No clue at all

[Sorrell]

I have never had an ammonia reading as I do daily water changes. My tanks all have lids and the fishroom is heated to about 85-86 which holds my tanks at 82.

There are strains of bacteria that can live in boiling water, so if you're gonna kill something you have to bleach it. I use a solution of 1:50, rinse countless times, and air dry. Any traces would be killed by decholrinator, as Clorox is sodium hypochlorite NaClO and calcium hypochlorite Ca(OCl)2 both which are chlorine solutions.

 

[GuppyDude]

try ageing or boiling and cooling the water, that tends to help, add the normal meds thogh. then test. your water company is definately going throgh changes at the moment, hold off on getting tap water for now. if u ahve a water company that means u probably live somewhere clsoe to the city or town right? do u have friends that live away from town out in the country? well water is perfect, no chems. my water is well water and it ranges from 7.5-8 for ph and the ammonia is 0, thats all i can really think of doing for water

 

[Sorrell]

Well, the water guy called me first thing this morning. Good news, but doesn't solve anything He said I have city well water where I live, and the PH is super consistent at 7.8 So this narrows it down to either my test kit is screwy, or there is something in my house that is causing the change

I'm going to buy a new tester today and then I suppose we will go from there

The two that were off last night, Dade and Bode are both about the same.

 

[Sorrell]

Dade's dead He looks the same as the guy from yesterday. I really need some help guys, what should I treat with? You name it I got it

 

[wuvmybetta]

I don't know what to say. I'm sorry this is happening. Throw away the baster and get one for everybody, or at least one for each shelf. That's what I do and I write who's baster it is on the top. Then ditch the bleach as well and start soaking them in Aquari-sol.preferably a cup on each shelf.

 

[silver]

Gad Dang............this is HORRIBLE!!!!!

I wish I knew just what to tell you, but I don't

I'm sorry Sorrell!! I hope you find the culprit soon!!

 

[Sorrell]

Ok, well definately some new developments. I must've read your mind Kelly, I just bought 12 basters, 2 per shelf, and I ordered some net dip. I also bought a new test kit. I did two readings one from each of the two shelves I'm having problems with. The results were interesting:

Shelf 1: pH 8.4
KH 300
GH 300
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Ammonia-3.0

Shelf 2: pH 8.4
KH 300
GH 300
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia .5

I immediately did 75% w/c's on all tanks on these two rows using 50/50 r/o and tap. What I find suprising is that I do my water changes in shelves. Shelf 1 was done Wednesday night, Shelf 2 was on Monday and due today anyway. So, why the heck did #1 have such high ammonia?! I don't get that...they all eat the same, and I baster everyday, every tank.

I guess I'll just keep testing and adjust my water changes accordingly

 

[GuppyDude]

thats awful sorrel, im really sorry. have you tested your tap water with the new kit yet? i find it a little bit hard to beleive that the water had high ammonia like that after you put it in. its gotta be your tap or if not theres something really bad going around. what are the water tempretures like in your betta bowls, mine were quite low and the fish wernt looking good, once i got it to 80 they looked better than ever before. and also, what have u been feeding the bettas on? when i feed mine live foods the ammonia does tend to rise a bit but i guess that doesn't really explain y the 2 shelves have differant ammonia im rely sry about your fish, i wish i knew what was going on

 

[cation]

Man, Steph, I didn't even see this till now, what a string of bad luck you're having. I think that you are taking the right steps. Probably time to get a notebook and start testing some of the tanks everyday till you can get a good handle on it, cause it could be multiple factors. The ammonia is clearly a problem, maybe test tap water for a base of everything, then treated water before you put it in the tank to compare.

I think the seperate basters are a great idea. And one quick note - in order to kill all organisms, every lab I've worked in has used at least a 1:20 bleach:water ratio, more commonly a 1:10 solution. I'm not saying you should or shouldn;t use bleach, just mentioning that bit of info.

Anyway, I'm wishing you the best of luck, and crossing my fins for you and your darling fishies.

 

[Sorrell]

Problem solved I had a great phone convo with Miss Cation and we talked us some chemistry Discussed an experiment I should try, I did, and we have a conclusion.

Apparently, if you use a dechlorinator that eliminates chlorine and chloramines and your tap water contains chloramines, the chloramines break down into ammonia. So I set up a couple things. Tested water straight from the tap, no ammonia Secondly, I treated water as I normally would, waited about 10 minutes, and tested the water, ammonia!

So tomorrow, I will drive myself down to good ole Colorado to get some water conditioner which doesn't touch chloramines. In the meantime, I have done tonights water changes with r/o water and I have all my shelves down to a safe range Still watching a few boys to see if they will pull through, I am just so grateful. Firstly that I know what is going on and it is very easy to fix, secondly that this isn't my fault I was blaming disease, then my town, then when I found ammonia I felt absolutely horrible, but also completely baffled. How could a bare tank spike to 3.0 in three days from a 100% water change

Thanks for all the support through this guys I really appreciate it And a big big thank you to Jen for talkin the chem with me

 

[GP]

My first initial thought was ammonia, because it has alot to do with oxygen in the water, hence the heaving. I'm glad you solved it though!

 

[cation]

So tomorrow, I will drive myself down to good ole Colorado to get some water conditioner which doesn't touch chloramines.

The problem with this though, is that the chloramines are also dangerous to fish. I think what you need is something that neutralizes the chlorine AND the chloramines, as well as neutralizes the ammonia. What a pain in the patootie!

For example, Amquel removes/neutralizes ammonia, chlorine and chloramine. I think you need something like that.

And I'm always happy to chitchat with ya steph - sometimes two heads are better then one!

P.S. Look on OLS in the newbie section - I left you a post!

 

[Sorrell]

Will do and yes ammonia neutralizer as well, will remember that, forgot it in all the excitement

 

[cation]

That's what I'm saying - save yourself buying two, and get a water conditioner that already incorporates the ammonia neutralizer, like Amquel. Save yourself a step. If you can't find Amquel or a similar conditioner that also takes care of teh ammonia, you may have to get them seperately, but you might be able to find an all in one!

 

[Teelie]

Why not just use R/O or spring water and add a conditioner to it? I see a lot of stores selling those little conditioners for Bettas. Luckily for me, they still use chlorine here for tap so I don't have the chloramine problem, but I can get a gallon of R/O for 30¢ which I often mix with tap water for my fish.