get any more