Anyone else have ammonia in tapwater??

[kimbowee]

I did my water changes yesterday on both of my tanks as usual and everything seemed fine. Go downstairs and am looking at the 30 gal tank and all of the fish seem to be sulking so I decide to test the water. Ammonia is at .5 Nitrites 0 nitrates 20 pH 7.6 temp 78. I had just added some new fish last week so thinking maybe I added too much at once. Just in case I decided to test my tap water. The readings I got on my tank exactly match what is coming from my tap, including an ammonia reading of .5. I test the water in my tanks every week and this is not the norm. I tested this tank last week before adding the new fish & all levels were perfect so I am not understanding what is going on.

This is a newer tank but I cloned the 20 gal tank that has been established for almost a year. I also decided to test the stats on the 20 gal even though everyone seems to be acting fine. Ammonia is also at .5. No new fish have been added to this tank in a couple of months.

Should I try doing a water change with bottled water to remove the ammonia? I tried calling the water department here but they have no idea what I am talking about. Tried asking for someone technical but they are all gone for the day. Not sure what to do at this point.

 

[yvez9]

maybe your test kit is expired or gives false readings. I doubt municipalities would put ammonia in the water....
it might be worth it to bring your water to the lfs to have them test it.

and a mature tank would deal with .5 ammonia in little time, a day tops...

 

[Bignose]

Post deleted b/c webpage showed I posted twice. Silly webpage.

 

[Bignose]

Stick with contacting the water company. If there is measurable ammonia is your water, in no way is it suitable for drinking. Measureable means detectable by the simple tests we use for fishkeeping, not the lab-grade tests which can detect very low concentrations. They need to be made aware of the problem, whether it is just short term or long term. It is especially a health problem if you can smell the ammonia in the water out of the faucet.

Most likely what has happened is the chloramines are not being added right, or the bond between the chlorine and amine (ammonia part) is being broken somewhere. Either way, it does need to be reported.

In the meantime, you could use one of the water conditioners that neutralizes ammonia. AmQuel+ comes to mind. I keep a bottle around in case of emergencies. I think, I am not 100% sure, but a conditioner that treats chloramine should work as well. The tough thing is that sometimes the way the conditioners treat the water the ammonia may be in a 'safe' form but still show up in a test.

 

[guppymonkey]

Its actually illegal if they don't do anything to fix the ammonia problem. Ammonia is a toxin that can affect humans if consumed. Its a poisin basically. They HAVE to do something to try to fix the problem if you contact the water department. In the meantime I would consider maybe using bottled water if you have to.

 

[cyprinut]

I'd say your test kit is old or bad, but since you mentioned that the fish aren't happy I'd be making coffee with bottled water if I were you- at least until I got another test kit or talked to that technician.

 

[kimbowee]

I have tested my tap water before and there has never been any ammonia reading. I am sure its not my test kit. I have 2 different kits and both give the same reading. One i just bought last week and has a manufacture date of June 13, 2005. I thought maybe it was my test kit too. I was running low on some so I hadn't even opened the new kit until today. I can't smell anything in the water but that could be due to the sinus infection I am just getting over

From what I am reading they add Ammonia with chlorine to make chloramines. This is what they use to disinfect our drinking water. I have been trying to search the EPA website but it seems they do not consider ammonia a toxic chemical & do not require testing for it. All that they are required to test is the amount of chloramines. There can be a larger quantity of ammonia without affecting the chloramine readings. I think I understood all of this correctly but I have been wrong before. If there are any chemistry/biology majors out there maybe you could break it down for me better in plain english.

I did just retest my levels & all is back to normal with 0 ammonia & 0 nitrites. I use AquaSafe for my dechlor & it states it neutralizes chloramines. I do not like adding any chemicals so am going to stay away from Amquel. My filter seems to be doing its job for now.

I will be calling again tomorrow & see what I can dig up with the water company. If its not safe for my fish it most likely isn't safe for me to drink either. I went and picked up 2 more 5 gal bottles of water today anyway.

Thanks for the replies guys, keep um coming!