Low Ammonia Lvls after feeding?

[FancyGuppyGuy]

I have been doing alot of testing for ammonia and I have noticed that after I feed theres always a small amount of ammonia approx .25 ppm.

Is it normal for ammonia to build up to low lvls after feedings??

I only feed for 2 minutes what they can eat.

I am now going to start testing the amount of time it takes for this small amount to dissappear. 3 hours??

Anyhow I am wondering if this is normal or not?

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

Well tested for ammonia 2 hours or so later and its well below .25 now almost 0.

I did not realize ammonia lvls rise when feeding the fish then go back down after time. I just wonder what this short term ammonia exposure does over the life of the fish.

I suppose I could start doing water changes after feedings??

Anyone else have any thoughts on this subject?

 

[TomK2]

Hmmm. never heard that before. Of course, I don't think many people look for it either. Once the ammonia goes down, I bet once a week or less is all the testing people do. Could this be a false positive caused by food particles in the test tube? What kind of kit are you using?

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

I am using the kind that has 2 solutions then turns green for ammonia present its made by Aquarium pharmaceuticals.

Anyhow I beleive the ammonia after feeding is released and then the bacteria eats over time. If I test in the morning I get 0 ppm ammonia, But after feeding it goes up to .25 or so.

The reason I am testing is that I noticed If I feed several times in a day closer to gether the ammonia lvls will rise above .50 so I started testing several times a day to find out when this ammonia is present and how long it takes to go away.

So far 3 hours seems to be the time limit in my tanks. If I feed first thing in the morning ammonia goes up to .25 ppm then 2-3 hours later goes back to 0 ppm. If I feed sooner than 2 hours apart ammonia lvls rise even more.

I feed only what they will eat with in 2-3 minutes and I put in a small amount at a time then when they finish the first small feeding I add some more. the whole feeding time is less than 5 minutes and rarely does food go to waste in the tank.

So this ammonia is from direct fish wastes. I thought the bacteria ate the ammonia instantly but maybe it takes it a couple of hours??

 

[TomK2]

Wow. I never heard of anyone graphing ammonia levels on an hourly basis. Well, I can't think of an explanation for this. The fish would have to be metabolizing the food proteins incredibly fast to cause an immediate rise in NH3 like that. Perhaps microscopic food particles in the water or some other additive in the food is affecting the test, and it takes a few hours for the filter to clear them ?

 

[TomK2]

Here's a thought - put a flake of food in the test tube, add water with no ammonia, see if it makes it positive?

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

I think ill try that I see the fish going after they eat so it doesnt take hours for the fish to go to the bath room. I just fed about 30 minutes ago and did a test this time the test was alot less ammonia almost 0 after eating.

So now I am going to try again in the morning. perhaps when they wake up the have to go?? kind of like people

 

[TomK2]

Guess what! I was searching around for info on test kits, and I ran across an article on choosing ammonia kits. The author was recommending salicylate kits because the minimum test limit was lower and more reliable, so that he could detect low concentrations of ammonia "such as happens just after feeding."

While I forgot to copy the link, It stuck in my mind because of this thread. You are not alone in this observation. I think it was a pond article. I still can't explain it though.

 

[TomK2]

O.K. so you are begining to realize that I get a little nuts when I can't figure something out. I decided to test my earlier hypothesis.
While doing todays ammonia check, I filled up two tubes from my aquarium. One I ran normally, and the other I put in a flake of TetraMin Tropical Flakes, shook the tube to break it up, then ran the ammonia test. The tank tested zero, and the tube with the flake turned green, up to about a 1.0 ppm reading.

I think your low ammonia after feeding is an artifact from slight amounts of food being in the test. Since the amount of food in the test tube is much less than the flake that I put in, you reading is just barely making the minimum. But if you re-feed before the food is cleared, you get a higher reading.

Try it!

 

[PK Tester]

Does the size of a tank affect this? or atleast the amount of ammonia?

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

hmmmm... that could be I have noticed in the morning it happens more than in the afternoon. Size of tank didnt matter it happend in my 29 and 10 gal. Last few tests have turned up 0 ppm so perhaps a water change that day might have caused these low lvls?? As well as parts of food?

 

[Frisckey1]

THe prescence of anything in your test tube aside from water - can give you inaccurate readings. Ammonia is normally produced by fish, and as a by-product of food/waste breakdown. - I don't think the product acutally has ammonia in it?

That's why they tell you not to put your finger over the top of the testtube when performing the test. ANY unusal susbstance can throw off the test.

fish food is full of all kinds of things, like phosporus, crude protein, vitamin supplements, etc. I find it interesting that you get a reading 2 hours later, too, tho. There must be a residue, or simply ammonia or ammonium in the food.

Remember, AP salicylate tests test for both NH3 and NH4 (at least mine does) so it may not be ammonia, but ammonium.

Does it do with with all foods, or just flakes?

Do you have ammonia in your tap water?

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

No ammonia in the tap Seems like a the water is testing 0 ppm lately even after feeding. So it could have been from the vaccuming and water change the day before.

Also I did rinse out the filters in tank water that day to improve water flow through them because of the small amount of ammonia present after the feeding.

 

[TomK2]

Does the size of a tank affect this? or atleast the amount of ammonia?

I have never observed this. Guppy Guy has, and at least one other pond guy. I didn't think that food or waste could be metabolized so fast as to cause a 2 hour ammonia spike around feeding. I figured that fish would have no reason to hold urine like land based animals, so I doubted it was from synchronized urination around feeding time. That gave me the idea that it was coming from the food itself. First step in figuring this out was to see if food flakes in a test tube would cause it to turn green, which it did. I would think this could be an artifact, and that the green tube is a false positive caused by the food.

I personally have tested shortly after feeding and not detected any ammonia. I would think that the size of the tank and the amount of the food would be a factor. Most likely to be seen with smaller tanks and larger amounts of food?

Perhaps the maintenance the GuppyGuy did improved the filtration so that the particles are being cleared now? Very interesting phenomenon