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I have the Nutrafin mini master test kit, and it doesn't expire until 03/31/2006.

It used to work just fine, when I tested my water, if there was any ammonia present, the liquid turned the normal yellow color. Now when i test my water (which is fully cycled and shouldn't have any ammonia at all present) it turns cloudy. I mean you can watch these particles just appear in the tube when you shake it up to mix it! The tube is rinsed well, so it's not dirty!

I was instantly scared, thinking my tank was having an ammonia spike, but decided to test the tap water as well, just in case. Same thing happened. Cloudy, particle filled tube. WEird huh? Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I should note that the color of the cloudy water in the tube is like an opaque white color, nowhere near yellow....

NitrIte is 0, PH is 8.0, and I don't have a test for nitrAte, unfortunately, but the tank is planted and gets regular weekly 15% water changes.

Usually tap water has ammonia in it.

Do you shake the bottle before you test it?

Is it suppose to turn cloudy when there is ammonia present?

the tap water in our area usually has very little ammonia present, and I do shake the bottle. It is supposed to be a translucent yellow, with the color intensifying as the level of ammonia in your water goes up. It is definitely not supposed to turn cloudy white... It used to be just fine It's really funky...

You're doing it correctly but sadly the liquid is shot...

Dates sometimes mean little.

Replace the ammonia test bottle with a new purchase.

--garyroland.

Sounds out of date to me, too.

Interesting factoid, though: with really high ammonia levels (such as pet store employees often see in the water samples people bring in, unfortunetly) you get a deep yellow with particles. I doubt it's the same, but creating particles isn't out of the realm of possibility of the test. Luckily most people never know about that!

-Molly
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