Need Help-Tap Water Testing Positive For Ammonia

[jbarbaresi]

I have a 150 gal tank that has been running for close to a year now. Stock includes a 10-11" Tiger Oscar, 4 clown loaches about 4" each, and I recently added 2 Red Hook Silver Dollars (3") and a BGK (4-5") in the last week. Its been a couple months since I tested for ammonia but due to adding the new stock I wanted to stay on top of it so ran a test after a couple days of adding the new fish. I use the API dropper test kits.

My ammonia reading was around 1.0ppm, which was a surprise for me because I'm used to seeing results of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 5-10 nitrate. I added some ammolock, did a 50% water change, and tested again the next day, with the same reading on ammonia. Nitrites were still reading 0 and nitrates were around 5ppm. I decided to test my water coming out of the tap and it too read about 1.0ppm for ammonia. I thought maybe my test kit had gone bad and ran out to purchase a new one. The new kit had the same results with both the tank water and the tap water.

The fish don't show any sign of distress or trouble breathing, I am running two Eheim 2028 filters with plenty of circulation. Is there anything in my tap water that could be giving a false positive on the ammonia tests?

edit: my tap water is city water, not well water.

 

[mos90]

sounds like chloramine.

NH2Cl is prepared by the chemical reaction between ammonia and hypochlorous acid[2] under mildly alkaline conditions:
NH3 + HOCl → NH2Cl + H2O id be using a good tap water condioner like prime that eliminates chlorine,chloramine and ammonia.

im not 100% sure that chloramine will test positive for ammonia, could possibly be something else.

are u using a tap water conditioner?

 

[mos90]

Chloramine

Chloramine is a compound of chlorine and ammonia that is also added to tap water to control bacteria. It can also be formed by adding water containing free chlorine to a pond containing ammonia. If any ammonia is present in a pond, be sure and treat it before adding any tap water containing chlorine. To determine if Chloramine is in your tap water, fill a 5 gallon bucket with tap water, add the proper amount of chlorine neutralizer, and then test the water for ammonia using your ammonia test kit. Chloramine is present if a positive indication of ammonia is found. Chloramine is difficult to measure quantitatively in low concentrations, and particularly when a combination of chlorine and Chloramine is present.

Acceptable concentration 0 Chloramine does not decrease concentration nearly as fast as chlorine when exposed to air. It produces the same general effects as chlorine but is usually found in the lower concentrations that result in long term damage to the fish. The same treatment actions as for chlorine apply except that the ammonia remains after neutralization. A "healthy" bio-converter will take care of the ammonia or a chemical treatment may be used. Some commercial products incorporate treatment to both neutralize the chlorine and bind the ammonia components at the same time. Check the manufacturer's directions.

add a good water conditioner to a few gallons of tap water in a bucket. test after a few minutes. see if ammo gone.

it is also possible to get a false reading even after treating the water. but the water should be safe after treatment.

 

[jbarbaresi]

yes i use petsolutions brand water conditioner. it says it removes chorine, choramines, and heavy metals. let me go test it out on some tap water in a bucket and do the ammonia test again. thanks.

 

[jbarbaresi]

i did an ammo test on the tap water in a 5 gal bucket after adding an overdose of water conditioner and sure enough the results were 0ppm. i decided to do the same test on some of the tank water in a 5 gal bucket with an overdose of conditioner and still got a .25ppm ammonia reading. not good but at least now i know what i'm really dealing with. i guess i'll do a massive water change tonight and add a hell of a lot of conditioner as its filling back up, as well as some ammolock.

i guess chloramines are the culprit but i find it odd that i never used to get a false positive on the ammonia tests, maybe the county just started using chloramines in the tap water over the last several months. maybe its the new petsolutions brand water conditioner that needs more than the recommended dose to eliminate chloramines. either way now that i have the problem i can figure out a solution. thanks for the input mos90.

 

[jeepsnfish125]

sounds like you are treating your water change water AFTER you put it in the tank. you should treat water to remove chloramines before adding said water to your main tank, like in a bucket or rubbermaid tote... you are diluting the dosage by treating more gallons plus putting undue stress on your fish by changing water params up and down

 

[jbarbaresi]

sounds like you are treating your water change water AFTER you put it in the tank. you should treat water to remove chloramines before adding said water to your main tank, like in a bucket or rubbermaid tote... you are diluting the dosage by treating more gallons plus putting undue stress on your fish by changing water params up and down

you would use a bucket to do a 50% water change in a 150 gal tank?

 

[chesterthehero]

you would use a bucket to do a 50% water change in a 150 gal tank?

no but $20/$30 worth of 18/35 gallon totes ($5/$15 each) gets the job done... or see if you can get your hands on a 55gallon plastic drum... i prefer the totes because you can use them to transport larger fish and you can keep all the water changing hoses/pumps in them when not in use..

 

[tcarswell]

no but $20/$30 worth of 18/35 gallon totes ($5/$15 each) gets the job done... or see if you can get your hands on a 55gallon plastic drum... i prefer the totes because you can use them to transport larger fish and you can keep all the water changing hoses/pumps in them when not in use..

This is what I do.

 

[Mr Pleco]

If you using the python method of changing water, dose the tank according to the total volume of the tank, not the replacement water volume.

dollar for dollar switch to "PRIME"

Petsolutions- 16 oz. treats 940 gallons
Prime 250 ml.(8oz) treats 1250 gallons

API test kit tests for NH3 and NH4, all your interested in is NH3 (free) toxic AMM..

Seachem makes a Multi AMM test kit that will test for both NH3 and NH4, plus test for NH3 alone...this is the only kit I'll use when setting up a tank or testing a suspect tank.


http://www.seachem.org/Products/product_pages/MT_Ammonia.html