Ammonia levels high need help!!!

[eduguy]

Okay well you guys are all saving me some serious money I didn't know I could do that and thanks for not being to hard on me lol Im learning everyday there's so so so much to fish tanks and I'm having new things happen every week lol so I'm constantly learning more and more

I'm learning more too. SO much stuff to learn in fish.

 

[Bates1990]

What are you doing get to the water change and your welcome
there should be a date on the test bottles

I'll start leaving those in there and washing them in the drained water and I gotta go look at that test kit lol

 

[eduguy]

Good idea

 

[Bates1990]

Where does it say the experation cause it just says the year it was made and I'm guessing it is expired lol cause it says copyright 2008 petsmart must of had it for a long time I didn't know these kits expired

 

[eduguy]

I don't know where to look at sorry.

 

[Bates1990]

I don't know where to look at sorry.

You've been more then helpful I'll probably just go get another one and try to check the date on it if I can find it lol

 

[Andrew McFadden]

The LOT number at the top of API test kit bottles are the date of manufacture. The API test kits typically expire 3 to 4 years after the date of manufacture depending on the type of test kit. These were the expiration periods that I found from API:

Ammonia Test Solution # 1 - 3 Years
Ammonia Test Solution # 2 - 3 Years
High Range pH Indicator Solution - 3 Years
Nitrate Test Solution # 1 - 3 Years
Nitrate Test Solution # 2 - 3 years
GH Test Solution - 3 Years
Calcium Test Solution #1 - 3 Years
Calcium Test Solution #2 - 3 Years
Phosphate Test Solution #1 - 3 Years
Phosphate Test Solution #2 - 3 Years
Copper Test Solution - 3 Years
KH Test Solution - 4 Years
Nitrite Test Solution - 4 Years

Is say yours are out dated but I would still do the water change then go find a new one ASAP

 

[Bates1990]

My LOT is 28A0511

 

[Andrew McFadden]

My LOT is 28A0511

Should be good then from what I've read it the last 4 numbers. 05 is the month and 11 is the year. Maybe it went bad early lol I would do the water change to out my mind at ease. Then go get a new kit to be safe if it doesn't say its going down

 

[Bates1990]

I did a water test on all 3 of my tanks and I've come to the conclusion that the nitrate test doesn't work because it has the same color on all tanks and my other two tanks look great! Everything else seems to work fine and the ammonia did go down a little bit with 25 gallon change but I'll be doing like 60 gallons in the morning

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I did a water test on all 3 of my tanks and I've come to the conclusion that the nitrate test doesn't work because it has the same color on all tanks and my other two tanks look great! Everything else seems to work fine and the ammonia did go down a little bit with 25 gallon change but I'll be doing like 60 gallons in the morning

That's great
Something is fishy with your kit

 

[Bates1990]

Yea deffenatly I'm getting another one ASAP cause I can't trust anything it says lol

 

[jetajockey]

You have to bang the #2 nitrate bottle pretty good before you use it.

It's possible to have 8ppm+ ammonia levels in a tank with fish still swimming around.

I agree that the cloudy water is likely due to overcleaning the filter combined with this "Alright I know these fish will get bigger but they will be rehoused but I have a 7 inch redtail catfish ,a 6 inch , a 7 inch clown knife ,two 7 inch oscars and 2 7 inch pleco", which is a seriously heavy bioload.

My plan of action would be to get the ammonia levels down to nil and then make some hard decisions on which fish to keep and which ones to move elsewhere.

 

[Bates1990]

Ok so I did a 50-60% water change lastnight and now my tank is cloudier than when I started anymore ideas before my fish decide they can't take it anymore

 

[Bates1990]

I haven't takin the oscars out yet but will probably happen today also I hadn't fed them for about two days until I gave them a little bit of pellets last night just enough to hold them over but not that much at all

 

[Andrew McFadden]

How does it test?

 

[Bates1990]

I haven't tested it because we came to the conclusion that I need a new kit but haven't been able to but I know what ammonia filled water looks like and my tank I filled it's like the ammonia multiplied while I slept cause my tank was clear lastnight after the water change

 

[Bates1990]

Does anyone have an opinion on me doin a large water change again and just pouring a bottle of "BB" in my tank to make up for over cleaning sense apparently this is caused by over cleaning

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Your going to have to keep doing them till it goes down and stays down

 

[eduguy]

Bacteria in a bottle people say isn't good.