Sky High Ammonia And Heaps Of Dead Fish

[samanthajayne10]

Did a water change in my tank tonight, same process as normal all the same chemicals and within the hour half my fish were dead and the rest struggling to stay alive.
Tested aquarium water .50ppm ammonia. Was stunned at this as all parameters are normally 0 for me. Tested tap water and it read 2.00ppm ammonia. Have tested tap water previously and it's only ever read .25ppm. Why would there be so much ammonia in my tap water?
I've treated with amguard and there is limited movement from surviving fish. Getting better.
No point me doing another water change because is just be adding more ammonia to the tank. I use prime for all changes. Help!!!
I'm also worried that I'm giving this water to my birds to drink. What's a safe level for drinking water?

 

[the_lock_man]

Call your water company and ask them why this is has happened - it may be that they haven't yet become aware of it.
 
Prime will detoxify the ammonia (and nitrite) for a time, and this will allow your bacteria to process it through to nitrate. The maximum permitted ammonium (as opposed to ammonia) in the UK is 0.5ppm - obviously your level is 4 times that, but that might be legal in Oz.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There should not be 2 ppm of ammonia in tap water. Something is very wrong. Can you call your water company and ask what why you are seeing these numbers from the tap.
 
If a massive dose of chloramines was the cause, the the odds are you have chlorine as well as ammonia in the water. The chlorine is more deadly to fish than the ammonia. Perhaps the co. switched from chlorine to chloramine.
 
Ammonia and chlorine can be out gassed from water using aeration. Chloramine can not until it breaks down into its two components- chlorine and ammonia.
 

 
Can chloramines be removed from water?
 
Chloramines remain active in the water system for a considerably long period of time. Like other molecules, chloramines contribute to the total amount of dissolved solids in the water. Like chlorine, chloramines are selectively reactive and may have damaging affects when they remain in the water for too long.
When chloramines are present, there are usually trace amounts of ammonia and hypochlorite in the water as well. Chloramines are hardly ionic. As a result and because of the low molecular weight, chloramines, mainly monochloramine, are difficult to remove from water by reverse osmosis (RO) or water softening. Boiling and distillation cannot be used either. Substances for chlorine removal cannot be used for the removal of chloramines. Sunlight and aeration may aid chloramine removal.
Chloramines can be removed by means of a granular active carbon filter. This filter brings down chloramine concentrations from 1-2 ppm to less than 0,1 ppm. One must make sure that the active carbon comes in contact with chloramines for a significant amount of time. An active carbon filter is a selective, which means it also removes other compounds, such as chlorine (reduction to chloride), hydrogen sulphide, organic compounds, THM, pesticides and radon. When these compounds are present in water, this will influence the capacity of the filter.
The amount of chloramines in the water can be determined by measuring the 'total chlorine' residu. This means measuring the 'total amount of chlorine' or the 'amount of chlorine compounds'.

from http/www.lenntech.com/processes/disinfection/chemical/disinfectants-chloramines.htm
 
Using massive doses of Prime to neutralize things will also impede the bacteria. So be prepared to deal with this if you go that route. You might want to consider using some bottled water until you get things sorted out.

 

[samanthajayne10]

I though this was far to high but cannot find any information as to the acceptable concentration in Australia.
I will call the water company today but I can guarantee the will tell my test is faulty etc etc. and feed me bull crap.
Some fish have survived overnight but their colouring is still pale and a couple aren't to happy.
Doesn't seem to have affected my pleco?
Can anyone tell me if Am Guard gives false readings on an API master test kit? I know Am Lock does but can't find any info on Am Gaurd.

Thanks

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Most ammonia detoxifiers can cause problems with test readings for ammonia, especially when over dosed. They make it harder for the bacteria to use the ammonia but not impossible.
 
Different fish are variably susceptible to different levels of ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. But plecos don't like ammonia or chlorine much at all.
 
But if you added 2 ppm water to 0 ppm water, to get .5 ppm you would be doing a 25% wc. And it took all that new water before the ammonia hit .5 overall. That level on typical hobby kits should not kill most fish that fast. Something else may be at work here. The jump in ammonia from the tap shows something is up, Maybe it was/is something else that is causing the problem? Usually, killing many fish fast is caused by a contaminant of some kind.

 

[samanthajayne10]

All other tests came back 0. All my levels are and always have been 0. It took about an hour before I really noticed something was up. In a hour I lost 3 Congo tetras and my loaches and rasboras looked very sad. By this morning the loaches and rasboras were gone. Pleco seems fine as if it hasn't affected him. My geophagus and 2 gourami lost all their colour but seemed better this morning .
I did all the same tests on the tap water and the ammonia was all that showed up. Tested the tap water again this morning to make sure and it was still through the roof. However I did find out that our water had been turned off for a few hours yesterday. Had run plenty of water through the house prior to the change though