High Ammonia Levels

[Claire Vaughan]

I have been doing daily water changes to try to get the ammonia levels down in my 125g for almost two weeks now. The ammonia level hangs between 0.25-0.50. It won't come down to 0 where it has always been before this spike. The only loss has been the gourmi. I've cut feedings down vacuumed waste. I've had this tank for 3 years now and have never had an ammonia issues. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[fishorama]

Wow, Claire, it's sounds like you're doing all that I would have suggested. What are your tap water parameters? There can be "seasonal" issues too.

Ugh, I'm not sure what to suggest next...Sorry, I want to help but I'm not sure how...

You can dose Prime every day or 2 even if you can't change water that often...

What has changed in your tank? I'm thinking there must be something...

 

[Rbishop]

Have you changed testing kits?

Looked for expired dates on them or possibly contaminates them?

Ensured test tubes are completely clean and rinsed?

Testing on tap and DI water to see if you have an accurate base to work from?

How old was the " Gourami "?

Change in decor or cleaning frequencies, even possibly foods?

 

[dougall]

Are you testing before or after a water change, or other?

What test kit are you using ?

What dechlorinator are you using?

For example Prime will convert chloramines to ammonium, which the API master test kit will read as ammonia. So if your water company recently started using chloramines, instead of plain chlorine, it would appear like this.

If it's definitely ammonia though, I would test the tap water, and maybe give your filter a good clean too.

It's possible you've caused a cycle somehow, maybe killing off beneficial bacteria somehow, anything you might have done recently that would cause problems? How do your nitrite and nitrate test?

if you are really going through a cycle for some reason, if you cannot kickstart the cycle somehow (I'm not one to suggest bacteria in a bottle), the best option is going to be waterchanges, increase the frequency and size of them until it completes.

 

[Claire Vaughan]

I'm going to do a full change this week end. The fake plants have been in the tanks since I set it up. I'll probable pull all of the existing decor out and replace it.
I went on vacation to Pismo Beach, CA and brought back a rock from the ocean. I washed it and dried it for a couple days and placed it in the tank. Maybe that did this. It seems like the Ammonia spike happened after putting that rock in the tank.
I do have Prime. I've been putting it in after each water change.
I haven't checked the expiration date of the API kit to check water parameters. I will do that. The Gourami was almost 2 yrs old. I need to check my tap water parameters. I don't know what that is. Even though the PH is high at 8.2-8.4, I have never had any water issues like this and have been using this water for years,

 

[Claire Vaughan]

Are you testing before or after a water change, or other?

What test kit are you using ?

What dechlorinator are you using?

For example Prime will convert chloramines to ammonium, which the API master test kit will read as ammonia. So if your water company recently started using chloramines, instead of plain chlorine, it would appear like this.

If it's definitely ammonia though, I would test the tap water, and maybe give your filter a good clean too.

It's possible you've caused a cycle somehow, maybe killing off beneficial bacteria somehow, anything you might have done recently that would cause problems? How do your nitrite and nitrate test?

if you are really going through a cycle for some reason, if you cannot kickstart the cycle somehow (I'm not one to suggest bacteria in a bottle), the best option is going to be water changes, increase the frequency and size of them until it completes.

I'm checking the water 24 hours after each water change. I use Prime and API Master Kit. The city checks the water from our house monthly. I should be getting a read out soon, I will look at it closely this month. Nitrite and nitrate are testing normal.

 

[dougall]

check right out of the tap yourself, what is OK for people, might not be OK for fish.

But see if you can check if the water company treat with chloramines, chlorine or something else

 

[Maisie Holmes]

Reducing your feeding rate really helps to control the ammonia levels!

 

[authmal]

Reducing your feeding rate really helps to control the ammonia levels!

OP has already indicated she has already done so, and the higher amount of ammonia is still occurring. It looks like the basics have been covered, and although some test kits show false positives of .25 when used in conjunction with Seachem Prime (my tanks always show between 0 and .25, even when one has been set up for about 7 years) that doesn't account for as much as .5.

Claire? Do we have any kind of update?

 

[McByrds]

I am having the same issue.