HELP!!!!! Ammonia test so dark it's nearly black!!

[fraggle]

I just tested my water, as I thought I'd better since it had been a couple of days after I'd tested it since things seemed to have settled down after the last debarcle.
Ths fish looked a little washed out, but don't seem too stressed or anything, but when I tested the ammonia, IT WAS OFF THE SCALE!!!!!
How the heck can they still be alive? What the fruit is going on?!?!?!? I've just done a 20% water change, since the advice last time was that 50% was too much.
I've still got tap water showing 1ppm of ammonia, but that is better than 8, so figured i should do one, but I AM AT A LOSS.
Why the heck has my ammonia risen? Why aren't my fish dead? What the heck am I meant to do?

I've just checked the cannister, seems fine, running so should be working.

I tested the water twice in the tank, showed so dark it looked black, checked the tap water, showed 1ppm, checked Oscars tank and that showed 0.

My niTRITES are 0,
My niTRATES are about 40 (I haven't vacced the gravel as since it was doing the mini cycle thing for what ever bizarre reason it decided to I didn't want to disturb any bacteria)

I've only very sparingly fed them twice in the last week, I don't know what else to do?

The test must be right, as I tested it twice (and used a different vial so if it was something in the vial that was mucking it up it would show) and it showed different levels for the tap water and the other tank.

But I haven't got any dead fish? My lone neon and rummynoses are swimming around fine, my farlowella twig catfish, is doing his thing, my dollars were chasing each other this morning, the tetras are chasing each other.

I'm at a loss.

[Sharon]

I don't understand how fish would still be acting normally with an Ammonia reading of over 8ppm.:ssuprised: Is it possible that something has died in the tank, or in the cannister? Have a look inside the cannister to see if anything's going on in there...Have a close look in the tank(under decor, and anywhere where a body may be). I'd do a large water change also,(around40%) and a substrate vac....Then another change, a few hours later until Ammonia is down. Someone else may be able to offer a better explanation.

[fraggle]

I've checked the cannister, there was nothing dead in it. I didn't think that there would be, since the balas and the tetras died the other week, I've been watching the fish everyday to check that no more have died. There is nothing under the decor, lifted all that up.

I did about another 25% water change. It's still nearly black.

[Sharon]

I have no clue, as to what's going on. I'd suspect a faulty test kit but that doesn't seem to be the case. Continue with the water changes( two a day...a few hours apart) and see if the Ammonia goes down.

[Northernguy]

Fraggle I do 50% w/cs all the time and I have never had a problem.Not even in my 10s.
With ammonia levels that high I would do know less.
Have you checked the date on your test kit?

[Sharon]

I don't always disagree with 50% water changes ...I have some tanks that I can do this, and some tanks that I can't. If I do more than 40% in my 55gal, the fish will stress. I do 50% in most of my small tanks, and everything is fine. I think it may depend on the sensitivity of the fish....

[digital3]

Are you cycled? Or have you ever cycled your tank? Sorry, not familiar with your situation.

I would do a 20-30% water change in the morning and one in the evening to keep things under control for now. And you're also going to have to test daily. If you can, use liquid tests instead of the strips because they are more accurate. I would also invest in some "Ammo-Lock;" that will neutralize the Ammonia so it isn't lethal to your fish, but keep the Ammonia properties active so that it can feed your beneficial bacteria in order for your tank to get properly cycled.

During this process you will see spikes in Ammonia and Nitrites. Once both hit zero, you will be cycled and you can go back to a weekly/bi-weekly water change schedule and don't need to use the Ammo Lock anymore.

[Commodore 64]

SOmething is wacky with the test kit. If the ammonia were really that high, everything in your tank would be dead.

Either you are getting a false reading or the kit is hosed.

[lovleeko]

did you use anything like ammo lock? Mine did this same thing in one tank due to ammo lock? The fish were just fine and my kit was reading 8 ppm. This is especially true if your tester uses nessler to test.

[Naturestee]

Agreed- Ammolock and similar products will mess up your ammonia reading. If you don't use any of those, take a sample to your LFS and have them test it. Maybe something is wrong with your test kit.

[Lady Hobbs]

You will also get a messed up reading if those test tubes have not been rinsed out several times if they were used to just do another test. Your ammonia would not drop from 8 to 1 doing one water change so I have to think your test was messed up.

[Amazon]

theres gotta be something wrong with the test kit your fish would be like so well messed up, not normal. this happened to mine when i was testing nitrite but instead of being black it was clear totally clear and i gave it like 30 minutes and the 0 mark on the scale says that the color should be yellow=[ im starting to get agravated with these darn test kits

[fraggle]

digital my tanks are cycled, have been for nearly 2 years. thumbs2:

hobbs the test that was 1 wasn't the tank water, it was the tap water. I tested the tank water twice (in two different tests tubes) just to make sure it wasn't something in the test tubethey were both so dark you couldn't see through the tube. The results after the water change was still 8ppm, even this morning after another water change it was 8ppm. Yet even using the same test tube as the tank that is showing 8ppm, it tells me that there is 1ppm in the tap water and 0 in Oscars tank and 0 in the quarantine tank.

I did use ammo lock last night after I freaked at 8ppm, but I don't know why it was that high to start with! I'd used ammolock the other week after my fish died when I found ammonia in the tap water, but I've done water changes since then and wouldn't have thought that there was any left in it, and the test I did on Friday only showed 1ppm, so I am stumped as to why it what made it go up to 8ppm. The tap water is still at 1ppm, and even after another 2 changes today it's still saying 8ppm (and I've used multiple test tubes to check it!)

The fish seem OK, look a little washed out, but then the pH has dropped down to 6 or less, (need to get some buffer, but was waiting until the whole ammonia thing had sorted itself out as I figured if it was lower it wouldn't hurt if there was ammonia in the tank anyway)

Will see how it goes. Just freaked me out! (still is a bit, I'm lost as to what the heck is going on!)

[Wild Turkey]

I was going to say "since it was "nearly black" and you did a 25% wc and it was the same, (not reduced 25%) your test is faulty." BUT since you used an ammo reducer theres no way to say that for sure.. So i would do small daily water changes to reduce any possible problem, and remove the ammo reducer so we can get true readings.

For now, take a glass of water and ammonia ( i hope u have some from fishless cycling hehe ) and add some until you get a even numbered ppm reading...2 or 4..whatever. Dump half of the water out and replace it with tap water. Test again. If the results are anything far off of half of the previous readings..time to get a new test. Unfortunately, you need a fishtank to test other test kits this way, but ammonia is EZ :D

[digital3]

Hmmm... The only thing I can really think of is a bad test kit. Perhaps you might need to pick up some new tests?

I would leave your PH alone, buffers usually cause more harm than good (unless you've already been using them), and you don't want to add any more stress to the fish by fiddling with the PH.

I'm really thinking now (like some other people on this thread), that maybe there's a problem with your tests. With your Ammonia that high, your fish would be seriously showing signs of stress.

[lovleeko]

It is probably still the ammo lock messing it up. Even if you did a lot of water changes. It took me a long time to really change all of it out and to start getting regular readings again. Eventually I got frustrated and just changed all of the water. Because by that time I found other accommodation for the fish. The ammo lock is your problem.

[Sharon]

I think that MUST be the problem as well. The test performs OK with other water sources, so it must be the Ammo Lock.

[fraggle]

I think it must be the ammolock, the test is working fine on other water sources and I only just got this API one 3 weeks ago, had a tetra one before that. (which has run out of ammonia test or I'd try that one too!)

WT I don't have any ammonia, can't find ammonia here is Australia, I just used fish food. Didn't really know what I was doing, didn't even do tests!! The guy at the fish shop just told me to set the tanks up and drop food in each day for 6 weeks, so that's what I did, then did a gravel vac and then stuck fish in it. Wouldn't have a clue what the readings where! LOL, didn't lose any fish, more by good luck that good managment I'd say.

digital the pH out of my tap is at about 8.8 or higher it's the darkest it will go on the high range pH, then because it has practically no buffer at all it drops to the lowest it will go on the normal pH over hte next 4 days, thought that that would stress the fish even more so that was why I was going to get a buffer. I was using pH down, which seemed to buffer it because I downed it to 7, and that's where it stayed, because I always checked it before doing the water change so I knew what to put the tap water down to.

Think I'll just do a whole bunch more water changes, see if that straightens it out. I got one of those seachen ammonia test doovi whatsists that hang on the glass, it is showing no ammonia, so if that only shows the NH3 not the NH4, and the NH3 is the free ammonia and is bad for the fishies, I think I'll stick with that for the time being till I can get rid of the ammolock and my tests are working properly!

Thanks guys! You really do rock.thumbs2: :19: :22: :11:

[Wild Turkey]

Not that its worth it now, but in the future there are websites that sell liquor ammonia online for the purpose of fishless cycling in AUS. I only say this cause someone posted a link a while back with one asking if it was ok to use. It was funny seeing "ammonia for cycling" lol and of course they jacked up the price a little but it is available.

To test you test kit you can use just about anything with ammonia in it though. Just wash the glass and the tube out well after.

The problem is the do hicky you bought..those are also really prone to giving bad readings and coming dead in the box. Irony, i know lol(you will have to replace the main component eventually in all of them, they sell them at most stores) So its doesnt mean for sure your test kit is bad...but it sure is looking more and more like it.

[Lady Hobbs]

Check online for Australian fish stores. There are a lot of them that you can buy from and they ship to your house.

[rookie]

wow do you wanna hear something crazy i have been fippin out because i got a new test kit today and my last one didnt test for ammonia. my ammonia was through the roof for an hour i have been looking for a answer and after reading a lot i found that i bought the same API water test kit so i am assuming it is deffinatly the kit. wheeee[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[fraggle]

Oh crap.
Now my farlowella is dead. Poor little guy.
My ammonia is still reading off the scale, but after doing research it's probably because of what the test uses to get the results. It's not ammonia, but ammonium.

Now I've got to figure out what to do with my pH. It's below 6. Very soft water. but pH out of the tap is 8.8. Oh this is so confusing and so frustrating and devestating. I hate losing fish. Twiggy looked so funny trying to swim around the tank with his tiny little fins.
And they are too darn expensive to have die! This is ridiculous.

[lovleeko]

Oh crap.
Now my farlowella is dead. Poor little guy.
My ammonia is still reading off the scale, but after doing research it's probably because of what the test uses to get the results. It's not ammonia, but ammonium.

Now I've got to figure out what to do with my pH. It's below 6. Very soft water. but pH out of the tap is 8.8. Oh this is so confusing and so frustrating and devestating. I hate losing fish. Twiggy looked so funny trying to swim around the tank with his tiny little fins.
And they are too darn expensive to have die! This is ridiculous.


Sorry for your loss. You can get those hang in testers and it will give you the amount of NH 3 (the more poisonous ammonia).