# Ammonia level too high?



## GraemeP (Jun 20, 2013)

Hi. Not sure if this is the right forum.

I'm panicking!
I have a 500l Malawi cichlid tank which is over three years old now.
It's fish only, including the following:
Melanochromis maingano (4 adults, 8 juvenile, 2 babies)
Yellow lab (1 adult, 3 juv, 1 baby)
Red-red zebra (1 adult, 1 baby). I have another adult carrying fry but is now in an isolation tank due to bullying.
Psuedotropheus acei ngara (1 adult) - murdering thug!
Frontosa (3 adults - about 5")

The tank has been fine for about 3 years (ever since it cycled). I used to do water quality tests every couple of weeks, but not many now. I do a weekly water change of about 15%. It is filtered by two external large (suitable for 800-1500l) cannister filters from JBL. Sand substrate and a good selection of ocean rock.

My water quality tests today showed (using an API test kit):
Ammonia about 0.5-1 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate about 10 ppm. Which is strange as Thames water suggest it comes out of the tap at about 30 ppm!

Obviously I am concerned about the ammonia level. Why should this be spiking?

The old daddy melanochromis has what looks like bloat. He must be about 4 years old. Was feeding ok when I last noticed and I didn't notice his condition yesterday.

Thanks for reading my post.


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## GraemeP (Jun 20, 2013)

Just to add...

No vegetation present, and I'm sure all fish are accounted for. There may be the odd baby one missing. It'd be a pain to try and find that.
Oh, there are two catfish on the list as well. Both are still swimming.

Actually there are two things that might be responsible, and I'm not sure why I didn't consider these.

1) When a water change is made. Each bucket full of water is dosed with JBL Biotopol and is a mixture of hot water and mostly cold (in an attempt to equalise the temperature). The cold is directly from the mains supply. The hot is from a stored hot water tank. This tank has recently had a new limescale preventer added. I don't think this should cause any problems.

2) One of the filters was roughly cleaned a week ago. When I say roughly, I mean that it was disconnected, the lid removed, and some of the sponges rinsed out in "fish water". The dirty filter water (lots of floating debris) was half emptied.

So, would 2) affect the overall operation of the filtering (only one of two filters was cleaned)? The reason I never suspected that (if it is the cause) was that I only meddled with one of them. But I guess, the bio-load will be shared between them both.

If my filter cleaning was too harsh, what is the suggested method? Or should you just leave them alone unless water output is low?


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

Any ammonia reading other than zero is a serious concern. That said, with chloramine in the water the addition of dechloriator can lead to false ammonia readings; that is the ammonia is converted to a form that's not harmful to fish but still picked up by test kits. But if you have tested irregularly for three years, you would have noticed that issue before if you had it. Personally I don't even test, because I dare say you should notice problems with fish before a test kit will show it - red gills, scratching and rubbing on rocks and decorations. If your fish are perfectly fine, I would wonder if the test kit might have gone bad.


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## GraemeP (Jun 20, 2013)

I'm sure I recall asking my local water company about chloramine and they said it was not present. The detailed water report also doesn't mention it by name. Would it be called anything else?

I'll grab a new test kit tomorrow.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I clean my filters much more roughly than that...I'd eliminate #2.

What is the limescale preventer chemical? Did your pH and/or KH drop as a result? Usually with Africans we want to encourage limescale...not prevent it, LOL.


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## GraemeP (Jun 20, 2013)

Here's an update:
I decided to test the mains water directly. So I filled a test tube (marked at 5ml) and did the test (API test kit. 8 drops from two bottles). Result: yellow, 0 ppm.
Then I tested the tank again by immersing the test tube (another clean one) under the water and adjusted until 5ml was present. Did the test and the result was yellow, 0 ppm.
BUT... when I did the test earlier I used my old faithful syringe to suck up 5ml from the tank and inject into the test tube. Doing the same again results in green, 1 ppm.
I repeated the tank water test one more time (not using the syringe). Result: yellow, 0 ppm.

So, conclusion must be that the syringe is contaminated (how and what with?). Syringe in bin. Me relieved.
Thanks for all of your comments.

PS I will continue to test over the next few days for peace of mind.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I found something similar using paper cups to dip the water. The cups contaminated the sample.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Why do you think your Maingano has bloat?


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## GraemeP (Jun 20, 2013)

Bloat? 'Cos his stomach has blown up like a balloon in a day or two. He was a little strange before the "bloat". Wasn't his active self but still fed ok. In fact, he still feeds ok. I thought his behaviour was because he's getting old and has fathered over a dozen babies. He's about 4+ years old.
If it is bloat, and it is as advanced as this, then he'll not last much longer. But I'm no expert!


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

If he's still feeding then chances are he does not have bloat. A fish becoming bloated is the final symptom before death. Does he have normal, food colored feces?


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## GraemeP (Jun 20, 2013)

That's a good question. Not sure I can tell which ones are his though 
Apart from bloat, what else causes a bloated belly?


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