ammonia in tank, dont know why :S

[chikku]

hey there, ive just tested for ammonia in te tank and i found a reading of 0.5-1.0ppl in my 460L tank. i found it odd coz i tested for nitrites and they were 0.

they tank has been set up for nearly a year now and houses 8 discus (4 adults, 4 juveniles), 1 severum, about 30 random tetras and 6 clown loaches.

dunno why theres an ammonia reading in the tank i find it quite odd that none of my fish are reacting to it either. the last time i tested for ammonia was a while ago and back then it was 0.

hope someone has an idea of wats happening:S its wierd

chris

[Dave001]

Faulty test kit maybe?

[Bill T]

Dead fish in the tank?
Increased feeding recently?
Reduced water flow from clogged up canister & lines?
Power outage of more than one or two hours leading to death of bio-filter? When the power comes back on, the tank come back to temperature and everything looks normal, but your tank has to recycle.
Canisters so full they can't cope?
Some disinfectant getting into your system which can wipe out the bio-filter?
Ammonium in your tap water?
Dead cow upstream from your paddock?

If your pH is low, then the ammonia is not so toxic, thus the fish are not reacting. Once you do get nitrite, however, things might be different.

Get into daily water changes until the ammonia is gone and nitrite has been and gone.

[Merrilyn]

Top advice there from Bill. :P

It might pay to test your tap water before you do another water change too.

If the water board is now using chloramine in the water to remove impurities (which is a combination of chlorine and ammonia which makes the chlorine more stable, and thus last longer) and your water ager only removes chlorine, then the ammonia will remain in your tank.

You need a water ager like Prime from Seachem,which removes chlorine and chloramine.

[mistakes r crucial]

Or alternatively you can use Sodium Bisulphate crystals which are available from Aristopet in 10 kilo lots for 65 bucks and will last you 20 years.... from my experience around 30 crystals will get rid of chlorine and chloramine in 3000 litres of water, 1 crystal to 100 litres. It's about a million times cheaper than anything else but it won't nullify ammonia and nitrite like some of the brand names do, its purely a water conditioner for Chlorine and Chloramine.

You wont necessarily get nitrite just because you have ammonia, I'd be taking Bill's and Mel's advice, look for dead fish in the tank, over feeding or some other detrious matter. Also do a Nitrate test and just make sure your tank is still cycled.
MAC

[stonedavid]

You cld put some zeolite in your filter, this absorbs ammonia and lasts about a year, the water running over the zeolites causes it to absorb ammonia in hte water. The zeolite lasts about a year then you wld need to replace it.
Pete