Ammonia levels??

[jessipanda]

It's getting there. You want 0 ammonia (yellow), 0 nitrites (light blue), and nitrates less than 20 (preferably less, mine stay just under 5). Once you get 0 amm and nitrites regularly, you can move to weekly water changes to keep the nitrates down. Just keep testing daily for awhile to make sure they stay that way.
Colors are starting to look good, and with a fish-in cycle, you have a lot of daily work, but it cycles quicker than fishless--it's just far more dangerous to the fish. I joined the hobby about a year ago with a fish-in cycle without a clue to what I was doing. We lost 2 guppies because of my lack of knowledge. But, no casualties since! :sly:

 

[libertybelle]

yeah that nitrite test is weird. If you bought the test recently you might consider exchanging it for another.

If you test tap water do you see 0 nitrite?

 

[Ladeia3]

yeah that nitrite test is weird. If you bought the test recently you might consider exchanging it for another.

If you test tap water do you see 0 nitrite?

Uhhhhh.... this is what the water tests at right out of the faucet.... is this why my ammonia is so high?



This is the test results in the middle of a water change. Water is being siphoned out and I'm adding 5 gallon buckets of water as it goes down.

 

[libertybelle]

Uhhhhh.... this is what the water tests at right out of the faucet.... is this why my ammonia is so high?

View attachment 283842

This is the test results in the middle of a water change. Water is being siphoned out and I'm adding 5 gallon buckets of water as it goes down.

View attachment 283841

Bingo. Now that's good to know! Yes, it looks like you have ammonia in your source water! But there is one caveat. Is that before or after adding prime to the water? (prime does cause a small 'false' positive from the breakdown of chloramine.) The amount can vary depending on how much chloramine your area is using. Perhaps your area just uses a lot of chloramine. Regardless seems like making a double dose of prime each water change would be a good idea.

Again I'm having trouble reading that nitrite test, maybe you can tell better in person. Does it look low or 0 straight from the tap?

 

[Ladeia3]

Bingo. Now that's good to know! Yes, it looks like you have ammonia in your source water! Is that before or after adding prime to the water (prime does cause a small 'false' positive from the breakdown of chloramine, but I'm talking, barely green. about .25 tops is all I've ever seen)

Again I'm having trouble reading that nitrite test, maybe you can tell better in person. Does it look low or 0 straight from the tap?

The water from the faucet was literally straight from the faucet while it was running. No conditioners or chemicals (other than the test kit drops) were added and tests were performed straight away so water had not been sitting for more than a minute. From the tap, Nitrites are straight 0. In person, the color is an exact match for the test kit cheat sheet. The one from the tank is a darker blue but no visible purple.

 

[libertybelle]

apologies, I edited my post because I looked it up. .25 is the most I've seen in MY tap, but others have seen more. But since there's no prime you're dealing with actual ammonia.

Since you use prime it's not actually that big a problem. Just means you won't be able to bring total ammonia down farther than that point. But since you use prime it will be neutralized until your bacteria can deal with it.

 

[libertybelle]

Given this new information I might suggest spreading out the water changes a bit more (since they're not AS helpful as we thought they were in bringing down ammonia!!)
But ensure that you still dose prime every day to keep any ammonia detoxified until your bacteria can eat it up.

 

[Ladeia3]

Given this new information I might suggest spreading out the water changes a bit more (since they're not AS helpful as we thought they were in bringing down ammonia!!)
But ensure that you still dose prime every day to keep any ammonia detoxified until your bacteria can eat it up.

With the last test results... does it look like my tank has cycled? Ammonia was about .25ppm (but I was in the middle of a water change and had added water so could explain that reading) and the nitrites are nearly zero (a darker blue than the test sheet but no visible purple) and Nitrates are between 10 & 20ppm. Should I just go to water changes once a week but continue to test for awhile to make sure the ammonia levels stay down and add prime if necessary?

 

[libertybelle]

Could be! I would let your tests and your ammonia alert be your guide. If ammonia goes above the level of tap or nitrates increase too much do a water change. If total ammonia is still lower than tap, nitrates still reasonable but ammonia alert creeps up, just dose prime. Test again tomorrow and see if both ammonia and nitrite are at 0

 

[libertybelle]

and check your tap water every once in a while. Sometimes things change in your source water, so it could be a temporary thing that you have such high ammonia in your tap.

 

[libertybelle]

lol, times like this the mantra of 'when in doubt do a water change' bite you in the butt a bit!! good thing you tested that tap!!

 

[Ladeia3]

lol, times like this the mantra of 'when in doubt do a water change' bite you in the butt a bit!! good thing you tested that tap!!

I know... now I feel guilty for the all the water changes. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong since I couldn't get the ammonia down. I think this is something new on the ammonia levels because when I first started testing my tank I didn't have ammonia that high. I will test my tap water every so often to see if it goes down.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Ladeia3]

Just because I've gotten into the habit of posting my test results and because it may be useful... I thought I would go ahead and update with what my levels are today. I did not do a water change today. I only added a dose of Prime and that was it. Here are my test results.



Nitrites are back at zero. Ammonia reads about .25 in person (the ammonia alert is yellow, no detectable green) and in person the Nitrates look about 5. All fish seem to be okay today. No one seems stressed or having noticeable issues.

On another note, I took my API test kit to my friends house. I didn't get a chance to take the pictures of her levels. Her tap water results were ph 7.0, ammonia .25, nitrites and nitrates 0. Her tank water tested at .25 for ammonia, 0 Nitrites and her Nitrates looked to be in between 40 and 80ppm and her ph had risen to 8.0. Not sure why there was such a hike between her tap and tank ph levels but it was a major difference. She's the one that doesn't ever change the water, only adds water when it evaporates too much. She's also had super hardy fish that have survived so she isn't even willing to do research on taking care of them to improve their quality of life. At least she recently upgraded to a 20 gallon. Instead of the 15 they were in.

 

[libertybelle]

Just because I've gotten into the habit of posting my test results and because it may be useful... I thought I would go ahead and update with what my levels are today. I did not do a water change today. I only added a dose of Prime and that was it. Here are my test results.

View attachment 283891

Nitrites are back at zero. Ammonia reads about .25 in person (the ammonia alert is yellow, no detectable green) and in person the Nitrates look about 5. All fish seem to be okay today. No one seems stressed or having noticeable issues.

On another note, I took my API test kit to my friends house. I didn't get a chance to take the pictures of her levels. Her tap water results were ph 7.0, ammonia .25, nitrites and nitrates 0. Her tank water tested at .25 for ammonia, 0 Nitrites and her Nitrates looked to be in between 40 and 80ppm and her ph had risen to 8.0. Not sure why there was such a hike between her tap and tank ph levels but it was a major difference. She's the one that doesn't ever change the water, only adds water when it evaporates too much. She's also had super hardy fish that have survived so she isn't even willing to do research on taking care of them to improve their quality of life. At least she recently upgraded to a 20 gallon. Instead of the 15 they were in.

by topping off constantly she is making her water harder and harder. Could be causing the pH creep up over time. Her fish will adapt to a point but at some point things will crash. Hopefully she won't get it in her head that she needs to do a big clean. old tank syndrome here we come!

sounds like your tank is doing good, just not quite there yet.

 

[Ladeia3]

Well hopefully seeing me take care of my tank will encourage her to do the same.

Again.... I'm sure no one cares at this point but I thought I would again post my test results in case....

No water change again today. I only dosed with Prime and left it at that. Ammonia alert looks yellow. In person, the api liquid tests look like .25 ammonia, 0 Nitrites and 10-20 Nitrates. I will either do a water change later on this evening after picking up my kid from daycare or I will do one tomorrow. I'll test my tap water before the change to see if it still has high ammonia.





I'm not sure why the ammonia isn't going completely down yet. Should I see about taking a sample of my water to my local LFS to have them test? Shouldn't the ammonia have zeroed out since the Nitrites have?

 

[jessipanda]

Are you sure it's actually showing a hint of green? In the last pics, it appears just yellow. As does the ammonia alert. And with a decent number of nitrates showing, I wouldn't be surprised if the ammonia alert is correct. I'd suggest yes, take your water to your LFS to see what they say. You might be cycled or really close to it now!

 

[Ladeia3]

Are you sure it's actually showing a hint of green? In the last pics, it appears just yellow. As does the ammonia alert. And with a decent number of nitrates showing, I wouldn't be surprised if the ammonia alert is correct. I'd suggest yes, take your water to your LFS to see what they say. You might be cycled or really close to it now!

Honestly, I think it's my eyesight. I can't actually tell the difference between some of the levels on this card. It's kind of driving me batty trying to figure them out. Could also be the lighting. Depending on which light I'm using to look at them (and time of day because daylight also changes how they look even with me being indoors) the levels vary pretty widely. I've been taking the pictures in the same place each day to reduce the lighting differences in the pics but I know they look darker in the picture than they do in person.

Ammonia looks more in between 0 and .25 to me but I am erring on the side of caution by saying .25 on the api test. I can't see any green in the ammonia alert any more except for maybe an hour after feeding it gets a slight greenish cast that disappears later. I feel like the tank is cycled but being new I didn't want to assume and make more errors.

 

[libertybelle]

yeah that definitely looks yellow in the picture. I'd say you look like you are or are pretty darn close to cycled.

you can certainly have a lfs double check your measurements to be sure.

 

[Ladeia3]

Think I figured out why I'm not completely getting rid of the ammonia. I forgot it was time to clean the filters. They were definitely mucky. We'll see if that helps any before I try anything else.

The pleco and catfish are out of the tank. Currently there are:

4 Dwarf (male) Gouramis
8 Zebra Danios
6 platys
6 tiger barbs
4 corys (plan to add 4 more in a week or so after the tank settles again)
1 horned nerite snail

Been told the gouramis might get nasty with each other so I'm keeping my eye on them. So far they mostly stay in different areas of the tank and are mostly leaving each other alone. They get a little testy with each other sometimes but so far no real bullying yet.

One of the tiger barbs keeps nipping at other fish. The others are fine. It's just that one. Hopefully he'll settle down. If not, I'll have to see about getting them into another tank.

 

[Ladeia3]

Think I figured out why I'm not completely getting rid of the ammonia. I forgot it was time to clean the filters. They were definitely mucky. We'll see if that helps any before I try anything else.

The pleco and catfish are out of the tank. Currently there are:

4 Dwarf (male) Gouramis
8 Zebra Danios
6 platys
6 tiger barbs
4 corys (plan to add 4 more in a week or so after the tank settles again)
1 horned nerite snail

Been told the gouramis might get nasty with each other so I'm keeping my eye on them. So far they mostly stay in different areas of the tank and are mostly leaving each other alone. They get a little testy with each other sometimes but so far no real bullying yet.

One of the tiger barbs keeps nipping at other fish. The others are fine. It's just that one. Hopefully he'll settle down. If not, I'll have to see about getting them into another tank.