Strange Ammonia Problem?

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Pikestaff

Registered Member
Sep 20, 2008
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Hey all, I'm new here. I hate to join a community simply to post a question but I am at a loss.

A couple months ago I bought a crowntail betta and he has since been happily living in a one-gallon tank. He is fed one food pellet a day and I always observe him eating to make sure he does eat it (the one day he didn't eat, I scooped out the pellet after five minutes so as not to cause water quality issues) and I do a 25% water change once a week.

My problem is that I also have a water test kit and the Ammonia levels are constantly showing up as very very high. We're talking 6.0 ppm or higher. Needless to say I was in shock when I first did this test; I have worked at a fish store for the past year and we test customer's water for free and I have never seen a customer with Ammonia as bad as mine!

I immediately did a 50% water change but the next day the Ammonia was just as bad. So I did a whopping 75% water change and out of curiosity tested the water just a few hours later... Ammonia just as bad as before!

At this point I was starting to think maybe something is wrong with our water so I tested it straight out of the tap but nope, it's Ammonia free. So it is something in the tank. I'm at a loss as to what it could be that is producing Ammonia that fast.

My only other theory is that it is some sort of false reading because the fish looks great: swimming around, active, eating. The only possible indication of an Ammonia problem is that his gills do have a very pale patch on them but I can't remember if that is his coloring or not. I'm aware that it could very well be caused by Ammonia which is why I am really concerned.

I don't know, I guess it seems like it is taking forever for the tank to cycle. I haven't put any Ammo Lock or the like in there because I like to avoid stuff like that when possible but I'm at a loss, I've been doing 50% water changes daily for a week or two now and no signs of improvement. Any ideas on what could be going on? At this point I'm looking into saving my money (not doing too hot financially at the momnent, hehe) and getting a bigger tank with a filter... because I feel so bad for my fish. But any ideas in the meantime? Thanks in advance!
 
Are you using a water conditioner, such as Prime? Prime locks up the ammonia to a non-toxic form so it won't hurt the fish but still be available to the bacteria. Please get a filter as son as you can.

What kind of a test kit are you usinf? A reliable liquid test kit?
 
Thanks for the reply! I am using a water conditioner, but I don't know if it does anything to the ammonia, just the Chlorine/metals. I may look into Prime today. I am using the strip test kit by Jungle. I know the strips can be inaccurate but they were all I could find for ammonia at the store.

Nitrates/Nitrites look good (not surprising because the ammonia is not cycling); moderate water hardness, the pH/alkalinity is pretty high though.
 
The dip strips are extremely unreliable and not very accurate. Once the package is open, they get contaminated by anything in the air, including moisure.

The API Master Test kit is very good and reasonably priced.

Your water conditioner should not only handle chlorine, but chloramine also, which is more likely wha yourwater company is using. Chloramine will not gas off. What conditioner are you using?

With frequent water changes to handle the ammonia, you may never see nitrites and nitrates...
 
It is not that the test shows a false positive, it is that the test kit may detect both forms of ammonia, even if it is locked up and non-toxic. Provided you know your water conditioner does that, you should not have any worries. Your well established bacteria should remove it in 24-36 hours.
 
Thanks for the replies. I am currently using the Top Fin Water Conditioner which has worked fine for me in the past but I may start trying Prime because I've heard some good things about that.

It would not surprise me if the test strips were picking up ammonium as well as ammonia but I want to be sure :)
 
I wish I had a liquid test kit, I have a non-liquid because I had it in the first place... and I am not going to buy a new one unless I use my current
 
Don't some conditioners show false-positives on the ammonia tests?
rbishop said:
It is not that the test shows a false positive, it is that the test kit may detect both forms of ammonia, even if it is locked up and non-toxic. Provided you know your water conditioner does that, you should not have any worries. Your well established bacteria should remove it in 24-36 hours.
Click to expand...
My liquid test kit always shows Ammonia after a water change, the level of Ammonia around here is fairly high, less than 24 hours later it's 0, I do large water changes at least twice a week..as said use a reputable conditioning product, and LTK.....:idea:
 
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