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Everything has been going reasonably smoothly with my 160L tank.Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 10-20 ppm PH 7.2 Temp 26 deg. I have 2 small angels
3 skunk cories
8 black phantom tetras
I have a mixture of plastic & live plants in a gravel substrate.I am using a Fluval plus3 filter & a small Eheim as well.I have been doing fortnightly water changes using tap water with 6 drops of water ager to 28L of water, changing 25% per change. The angels & the cories are the oldest , have had the phantom's for about 2 weeks.
Today I did a water change & gravel vac. It wasn't long after I had refilled the tank that I noticed all the fish looking very lethargic. Next thing I knew 1 of the phantoms was floating around the tank upside town. I thought maybe shock from the water change,but, then thought I had better check my water parameters. Ammonia 2-3 ppm !! Decided to check our tap water , 4-5 ppm. Rang my LFS and they suggested adding more water ager straight to the tank. 3 hrs later Ammonia level is back to .25 ppm and no more deaths. Don't know why the sudden appearance of ammonia in the tap water,but, if it continues ,what do I do? Do I increase the amount of water conditioner that I use ? Is there any danger to the fish doing so ? Are there
any other options ? Thanks for any thoughts..

"if you're goin swimmin,watch out for the noahs"

Despite people always (rather unhelpfully I might add) saying that they put tapwater in the tank first and add conditioner later or put conditioner in the tank first and then do the change with no ill effects , it is entirely possible to damage the aerobic bacterial culture in the filter by allowing exposure to untreated tapwater of any kind, for any amount of time no matter how short. Generally to be safe I put the water in a bucket and treat it,mix well, and then wait a few minutes before adding it to the tank, thusly eliminating exposure to chlorine and chloramines to zero.

Try using a product like ammo-lock, to tide you over until the filter has a few days to re-establish itself. Oddly enough the advice from the petshop may have made things worse, since further water changes might have damaged the filter even more. You can however, try removing as much detritus as possible. Any visible uneaten food can be removed, mucky decorations and plants can be given a bit of a rinse down. Stop feeding the fish for a few days, and this too will help lower present ammonia.

The way to deal with it is basically to chemically knock the ammonia on the head with a product designed specifically for the purpose, and to not muck about with the tankwater too much. You have to let the tank stabilise again, and that basically means just riding it out.This is why ammonia spikes always are a bummer, it basically means that unless you can chemically control the ammonia the fish will always have a minimum exposure time while the bacterial colony in the filter repairs itself.

You can try adding tablets and liquids that help encourage bacterial colonisation of the filter. Tetra do tablets for this purpose and they are widely available. It might conceivably help recolonisation speed up a bit.

As regards the water conditioner, ive used tetra aquasafe over the years with no problems, and other swear by prime, either is worth a go.

What conditioner were you using?

Thanks for the reply. In answer to your question,the conditioner I'm using is a proprietary brand that the LFS sold me. It's just called " Water Ager ACN " It says it is a chlorine,chloramine,ammonia & heavy metal neutralizer & slime coat .Re the tapwater,I never add tapwater straight to the tank. I have two 20l plastic cubes that I fill 2or3 days prior to a water change & I add the water ager to them. I refilled these yesterday & added 4 drops of water ager to each. Tested this morning & still showing 3ppm of ammonia. Thanks again for your help... Ash

"if you're goin swimmin,watch out for the noahs"

Hi,
Quote:
Chloramine is formed when ammonia is added to water that contains free chlorine. Depending upon the pH and the amount of ammonia, ammonia reacts to form one of three chloramine compounds. NH2Cl, monochloramine. End Quote

The federal regulations call for a specific level
of chlorine in our water to act as a disinfectant.
Adding chlorine gas to the water is expensive and
trying to maintain the increased levels now required
is even more expensive.
Chloramine, a more stable compound, is an easier way
to treat the water and maintain the required level
of disinfectant.

Many of our water conditioners used in aquariums will
simply alter the compound from a toxic version of ammonia
to a non-toxic version. However, our test kits cannot
distinguish the difference between the two "versions" of
ammonia and lump them together. The result is that the
readings we get when we test for ammonia is the result
of the two compounds added together resulting in a much
higher reading (in some cases) than the actual toxic
compound.

Since your LFS is "rolling his own" (a '60s phrase) you
don't really know what you are seeing. Many commercial
brands will actually tell you that the addition of their
water conditioner will result in elevated readings when
testing for ammonia.

Frequently you will see ammonia in municipal water.
Call your water company and ask them for a print out of
their water and they will gladly send it to you. Or, you
can simply look up the water facility on the Internet and
get the current values on-line.

Frank

*Quote from the Arlington Va website*

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks Frank.
I rang our local water department & they told me that due to the drought conditions we are experiencing, they have been adding more ammonia to stabilise the water so it is safe for drinking. So do you think I should try a different water conditioner or just use more of the one I have to counteract the ammonia content ? Ash

"if you're goin swimmin,watch out for the noahs"

Hey ace! I think what you should do for the conditioner is use the cube you have and add tapwater to it. Then add your "ager"(i callit plain old water treater. Never heard the 'ager' term) and wait a couple of minutes to an hour max, depending on the strength, although if you only add "drops" then it might be super strength. Then test it for ammonia. If it is still noticeable, then you probably need to get a better "ager". Is there a brand name on it? Maybe you should get a trusted brand first, like API or summthin. Hope this helps.

Also, it might not even be the dechlorinator thats the problem. It could be that you added too many fish at a small amount of time. When you added your Black Phantom Tetras, how many did you add at a time? Anwser this first and maybe someone more experienced at this may be able to anwser you. Good luck!



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Thanks for the reply gobyFan...
I added the 4 male phantoms about 4 weeks ago and the 4 females about 2 weeks ago. I did check the water in a cube that I filled yesterday and treated,but, it was still showing 2 ppm of ammonia. I spoke with a local water engineer this morning & he had "another" theory,that because we are on water restrictions here & that people are only allowed to water gardens for 3 hours on a weekend,that there could be a buildup of ammonia in the pipes. Thanks for your thoughts....Ash

"if you're goin swimmin,watch out for the noahs"

I decided to add a post to let you know whats transpired over the last week. I lost one of my angels yesterday the poor thing never recovered from the last water change. I tried various things to remove the ammonia from the tapwater in my 20L cubes. I tried larger amounts of water treat,tried a product called "Amtrite Down",tried aerating with an airstone,but,nothing seemed to have any effect. My nitrate readings were getting up a bit so needed to do another water change,so,I did my normal water treat,with my 20L cubes and then added some "Ammo-Lock" which hopefully will control it until the biological filter does it's work. So far so good Coo-ee Cobbers...Ash

"if you're goin swimmin,watch out for the noahs"

There is a solution for this . Bottled water.Those nice people ar evian,volcan et al will be quite happy to relieve you of your hard earned cash for a bottle or two of water. It will have minerals and a nice ammonia reading of ZERO.

If your gonna spend that much cash on adjusters, might as well go for the bottled water.

Oh my god.
Adding ammonia to the water so its safe to drink??
Thats awful. Ammonia isnt safe for humans to drink and constant exposure to ammonia can cause ammonia poisoning, which often masquerades as a respiratory illness such as a cough or chronic sore throat.
It shouldnt even be used for cleaning,let alone as an additive to water.
I would inform your water company that said water is unsafe to drink, and you neither want your pets ingesting it, nor yourself.
I certainly wouldnt drink it, I know of the dangers of ammonia first hand, I am still suffering the effects of ammonia poisoning 10 years after the fact.


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Gee I don't know lhg sounds a bit extravagant.. Reminds me a bit of Cleopatra bathing in milk.Gotta admit it would solve a lot of problems,but,as my pay packet is not quite in the Bill Gates league, I might have to give the 40L of Evian a miss. I notice this morning my ammonia level is back to zero so I'll just keep using the ammo-lock. As for drinking it svs, we use rainwater for drinking. It might have a bit of bird doo doo in it ,but, I'll take that over chlorine & ammonia anyday...Cheers Ash

"if you're goin swimmin,watch out for the noahs"