Laird-and-Dad
Aquarium Advice Freak
I have been using Tetra EasyStrips for most of my time in the aquarium hobby (not very long lol), but when I decided to do a fishless cycle for my 1.5 gallon QT tank, I bought the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. I have used that to start cycling the QT. I have also been using it now to test my 23 gal. I have been getting the weirdest results from the QT tests. I put in 4ppm of ammonia, and the next day (yesterday) I had 6ppm of ammo, >5ppm NO2- (off the chart), 20-25ppm NO3-. Today, I tested again, and ammo was off the charts >8ppm, NO2- was still off the charts and even darker than it was yesterday, and NO3- was between 5-10ppm. I then tested the levels in the 23 for the first time with the liquid tests, and my ammo was at 4ppm, NO2 and NO3 were at 0. Now the ammonia being at 4 is impossible because I actually have living fish in the tank and 4ppm of ammonia would kill them nearly instantly, and more than that, their behavior is completely normal. None of the fish exhibit any signs of stress. I'm not sure how this could be. Is there something wrong with my test kit? What should I do? I added Prime just in case the ammonia was that elevated, but the fact that none of my fish have died seems to be direct evidence to the contrary. Thank you!