# Ammonia in tap water



## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

Recently after water changes I noticed couple of my fish breathing heavily and I did larger than normal water change yesterday and noticed ALL fish breathing heavy. I messed around with wave maker to see if it was an oxygen issue, but that didn't help. At first, I kind of ruled out that it could be ammonia because I haven't had any ammonia for over 3 months. I ran the water test for the aquarium and also tap water, along with ammonia I think there might also be an issue with the difference in PH?

Aquarium: PH 7.2, Ammonia less than .25 but more than 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10

Tap: PH 7.4-7.6, Ammonia .25 - .5

Since this issue started maybe a week ago, I am guessing my tap water quality has changed around then.. 
Researched on what I should do and it seems like adding Seachem Prime when doing water changes should fix this ammonia issue. 
Does the difference in PH cause a problem?
Does this mess up my cycled tank?

Thanks


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It's possible your water provider is using chloramine rather than chlorine in the water system so that would explain why you are getting an ammonia reading from the tap water. You need to use an aquarium water conditioner suitable to remove/convert the chloramine prior to adding water to your aquarium.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

I have been using API Tap Water Conditioner. "removes chlorine, Chloramines"


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## dalto (Aug 20, 2006)

That ph difference should not be a problem for most fish. It is a fairly small difference.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I agree the small difference in pH should not be a problem for your fish. The slight ammonia reading should also not impact your cycled aquarium.

For the record, aquarium water conditioners that are recommended for tap water with chloramines present don't actually remove the chloramine, they just make it less toxic and usually your good bacteria can utilize the ammonia. Try testing your tank for ammonia 24-48 hours after you do a water change and see what the results are.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

Close to 48 hours since the last water change, tested ammonia and looks very close to 0 but can't confidently say that is 0. Since I am using the API kit, the color of ammonia test is yellow but in my eyes it still has slight green in it. Most of the fish are breathing normally but a blood parrot and a ebjd are still breathing somewhat faster than normal, however they are breathing much better than after the water change.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

Just tested nitrite and it looks to be about .25

Is this normal process since the aquarium had some ammonia?
Haven't had any Ammonia and nitrite since the tank completed its cycle about 3 months ago... 
What should I do about this?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

What is your tank water temperature?

What filter are you using and have you cleaned it or replaced the media lately?


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

Temperature is at 78.
I am using Cascade 1000 External 265 GPH filter, it is a 95 Gallon corner cylinder tank. I did clean the filter and changed media about 3 weeks ago.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Are you using the supplied media that came with the filter? I looked up the manual and it appears to only use floss pad, carbon and coarse pad and it recommends replacing the floss pad and carbon when performing maintenance. The coarse pad is to be rinsed in water taken from the aquarium to help maintain beneficial bacteria. If you have any other media in the filter, it would be helpful to know.

A minor spike in ammonia and nitrite isn't horrible but it is usually attributable to over zealous filter cleaning, too large a fish load for the current filter or a dead fish.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

I don't have carbon in the filter and haven't had it in there for a while because I took it out previously when I had to treat the tank for ick and bloat. I did clean the filter very thoroughly but with only tap water, I put in new floss pads but rinsed the coarse pad with tap water only. So I only have a coarse pad and 2 floss pad in the filter right now. I guess I messed things up by over zealous cleaning only using tap water.. so is this a process of a mini cycle? Hate seeing them having hard time to breath.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Cleaning with tap water, depending on the disinfectant product used in your tap water, could be an issue especially if you were too thorough and you only have the one filter. This may be a mini-cycle and it could recover quickly. Just keep an eye on your water parameters over the next few days and if you see the ammonia and nitrite levels rise, do more frequent water changes to reduce them. Another choice would be to add a bottled bacteria product to 'boost' the bacteria levels but it may not be necessary if your filter catches up quickly.

Reducing feeding your fish for a couple days will also limit how much waste your fish produce, you could even skip feeding to every other day without hurting the fish.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

I'll reduce the feeding but regarding the water change... Since I am getting ammonia reading from the tap water, wouldn't it do harm? I definitely notice fish breathing harder after recent water changes. I did order Seachem Safe that will detoxify ammonia, should be here tomorrow or Saturday.

Thank you so much for the quick replies!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Your water conditioner should make the ammonia non-harmful but it does still register on the test kit. You can wait until you get the Seachem Safe product but if you notice increases meanwhile, water changes will help.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

Ok, Will do! Thank you Deeda!

I will update when things change, hopefully for the better.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

Ammonia 0. Nitrite still about .25


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It looks like your bacteria is catching up, I would test again in 24 hours and if the nitrite hasn't dropped, do a small water (25%) change and dose with water conditioner as per instructions.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

Will do, Thanks Deeda.

Question, If I have 2 filters working would this kind of accident be avoided? I do have one sitting around so I could put that in use after things are back to normal.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I think the use of 2 filters does help when you are aggressive when you clean a filter. I keep 2 filters on tanks over 40G. You can actually add the other filter now if you want, it won't hurt anything and will soon populate with good bacteria. It will not prevent your current filter from getting good bacteria.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

I did setup the additional filter last night. Ammonia and nitrite tested this morning and both are 0! yay!

Thanks deeda!


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

Seachem Safe will be here today so i'll try doing a 20% water change later today and see how that goes.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Glad to hear it!!! Thanks for the update.

Sounds good.


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## krazyju84 (Jul 10, 2014)

After the ammonia and the nitrite came back down to 0, I did couple of 20% water changes using Seachem Safe and everything is great. Fish are more active, no heavy breathing, bigger appetite. So it seems it was definitely going through a mini cycle after my filter cleaning. Thank you for all the info and help!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

You are very welcome!


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

...even though you messed around with the wavemaker, and because you have been using a water conditioner, I'm back to what your first instinct was... maybe it is the oxygen after all. Because of that very issue, (and the fact that it helps de-gass water because I'm overly paranoid about gas bubble disease), I leave my pumps running when I do a water change. My spraybar is pointing at the front of the tank, splashing the entire time, and the other pump is literally shooting out a jet toward the front of the tank, too. Try it just once to see, maybe... can't hurt anything. just a thought. Let us know.


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

wow! sorry about that dumb post... I managed to somehow only read page 1 and missed the rest! glad you got it all worked out!


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