Ammonia Exposure

[hitman12131976]

Would exposure to Ammonia at the level of 0.25 be bad for fish for about two hours? The reason why I ask is because I put tap water in my fish tank today, treated, of course. After I did that, I noticed Ammo go from 0 to 0.25. This water was added after a 40%+ water change and gravel vac. I figured it was just some residue from the gravel vac, but I re-tested my tap water. It turns out that my tap water is at Ammo 0.5!!! I quickly siphoned out about 6 gallons in my 20 gallon tank (which only holds about 15 gallons of water). I purchased some drinking water which was at Ammo 0 and put it in.

The rest of the readings from the tap water were fine, just the Ammo was high. Any harm in exposing them for two hours?

 

[Mocha Jive]

I do know ammonia readings of 1.0 and more can cause gill damage but I think you dealt with it pretty fast that it's fine may have stressed them for a bit but it should be alright.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

should be ok. when fish cycling you should stay under .25ppm ammonia and that some times is like that for weeks.

 

[hitman12131976]

After the WC my parameters are:

Ammo 0
Trites 0
Trates 5
pH 7.8
Temp 78

Looks like all is back to normal. Cycle still in tact. Phew.

 

[Denzil]

I have a liquid formula called (fresh start) when changing water But more important to your question, I use another Liquid called (Safe water). Which removes harmful ammonia and nitrite.Plus it boosts the biological filters. SO IT SAYS!!!! Just be careful that when cleaning the gravel that you dont test straight after a water change, All the fish waste ect. That didnt get syphoned out needs to settle.

 

[nickmcmechan]

what dechlorinator do you use?

some only break the chlorine and ammonia bond to get rid of chloramide. the chlorine then dissappears by means of the dechlorinating agent which leaves a trace of ammonia.

prime does the same, but makes the ammonia safe for the fish (so you would still get a small positive reading, however now the ammonia is safe) but still makes it tasty for the hungry bacteria

 

[J double R]

yep, just use some prime and wc away!

 

[Rbishop]

Another vote for Prime. Takes all the worries away. Just test your tap every once in a while to see what base levels of ammonia you are working with, it will change up at times.

 

[hitman12131976]

I use AquaSafe by Tetra to condition the water. Yesterday, when I noticed the Ammo was at 0.25 I put AmQuel+ to try to neutralize the Ammo level. The Trites stood at 0 and the Trates stood at 5, but I just put AmQuel+ to be safe while I went out and got some Glacier drinking water from the vending machines. Supposedly the water is RO water.

 

[hitman12131976]

I have a liquid formula called (fresh start) when changing water But more important to your question, I use another Liquid called (Safe water). Which removes harmful ammonia and nitrite.Plus it boosts the biological filters. SO IT SAYS!!!! Just be careful that when cleaning the gravel that you dont test straight after a water change, All the fish waste ect. That didnt get syphoned out needs to settle.

Yes, I wait about 1 hour.