whats up with my water?

[seacat]

I just tested my water in my tank, because diatoms have been starting to show any my tank is like 9 months old. well everything zero but ammonia at .75 ppm and nitrates at about 10 ppm. anyheld would greatly be appreciated

 

[Brenden]

NO3 at 10 ppm is probably due to WC schedule. NH3 at .75 has to come from something dying in the tank. Any fish missing etc? You need to do a WC to get that level down. What all is in the tank?

 

[seacat]

ya everything died in the tank about a month ago because my dad dropped the ball i guess you could say on a water change. i have done 2 25% water changes before i restocked. currently its 2 3striped damsels. 5 hermits 2 snails and 1 emerald crab. do you think i need to do another or possible two and it will be good. one more thing will everthing be okay in there my dad wont get home with some water for about 4 to 5 hours.

 

[malkore]

How old is your test kit?
is it a nessler based ammonia kit, or a salicylate ammonia test kit?

Nessler kits will read ammonium created by some dechlorinators as ammonia, giving you false positive readings.

an old, expired kit just won't be trustworthy.

in other words, its worth getting your ammonia tested at the LFS to see if its yer water, or your kit.

 

[seacat]

see thats the only thing, i dont use dechlorinators in my water. i just let the water sit for quite some time before a change. and my test kit is about a month old or so. so its not the kit. its the water.