My Ammonia Won't Go Down - Even With Water Changes?

[Reeveso]

I'm almost 100% positive that if the ammonia gets high, you're supposed to do a water change...right?

My ammonia is at about 1 right now and I want it to get back down, so I did 3 water changes of about 10% each (so about a 30% water change)..but my ammonia didn't even budge.

I checked my tap water to see if that was causing the problem, but the water from the tap has 0 ammonia.

By the way, I did these water changes within about 1 hour, in case that matters.

Is there something I'm missing?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you see any ammonia at all you should be doing daily 25% (minimum) water changes until it's gone, can you give us a bit more background on the tank and set up before we advise. how long has it been running, what size is it, what fish are in it, was it cycled before adding fish, what are the rest of your water stats.

doing 3 10% changes won't actually change 30% of the water, when you do a 10% change you add in 10% new water, then when you do another 10% change you'll be removing some of the new water along with the old stuff, so the 2nd change will be more like 8/9%, then the change after will drop down a bit as well. so it's best to do 1 large change rather than several small one, the cummulative effect is not exactly the same.

 

[backtotropical]

I agree with Wiggly. 3 x 10% changes is actually equal to 1 x 27% change, not 30%. This is exaggerated with larger water changes, for example 2 x 50% changes is equal to 1 x 75% change, not 100%.

Try a larger change, say 50%, then test again. If its still not coming down, you are either not performing the tests correctly or you have a faulty test kit. What type of test kit are you using? How old is it?

 

[Rooster]

I suspect a duff test kit - or duff reading ! LOL
Please tell us what, if any, filtration you are using... and how long has this been running ?

Also, what type of test kit ?

 

[Colin_T]

I agree with Wiggly.

ROFL
that's funny. We gotta call her Wiggly from now on

 

[JellyPi3]

I agree with Wiggly.

ROFL
that's funny. We gotta call her Wiggly from now on

lol...and yeah i agree...i hate ammonia spikes...but what are the nitrite and nitrate...and how long has the tank been set up etc...like someone asked?

 

[Reeveso]

OK I might have found the problem.

After 5 minutes it was reading about 1 for ammonia, but after like 20 minutes it went back down to 0....?

Does anybody know why that could happen?

It's a 29 gallon tank w/ 1 betta fish that's only been in there a few days but the betta was already in a tiny tank (I felt bad for the poor thing being in such a small tank - it was my sis's and about a .5 gallon tank) and I got the rocks from that so I should have SOME good bacteria.

Filtration is whatever came w/ the 29g tank (I got the started kit from Walmart) - I can't remember the exact name of the filter at the moment, but it's for a 30g tank.

What I'm worried about is why it went back down to 0 after a little while...I found that kind of odd.

 

[Colin_T]

most test kits show acurate readings after about 5 minutes. The longer they sit around for the more the solution breaks down and the results change. I would believe the reading after 5 minutes and ignore the reading after 20minutes.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

lol, i've been called that before.

i also like 'o wise and wonderful wiggly one' but whatever floats your boat

most test kits show acurate readings after about 5 minutes. The longer they sit around for the more the solution breaks down and the results change. I would believe the reading after 5 minutes and ignore the reading after 20minutes.

yeah i agree, take the reading at the time alloted on the test kit instructions.


after water changes give the tank 15 minutes or so, then take a test, take the reading from whenever the test kit instructions say, usually 5 mins for ammonia i think.

the rocks will have bough next to no good bacteria unfortunatley, see if you can get some mature media from another tank and stick that in the filter.

as you've only one fish in the tank he won't be creating much waste, so do a great big water change (like 75%) which should dilute it plenty, then just small 10% changes daily until the tanks cycled should keep on top of things.

 

[Reeveso]

Sounds good, I'll try that out...thanks everyone!

 

[Dr. Bogger]

I just found out, from a experiment i just did, that sometimes if gravel is not cured properly at the manufacter, it can release ammonia into the aquarium, according to my tests, this is what i found:

I took a handful of gravel, put it in a plastic cup, added fresh, room temperture dechlorinated water, with no ammonia in it, into the cup, and here were the results:

After 24 hours, ammonia was 0.50.
After 48 hours, ammonia was 2.0...

If that dont shed some light, idk what will...

I found this out, because i have been having problems cycling my tank, and i was told buy a guy at Fritz-Pets to do this test, and the results are stunning...

 

[Rooster]

still sounds like a duff kit to me... most folks use API liquid kits, I would try a new one.

 

[Reeveso]

still sounds like a duff kit to me... most folks use API liquid kits, I would try a new one.

Rooster, what kit would you recommend? I'm using the API but I get frustrated w/ the readings sometimes because I've yet to see a color that resembled what they have on the cards lol - I do just the "closest".

 

[Colin_T]

I just found out, from a experiment i just did, that sometimes if gravel is not cured properly at the manufacter, it can release ammonia into the aquarium, according to my tests, this is what i found:

I took a handful of gravel, put it in a plastic cup, added fresh, room temperture dechlorinated water, with no ammonia in it, into the cup, and here were the results:

After 24 hours, ammonia was 0.50.
After 48 hours, ammonia was 2.0...

If that dont shed some light, idk what will...

Any sort of dirt or organic matter that isn't washed off the gravel will cause the same results. The stuff on the gravel breaks down in water and releases ammonia.

 

[Rooster]

I have the API "master kit" but you can buy each test seperately - but it sounds like you have the same ones anyway !
Did you buy the kit recently ? - I wouldnt trust one beyond a year old (some say 6 months)

Heres how I do it:
I wash out a tube and cap in the tank, then just dip for the correct level of water, add the correct amount of drops (after a quick shake of the chemical) cap it, and shake - dont just put your finger over the end in lieu of a cap !
Stand the tube in the hood for 5 mins, then using daylight ( outside if poss) I view the colour through the tube held against the white of the test card.

Its a mystery why you are getting a reading from fresh water - id like to try a sample of filtered/bottled water.... better still, R/O water.
If you are still in the dark, get a local fish shop to test a sample of you water - they should do it for free.
Please keep us informed - I'd love to know whats going on !


@colin_t .... the stuff in the gravel "should" be REMOVING ammonia !!!!