Ammonium vs ammonia

[BigBamboo]

I just got a new tank and I'm having a problem with ammonia levels. My API freshwater testing kit is reading 1PPM. With the 1st water change I realized that my tap water has ammonia in it. I've done a few water changes and the ammonia levels are staying the same. I'm filling buckets at night adding prime stability as well as API stress Zymes. Because of the levels I added an ammonia alert from seachum as well to hopefully point out of things are critical. The ammonia alert is continually reading ok levels but API continues to read 1.0ppm. I also used Amguard when I originally found the ammonia levels were high. I've been adding appropriate amounts of prime stability each day for the past 5 days. Fish seem OK. The reason for my post is with the last water change my ph levels dropped to 6.8. At this point I'm just don't really know what to do. I have added some seashells and hopes to naturally raise the ph levels. Anybody got any ideas?

Stats:
30 gal starter tank (aqueon starter kit)
3 mollies

 

[BigBamboo]

My neighbor is experienced and seems to think that the ammonia isn't ammonia but ammonium.
Questions
Would ammonium show on API but not alert on the ammonia alert?
Is there any way to control ammonium in a fish tank?
Should I go out and buy water?
If that's the case should I go out and buy water every time I do a water change?

 

[Essjay]

Your specific questions first -

Liquid testers measure ammonia and ammonium combined. Seachem ammonia alerts measure only ammonia not ammonium.

Ammonia and ammonium are in equilibrium with each other. The 'balance point' is determined by temperature and pH. We can ignore temperature as that is more or less the same in all tropical tanks, but pH can be quite different from tank to tank, depending on the source water and anything which alters pH in the tank.
The lower the pH, the more that is in the ammonium form; the higher the pH and the amount in the ammonia from increases. At pH 6.8 there will be very little in the ammonia form. But if the pH is usually higher, there would be more in the ammonia form at the usual pH.



pH is tied into hardness, both GH and KH. Do you know your GH and KH? These can usually be found somewhere on the water provider's website, they'll use the term 'alkalinity' for KH. Usually when pH drops it is because KH is very low.
It is also important to know your GH. You have mollies, and these fish need hard water. Your dropping pH does suggest you have soft water which is why I would check your hardness.



Prime detoxifies ammonia (and nitrite) for 24 to 36 hours, then it becomes toxic again. If you are storing water overnight before adding it to the tank you are losing several hours on that non-toxic period. It is better to prepare the new water immediately before adding it to the tank.
StressZyme and Stability are both bottled bacteria products. They might help with the ammonia but they contain the wrong species of nitrite eaters. I would get either Tetra Safe Start or Dr Tim's One and Only as both of those contain the coreect species of nitrite eaters.


Something else to think about - live plants. These take up ammonia as fertiliser and they turn it into protein rather than nitrite. Buying some live plants would help reduce the ammonia in the water. Floating plants are particularly good at this, plants such as Amazon frogbit, water lettuce, water sprite. Even duck weed, though once it's in a tank it is almost impossible to get rid of it.

 

[seangee]

@Essjay is correct. In case you do not make the connection if your tank is not fully cycled do not attempt to change the pH until this is resolved or be ready for lots of large water changes. Ammonium in the short term is not deadly to fish, ammonia is. If you raise the pH you will also raise the ammonia ratio.

Once you have the ammonia / ammonium taken care of there is another consideration. Your low pH suggests soft water and mollies require hard water. I use the word suggests because pH is not a reliable indicator of hardness. Raising the pH won't neccessarily increase the hardness (the opposite is also true). You should test specifically for GH. Post the results here and someone can advise. Fortunately water that is too soft is easy to address.

 

[Byron]

I concur with the excellent advice from both members above.

You/we need to know the GH, KH and pH of your source (tap) water on its own. [It contains 1 ppm ammonia (or ammonium). just to confirm.]

The tank water GH and KH will or should be much the same as the source water, the pH you say is 6.8 so leave that alone until the other parameters are known and we can consider whatever action may be needed. You have three mollies, no other fish, just to confirm this.

Do not add all those chemical additives, they are detrimental to fish in varying degrees and are not needed anyway. As essjay noted, they are really not going to solve anything long-term.

 

[BigBamboo]

Thank you all for taking the time, I really mean it. This is really stressful and making me anxious. I did not have a KH/GH test kit and nothing on my provider's website. Time was restricted this weekend but ran to my local Petco (or petsmart) to see it they had one and they were OOS. PH was still going down, got down to a definitive 6.6. Did a water change to help and it's now at either 7.0 or 6.8 (color is hard to dertermine, probably closer to 6.8). I live in MD and I asked a few people who said we have hard water here.
I can confirm 3 mollies, no other fish. Going to go to a store by my job tomorrow (not big box) and speak with the guy there who has been EXTREMELY helpful.
Two of the mollies look to be dealing with everything ok, one's gill are definitely inflamed and she looks to be having difficulty breathing.
After the water change the water got a bit cloudy. I did the change Saturday during the day and there it's still cloudy at the end of the day today (about 30 hours later) but that is no surprise to me. Going to look at adding a live plant to help me moving forward... going to talk to the guy at the store and see what he thinks.

I have a whole new respect for this now. When I was in the big bix store yesterday a lady was there with her kid and they had a shopping cart with a 10 gal tank, some substrate, and a betta. I wanted so bad to warn her.

 

[Byron]

Can you not get the numbers for the GH, KH (Alkalinity) and pH from your water authority? Check their website. You really must know these before you can even consider doing anything to impact the water. "Hard water" and a pH in the 6's (and a pH that goes so low so fast) are not logical.