I agree check your test kit first. I am pretty sure your fish would be dead or near dead if it was that high, and their behavior would be different. If you are testing with strips get rid of them and get a glass test tube test kit. API has great test kits. If it is still that high do at least 75% water change and dose 5x prime. Then repeat the next day with a 50% water change this should get things back on track. After that test the ammonia and nitrate daily. What is your Nitrate level?
8.0 Ammonia level. What to do?
- Thread starter JESTERX626
- Start date
First thing I would do is a 75% water change, then test again and possibly test with a different test kit. If your ammonia is still high (anything above.25ppm) then dose with Prime or Ammo lock and do 50% daily water changes until the ammonia is under control.
Also need to figure why the ammonia is there, A canister filter would have to be without power for quite a while to lose the bacteria in it. How long has your tank been set up and are you sure it was cycled?
Also need to figure why the ammonia is there, A canister filter would have to be without power for quite a while to lose the bacteria in it. How long has your tank been set up and are you sure it was cycled?
My water is pristine clear, I had a cycled AC50 on my 50gal tank, and after that added along my eheim pro2 canister for overfiltration. So on my 50gal theres both AC50 and eheim canister.
I use the aquarium pharmeceuticals FW master test kit. Theres no expiration date on it to check if it's out of date.
Imma test my water again since I did a 30% waterchange yesterday(my sink was clogged). So today i'll do another 30% and get back with the results.
I use the aquarium pharmeceuticals FW master test kit. Theres no expiration date on it to check if it's out of date.
Imma test my water again since I did a 30% waterchange yesterday(my sink was clogged). So today i'll do another 30% and get back with the results.
API test kits are not that good IMO. I have 4 master kits, all around the same age. When tested against my SeaChem test kit they were a wide range. Nitrate was between 5ppm and 200ppm on API, while seachem had me at 10ppm. To find out the expiration date, look at each bottle of reagent. At the top right of the label there will be a stamped number. The last four are the month and year. Three years after that date is the date of expiration.
My bottles are semi-fresh, just one year old.
Instead of doing the 30% wc i mentioned earlier I did a 50% instead, so from yesterday included, was a total of 80% WC. My ammonia is at 0 ppm now, contained!
Instead of doing the 30% wc i mentioned earlier I did a 50% instead, so from yesterday included, was a total of 80% WC. My ammonia is at 0 ppm now, contained!
200ppm nitrate. The kit goes to 160, however it was blood red, which is far darker than the 160ppm. This test was run twice as with new water test samples.mostlycichlids;660378;660378 said:
I keep a little container of ammo lock for just such an emergency.
I do a 50% waterchange with Ammo-lock, salt, and ketapang in the new water when I test high. It's been a year or so since I had an issue.
I do a 50% waterchange with Ammo-lock, salt, and ketapang in the new water when I test high. It's been a year or so since I had an issue.
Just do a 50% water change every other day for 1 week and add 1 tablespoon for every 10 gals. after the first water change.
Just for piece of mind, there was probably some contamination in the test tube or water when you got the 8ppm reading. You should be detecting about .7ppm right now if the earlier reading was correct. Hopefully that is the case.JESTERX626;660386; said:My bottles are semi-fresh, just one year old.
Instead of doing the 30% wc i mentioned earlier I did a 50% instead, so from yesterday included, was a total of 80% WC. My ammonia is at 0 ppm now, contained!
