Bingo!
The Prime doesn't remove ammonia, it "neutralizes" it...to a point. Also Bob is right on regarding the beneficial bacteria as too much ammonia will hinder their growth.
Hello! New to tanks and here
- Thread starter Humblepie
- Start date
The Prime doesn't remove ammonia, it "neutralizes" it...to a point. Also Bob is right on regarding the beneficial bacteria as too much ammonia will hinder their growth.
Well I went to go do a water change on the tank(s) that I have. I asked my GF to fill unused bathtub in the spare bathroom up with water while I was at work. I got home from work and decided as a test to check the water for ammonia. I did the test and came up negative. I decided to speed up the process of dechlorinatin the water at this point by adding some Prime to the water. I waited a few hours as I had some other things to do. When I came back to the tub I decided to check once more ammonia. I was not expecting anything but to my surprise the ammonia levels were high! I can only assume that the water has chloramines in it. This is a problem. First off, I checked around as best as I could about San Antonio using chloramines. I found one statement made in 2008 that they weren't. I can now only assume that fact has changed as the test pretty much shows the water is treated with chloramines.
So now I'm in a bit of a conundrum. I can't really use the tap water even when treated because of the elevated ammonia. I don't have enough bio filtration yet to deal with the ammonia levels in a timely manner. So I have to find alternative sources for water in the meantime. Which means more expenses I wasn't counting on. It also means I now have to match the pH, gH, and kH levels of the water I buy to whatever I have in the tank for what the fish are used to. This is such a pain in the ***.
You don't need to let it sit for hours after you treat the water.
I'm no expert on cleaning the bath room, but don't some cleaners use ammonia?
Could it be that the water sitting in the tub for an extended period of time began to absorb ammonia from a cleaner that was used to clean something in the tub?
I think this could be part of the problem.
What I would suggest is buying a 5 gal bucket from home depot and filling that and repeating your experiment.
(I would also use a liquid test kit if you aren't already using one).
Get the water from the same tap as you did and treat with prime and let it sit for 10 mins. Then check it after 1 hour.
I have never had the problem that you are describing.
I actually put my water in directly from the tap and dechlorinate with stress coat in the tank and I have never lost a fish from doing this.
I hope this helps!
I'm no expert on cleaning the bath room, but don't some cleaners use ammonia?
Could it be that the water sitting in the tub for an extended period of time began to absorb ammonia from a cleaner that was used to clean something in the tub?
I think this could be part of the problem.
What I would suggest is buying a 5 gal bucket from home depot and filling that and repeating your experiment.
(I would also use a liquid test kit if you aren't already using one).
Get the water from the same tap as you did and treat with prime and let it sit for 10 mins. Then check it after 1 hour.
I have never had the problem that you are describing.
I actually put my water in directly from the tap and dechlorinate with stress coat in the tank and I have never lost a fish from doing this.
I hope this helps!
Some test kits test for total ammonia, which may end up leading to skewed test results...if that ammonia is in fact because of the chloramines.
A lot of cities are switching over to that treatment but I've yet to hear of fish losses directly because of it...
Maybe I missed it in the original post but what test kit are you using?
A lot of cities are switching over to that treatment but I've yet to hear of fish losses directly because of it...
Maybe I missed it in the original post but what test kit are you using?
API master liquid test kit.
http://www.amazon.com/API-FRESHWATER-MASTER-TEST-KIT/dp/B000255NCI
As for the tub, this is one that has NEVER been used. No cleaning products or nothing. just ran water through it occasionally. I also checked with a test later using 4 glasses I got straight from the kitchen sink.
All 4 tested to have zero ammonia when I tested them initially after pouring the water from the faucet into the glasses. Then I doused two of the glass with prime. Re-tested an hour later. The two doused with prime showed high levels of ammonia at over 5ppm. The ones not doused with prime showed zero levels of ammonia. Just to check again, I took the two glasses not doused with prime and showing zero ammonia after an hour aside. I doused one with prime and left the last one untouched. Tested those two an hour again. Want to guess the results? Prime doused water showed high levels of ammonia and the non doused one showed nothing.
That only proves chloramines in my water. And yes, chloramines will kill fish. Even after doused with prime, the ammonia left over, while not as toxic is still toxic and will kill fish. What makes it worse is how hard and akaline the water is here. Which can undo what prime does to the ammonia which is to ionize it. Luckily the rosie reds I have in the tank don't seem to care so long as I keep using a bit of prime everyday to keep the ammonia locked in ionized state. They seem to be healthy, swimming around just fine, eating and pooping like crazy. The other tank a couple of the fish died even though it has a partially established bacteria colony due to the chloramines. So I've started to switching out the water with small water changes for reversed osmosis water. I don't want to do too much because of the massive PH difference the fish would be subjected to. However, after even a little water change I can see they are reacting much better. I'll have to continue with that until I can get the tank mostly free of that nasty tap water we have here.
http://www.amazon.com/API-FRESHWATER-MASTER-TEST-KIT/dp/B000255NCI
As for the tub, this is one that has NEVER been used. No cleaning products or nothing. just ran water through it occasionally. I also checked with a test later using 4 glasses I got straight from the kitchen sink.
All 4 tested to have zero ammonia when I tested them initially after pouring the water from the faucet into the glasses. Then I doused two of the glass with prime. Re-tested an hour later. The two doused with prime showed high levels of ammonia at over 5ppm. The ones not doused with prime showed zero levels of ammonia. Just to check again, I took the two glasses not doused with prime and showing zero ammonia after an hour aside. I doused one with prime and left the last one untouched. Tested those two an hour again. Want to guess the results? Prime doused water showed high levels of ammonia and the non doused one showed nothing.
That only proves chloramines in my water. And yes, chloramines will kill fish. Even after doused with prime, the ammonia left over, while not as toxic is still toxic and will kill fish. What makes it worse is how hard and akaline the water is here. Which can undo what prime does to the ammonia which is to ionize it. Luckily the rosie reds I have in the tank don't seem to care so long as I keep using a bit of prime everyday to keep the ammonia locked in ionized state. They seem to be healthy, swimming around just fine, eating and pooping like crazy. The other tank a couple of the fish died even though it has a partially established bacteria colony due to the chloramines. So I've started to switching out the water with small water changes for reversed osmosis water. I don't want to do too much because of the massive PH difference the fish would be subjected to. However, after even a little water change I can see they are reacting much better. I'll have to continue with that until I can get the tank mostly free of that nasty tap water we have here.
