Tap water tested high for ammonia

[Beardog]

Hi All,

First post. I am a newbee here, but not to keeping fish. I noticed today after doing a routine water change that my fish were acting strange, so I decide to break out the test kit and found that I was pushing over 4.0 ppm ammonia. So I did another water change and tested again, 4.0 ppm. So I decided to test the water out of the tap, after the chlorine was removed 4.0 ppm!! I thought that maybe my test kit was old and testing false, so I decide to test some spring water out of a bottle and it tested 0 ppm. So much for a bad test kit. What can I do to make the tap water safe to use? I have way too many tanks to even think about buying bottled water(over 150 gallons). Does the ammonia remover from a bottle work, like ammo lock, etc ? This is the first place I have ever lived where the ammonia count was so high in the tap water and I dont know what to do, and Im freaking out. My fish are all doing the twitch and shake!! All my tanks are testing high for ammonia because I have been using this water for months. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly apprecieated.

 

[NeonFlux]

Welcome to AC. You need to keep doing water changes until you get to a reading of nitrate. Keep ammonia and nitrite 0.5 reading

 

[sushiray]

what do you use to condition the water b-4 using? or are you doing str8 into the tank? if been doing for months str8 you've been lucky.

since it will take time to get your AM & NA down, do more w/c & get ammonia removing media or can use the liquid form. surprise to hear such hi levels in your tap water. guess u should treat b-4 using or let it sit for couple of days.

many use prime to condition the water on every w/c. it says it removes chlorine chloramine ammonia.

good luck.

 

[snoopy65]

Welcome to AC.

First, what test kit are you using? Most of us here us the API liquid test kit. Strips are notoriously innacurate.

Second, are you on city water or on a well? I am not so sure your water is safe for you to drink with that kind of reading on ammonia. If you are on city, I would contact them about your readings. If you are on a well, I would read up on the affects of ammonia on you and what you can do to reduce them.

Third, the conditioner Prime will render the ammonia safe for the fish. If you are dosing the tank, you will need to dose for the entire volume of the tank. If you are dosing buckets, you only need to dose the bucket for it's volume. In using Prime, your test kit can read false positives as it doesn't do away with the ammonia, it just renders it harmless to the fish.

Hope this helps

 

[Rbishop]

Don't use ammonia removing media...its an overall waste of money. Why pay for something that bacteria will do for free. Just use a good water conditioner like Prime, that locks the ammonia up to a non-toxic form, but still available for the bacteria to consume. If your tank is fully cycled, the ammonia should be gone in 24-36 hours.

Take a reading before and after your next water change for comparison.

 

[Beardog]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. Im using the API freshwater master kit to test with. I tested straight out of the tap this morning and its between 2.0-4.0 for sure, showing a really dark green reading, not quite as bad as it looked last night but I think it looked darker in the dim light because it was late. I have been using aquasafe with bio extract to condition the water during changes, I know it does not remove ammonia though. I will go get some Prime this morning and dose all my tanks and use it everytime I do water changes from now on. I consider myself lucky that I have not had any fish die, I have rainbows that I have had for well over 5 years and it would have broke my heart to kill them off by just doing water changes thats adding ammonia to the tank. Kind of redundant huh? The goal is to get the ammonia OUT of the tank, not add it lol. Im guilty of being complacent and not testing on a regular basis. Pretty alarming that this much ammonia is in my city tap water. In all my years of keeping fish, this is a first. I will be alot more diligent with testing the water paramiters in the future.

 

[Plec123]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. Im using the API freshwater master kit to test with. I tested straight out of the tap this morning and its between 2.0-4.0 for sure, showing a really dark green reading, not quite as bad as it looked last night but I think it looked darker in the dim light because it was late. I have been using aquasafe with bio extract to condition the water during changes, I know it does not remove ammonia though. I will go get some Prime this morning and dose all my tanks and use it everytime I do water changes from now on. I consider myself lucky that I have not had any fish die, I have rainbows that I have had for well over 5 years and it would have broke my heart to kill them off by just doing water changes thats adding ammonia to the tank. Kind of redundant huh? The goal is to get the ammonia OUT of the tank, not add it lol. Im guilty of being complacent and not testing on a regular basis. Pretty alarming that this much ammonia is in my city tap water. In all my years of keeping fish, this is a first. I will be alot more diligent with testing the water paramiters in the future.

wait are you using a liquid or strip test kit?

 

[thorpbrian]

. Pretty alarming that this much ammonia is in my city tap water.

I think I'd be giving the city water bureau a call...your tap water should be drinkable and 2 to 4 ppm ammonia isn't drinkable in my opinion.

 

[Davy]

ya know its funny, i had a customer come in just the other day with a very similar problem.

 

[Beardog]

wait are you using a liquid or strip test kit?

Liquid




I will be calling the city on Monday to see what gives. I will have to do some research and see what is considered to be a safe ammonia ppm for tap water. I dont drink it, I drink bottled water but I have been giving it to my dog's. They will also be getting bottled water from now on.