Why do fish stay under filters?

[Reign]

I just tested Nitrite, and it came up as the pale light blue, so that is 0 Nitrite. The biggest Danio seems fine, I tried to see if her scales were extending outward, but they didn't look like they were, but I'm not sure yet. She's swimming back and forth near the bottom. When another Danio comes by, she looks at it and chases it for a second or two before resuming the swimming, and the other Danio goes away.

The strangest thing is that she seems to be really afraid of me, or people. Whenever I come by, she immediately goes to hiding behind something again, and that is making it a little hard to look at her scales. She periodically swims out of hiding, then finds out I'm there and goes back. When she thinks I'm gone, she comes out and resumes swimming back and forth.

 

[Reign]

Can anyone recommend a liquid that is guaranteed to have ammonia in it? I'd like to finally see whether or not my ammonia test kit works. I had noticed today that the vials that contained the orange liquid had an orange tint when rinsed, and when I stuck a paper tissue in it, an orange stain rubbed on the tissue. I had previously kept the vials filled with the yellow liquid overnight, and only rinsed them when I needed them again, so I think this might be "staining" the yellow to have an orange tint.


So I tested the ammonia again, two times using the Ammonia bottles the first and the Nitrate the second, but using the Ammonia test procedure for the Nitrate bottles. Both turned yellow, but now it is a few hours after, and the ammonia bottle vial looks to be gaining an orange tint again. I will use the same vials for the same tests tomorrow, and see if they turn an orange colour.




As for the danios, all of em ate a piece of a green pea I gave them. Their behaviour seemed to change when I did my daily water change, they seemed to get along well, were chasing each other in circles and were swimming to all levels, but the only difference afterwards was that I had not turned the air pump on yet. Can fish like Danios be stressed by a strong water current? The air bubbles produced by the pump moved quite a bit of water, but the fish didn't seem to mind it a few days ago.


After the water change, the big female Danio seemed to not be as afraid of me, so I was able to get a closer look, and I don't think her scales were extending outward, but I'm not sure so I have some pictures, but they are not very good quality since she is too fast. I'm also not sure whether she is bloated or pregnant or just fat.

 

[Semilla]

I'm really not trying to be a jerk, but.. Ammonia most certainly has ammonia! The cleaning kind? Any old brand will work since its not for cycling, only testing.
I really don't know anything about danio, sorry.

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[Reign]

I'm really not trying to be a jerk, but.. Ammonia most certainly has ammonia! The cleaning kind? Any old brand will work since its not for cycling, only testing.
I really don't know anything about danio, sorry.

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Ah, I guess that was obvious, I was just worried about other additives to the cleaning ammonia. And your post didn't come off as jerky at all, so don't worry, I don't mind anyway.


By the way, as an update, the yellow ammonia bottle vial turned orange overnight.

 

[Semilla]

the additives don't matter, since it isn't going in your tank.
Honestly, I often leave my ammonia vials full overnight, and it turns a paler yellow (or green) but never orange. As was suggested before, there is definitely something going on with the testing fluid. Expired, mislabeled, SOMETHING. I would call API and ask them? In the meantime, though, they sell just the ammonia test separate. I actually own two myself, because I wanted to check some suspicious readings a couple months back. Or, depending on where you got your test kit, you might be able to exchange the whole thing. I'm sure the Petsmart here would, and my lfs would probably at least swap out ammonia bottles for me.


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[excuzzzeme]

You should not be leaving any solution in your vials overnight. They should be rinsed, clean and dry before performing any tests as it will skewer them if not. Solution will continue to darken beyond the time limit set in the directions and anything beyond that limit is incorrect. If you follow the directions as laid out, you can't go wrong. When finished testing make sure you dump and rinse the vials well.

 

[Reign]

Alright, I wasn't able to find household ammonia in the house, but I did test the ammonia again and it came up yellow, and I will rinse it early. I will try to get some household ammonia when I can. The fish seem to be fine, maybe some shoo-ing and fast swimming sometimes, but I think it's alright.

How long does it usually take for ammonia to show up in the tank? I am feeding the 3 Zebra Danios one flake each every other day and I had them share one green pea. I am also doing daily 10-15% water changes. The fish have been in since Saturday, and it is now Wednesday Night, So that is around four days and a half.