A.p.i Liquid Test Kit. False Results. Bucket Material

[scotslasszoe]

Went into mt LPS today with a water sample as looks like my small 2 ft tank has ich. i do water test every week just to make sure everything is ok. Well as far as API say all water parameters are good, though Lps done a water test with a better quality liquid test and told me my water has a medium amount of N02. I watched him do test and he done his own water tests infront of me (his cycled tanks and a cycling tank).

I am totally shocked to find that my API liquid kit has giving me false reading as it shows 0.

Has anyone else had the same probs with api?

Zoe

 

[chr15_8]

i hope not. i bought one a month or 2 back.

when did you get yours? maybe its a dodgy batch. try and email api and see what they say.


chris

 

[scotslasszoe]

i hope not. i bought one a month or 2 back.

when did you get yours? maybe its a dodgy batch. try and email api and see what they say.


chris

Hi i have 2 bottles of Nitrite. one bottle is around 4 months old and the other is only aound 2 months old. I re done the n02 tests when i got home from LPS with both bottles again to get a reading of 0 from both bottles.

Hmmmm i am totally gobsmacked, I though at first his test was wrong but he took water from 2 of his tanks. first being fully cycled which showed 0 no2 and the cycling tank had high n02. So it does state my tank has N02. i am going back on monday with water samples from both my tanks to find out what results are. He also wants me to take in my testing kit so he can test his tanks with api

Zoe

 

[chr15_8]

mmm

i think im going to go to my local and get them to test mine quickly aswell

i know one uses strips but im sure the other one uses liquid, i ll also try and get another one to do it to confirm it.

chris

 

[scotslasszoe]

Strips oooh dear.

I will find out on monday what he score is. Just goes to show how unrealiable some products are, which unfortunatley can and will cause fish deaths. Touch wood i have had no deaths in this tank apart from a small neon who died a couple of hours after being put in tank no signs of disease so have put it down to stress

Zoe

 

[SuperColey1]

I remember a thread similar to this about API about 6 months ago. They did respond saying that the timings of mixing and shaking were very important.

Therefore it it says shake the bottle vigorously for 30 seconds then you must do it for 30 seconds vigourously as most kits have several ingredients and end up like 'oil on top of water' style mixes. therefore the shaking part is very important to remix them.

that being said test kits are always very inaccurate until you get to the laboratory qualities where they calibrate them regularly and have reference solutions etc.

I don't use test kits. I look at my tank and if the plants look good and the fish are fully coloured, dont have red gills and aren't flicking (or showing any other signs of illness) then I'm happy.

Even the LFS's test kit won't be too accurate and with drop test or strip test the result from the same water can vary on 2 tests, so I wouldn't worry too much about the LFS result differing from yours.

Try it yourself. Get 2 identical measures of your tank water, and do the test twice. see if they come out the same.

On another note, why would you take a water sample into the fish shop because you think you have ich? Surely you should take a fish sample and not a water sample. Nitrite test isn't going to tell you if you have ich or not whereas your eyes watching the fish will.

Andy

 

[scotslasszoe]

Hiya. I took a water sample as he did'nt think it was ich. I was not 100% sure it was as never had any dieases before so he asked me to bring a water sample so he could make sure everything water wise was ok.

Zoe

 

[SuperColey1]

Would still be interesting for you to do 2 tests on your tank water to see if they are equal. If you do one on your tap water that would be an even better test as the water should read zero (or as good as) nitrite.

I will do it too seeing as the only test kit I ever bought was an API master test kit although it is about a year old it hasn't been opened as Ive never needed it. lol

I'll show ya my results if you show me yours. lol

Andy

 

[SuperColey1]

From the left we have tap water, tank water sample 1 and tank water sample 2

You can see the colour card on the right and blue is 0 with 0.25 being lilac.

As I expected they are all blue (good filter and planted tank should get rid of ammonia which produces nitrite)

Doesn't prove they work when the nitrite is positive but at least none of them show there is nitrite present when it wan't expected.

Andy

 

[scotslasszoe]

I done the same as you tho need new batterys for cam.

Mines are the same, all as blue as the sky

I am gonna take another sample in to LPS 2moro and see what his results show as have noticed some of the fishies gills are looking a tad red?

My large tank is all fine and dandy

Zoe

 

[SuperColey1]

Red Gills could signify either gill flukes or other parasite or it could be ammonia/nitrite present.

If your filter is running properly and your tank is cycles then I can't see it being nitrite or ammonia unless there is a problem with the filter (flow rate diminshed etc) or if it is not large enough for the tank / fish load it is dealing with.

Any tank with a filter of the right size for its bioload which is cycled properly should mean a tank free of ammonia and nitrite forever unless it has a problem.

Andy

 

[scotslasszoe]

Hi.

Well as far as my test kit shows there is neither ammonia or n02. it is a 2ft tank with a few livebearers and 2 small corys.

I did have2 large goldfish in tank before the tropical fish, tank was fully cycled using a fluval 2 plus. I last week put in a brand new fluval 2 plus into tank to clone it and have it as a spare incase it is ever needed. so there is 2 filters running.

Zoe

 

[SuperColey1]

I can't see a problem there then. fluval 2+ should be OK for a 2ft tank.

If there has been a mini cycle it should be over soon.

Keep watching their gills though and see if they flick at all. If so then treat for parasites.

andy

 

[scotslasszoe]

I can't see a problem there then. fluval 2+ should be OK for a 2ft tank.

If there has been a mini cycle it should be over soon.

Keep watching their gills though and see if they flick at all. If so then treat for parasites.

andy

Ok cool. I have noticed one of my Female guppys rubbing herself off of things? could that be a symptom or just what they do\/

\will do a good few WC over the next few days to see how it goes.

Thanks again

Zoe