test kits expiration date?

Spunky

AC Members
I have been using the jungle lab dip strips just to keep an eye on things for the past year. I am planning on getting new fish, so i did my weekly water change and used the Tetra water test kit (have read they are way more accurate than dip strips) just to doubly make sure the tank is ready. it told me i had 1.5mg/l ammonia. I flipped and changed the water again. it still read 1.5.... i tried a second kit i had laying around... 1.5. so i check the other tank... 1.5 and then i checked the tap.... 1.5! The dip strip read 0.

Do test kits have an expiration date? or do i just have high ammonia in our tap water?

(PS, If you are wondering, i am not using a quarantine tank because the all the fish are being transfered to another tank and the new ones will go in that one.)
 
No problem. Stick to the liquid test kits. Many of us have ammonia in our tap water. Just use a good conditioner, like Prime, to bind it into a non-toxic form that won't harm the fish but keep it available for the bacteria. In a healthy tank, the ammonia should read zero with in 24 hrs after the water change.
 
I had planned on getting some GBR today, but it turns out i will be getting a test kit!

Last night i lost 7 serpae tetras and 1 zebra loach. :( i did a major water change last night and it must have killed them..... i may have outdated conditioner as well!!! I usually do 1/3 twice a week and when replacing water i did not put conditioner in. We had great water were i use to live, and i honestly never thought about rethinking that practice when we moved. Its funny though, "it" wiped out by species. My 6 kuhli loaches, bristle nose, guppies and small severum are fine. All it took was all the tetras and the other loach.

thanks for the input!
 
That bites! Keep us informed.
 
ouch, that really sucks. I've been using prime for a while now, Love the stuff, though I need an eye dropper, and it stinks. Ever lifted the hood of car after its run a while with a bad battery? yeah....... you get the picture.

Though at work I tested a battery the other day, opened the bay and almost puked, Think prime X 10 the intensity.
 
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