Extremely High Ammonia

[Tobigara]

i started a 44 gallon african oddball-ish tank more than a month ago. it was cycled and everything was fine but all of a sudden i'm getting huge ammonia readings.

Before weekly water changes, the water params were ph-7.3 amm-0 nitrite-0 nitrate-15 kh-3
Now everything is the same except for amm. ammonia is at 8 at all times even after 2-3 50% water changes. by my math that means the amm is in the 20's.

I would've thought the fish would be dead but they look and act as if nothing is wrong. they still eat well. they're active and come to me when i walk up to the tank. there is only 4 small fish in there. 2 ctenopoma@ 2-3 inches, syno @ 4 inches and a senegal @ 5 inches. filtration is def good if not excellent and more than adequate

the test set is good and so is my tap water. My other tanks are ok

can this be ammonium?

i'm a bit confused and more than a bit scared for my fish.

any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Colin_T]

ammonium is produced in acid water and ammonia is produced in alkaline water.
You could have chloramine in your tap water that is causing it. Otherwise there is a dead fish in the tank or you are putting too much food in. Stop feeding the fish for a couple of days and see what happens.

 

[Tobigara]

i thought tap water conditioner took care of chloramine. i also know that there is no dead fish in there. good idea to stop feeding. i'll try that and see what happens. thanks colin

any other points i may have missed?

 

[Colin_T]

some water conditioners will break the chloramine bond and allow the chlorine part to come out of the water leaving the ammonia behind. They usually have another chemical that binds to the remaining ammonia and prevents it from affectng the fish. However you still get an ammonia reading and it can take a little while for the filter bacteria to break it down and convert it it nitrite and nitrate.

A way to test for chloramine is to check a sample of tap water for ammonia. You then add some dechlorinator to that sample of tap water and stir it up for a minute. Then re-check the sample for ammonia.
Theoretically the dechlorinator will break the chloramine bond and get rid of the chlorine leaving behind ammonia, (in its safer form).

 

[tlef316]

make sure your Ph hasn't crashed (unlikely though since you have seemingly healthy Africans) same thing happened in my community tank. all of a sudden, i started getting off the charts ammonia readings. It turned out my water had zero buffering capacity and the ph went off the charts low. All my bacteria died, but since the Ph was so low, the ammonia in the tank wasnt as toxic. Still lost a few fish while i cycled all over again. awful experience.

edit: I'm in central jersey too, and our tap water has almost no buffering properties. it's worth a check.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Do any of your other tanks read as having high ammonia?

If the fish are fine it may be a bad test kit, but keep doing those changes just in case.

 

[Tobigara]

thanks colin i'll check that. i haven't fed them since sunday night as well but i haven't tested yet. i'll do that after work tonight and see if there's any change.

all my other tanks read 0 for ammonia. i think the test is accurate unfortunately

i use baking soda to buffer my pH so it shouldn't have changed but i'll check that too.

i'll keep doing water changes whether it's the chloramine thing, the pH or bad test set. i hope i don't have to cycle the tank again. i've kept up with the water changes but not testing. there was a death in my gf's family and here i am doing water changes between viewings and funeral and she's helping me. very hectic week tonight's the first night i can relax and really focus on the fish

what part of central jersey are you from? north brunswick for me

 

[tlef316]

what part of central jersey are you from? north brunswick for me

I'm in Hillsborough, just north of you.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

If it is an ammonia spike for real, I would take a little filter media from each of your other tanks. It should cycle again quickly if you use enough.

 

[Tobigara]

i tested the water again and,of course, did more water changes so some of these stats should be different now
here's what i got. pH-6.9 kh-1 amm-8 nitrite-.1 nitrate-15

i forgot about testing tap water with conditioner for ammonium until i read this again. i'll have to do that later.

am i cycling again? do you think?

 

[Tobigara]

i now have ammonia of 8+ in all 5 of my tanks. 0-.25 nitrite and 10-15 nitrate. my ph crashed in my 55 and 44 but not in the rest yet they all have 8 or more of ammonia. i'm getting a little ammonia(.25-.50) from the tap water after i add conditioner. is this ammonium? My gf thinks it's cause i switched water conditioners.

Please help! all the fish look fine but this can't be good for them even if it is ammonium. What can i do?

 

[SJ2K]

What dechlor did you switch to? Could just be giving a false reading

 

[Tobigara]

i switched from api to prime. on the off chance that was the reason i switched back yesterday. i pray that i'm getting a false reading.

 

[SJ2K]

Primes a great product dw, chances are its a false reading

 

[Tobigara]

how do i get a false reading? what can cause that? i hope you're right