My tank has been cycling for 5ish weeks now and I've been using minnows to cycle. All are alive and my water levels are perfect, except ammonia. I had my nitrite spikes, safe nitrate still, but for some reason I'm showing about .25 ammonia? It had been 0 until like the last few days so I'm not sure why it's there. My neighbor actually gave me a baby Oscar so he's in there (I know I know bad idea, but he's going to my 75g waiting for him in a week or so). He's done fine for the week I've had him and he's absolutely destroyed the minnows. Is he safe at those levels and am I safe to add other fish? I'm taking him out real soon, but I don't wanna add fish if they'll be stressed.. Oh and pH is 7.2-7.4 or so.
Are you using the API master test kit perchance? if so I find it excruciatingly hard to read the ammonia result, sometimes it looks ever so slightly green, other times yellow. so now I just take it as yellow otherwise id just get too stressed with it. my fish are fine. the nitrite is always definitely 0ppm but that pesky ammonia one is trouble I tell you!
whats next for your 30g? Jaws himself? just kidding man.
peace.
API Test Strips? or API Liquid Testing kit with the little bottles? S/B the liquid kit.
Also test your tap water. Know what you are putting in when you do a water change.
Mine has an ammonia of .25 out of the tap.
Also Ammonium tests as Ammonia too I believe. Don't know the science but Prime or De-chlor neutralizes and converts it to Ammonium but it still reads as if it is in there.
Hopefully others can chime in and explain it better.
It's liquid testing. I don't trust strips at all. I would always do a two when I used them and more often than not they'd read different on something. But I've never seen strips with an ammonia test? But yes liquid.
Reads perfect 0's. The ammonia level I'm at is supposed to be like rapid gill pumping and clamped find but the fish have no abnormal behavior or anything. Could it be picking up chemicals somehow or is it the ammonium? It's a pretty heavily planted tank.
I like Rymons thinking, .25 may as well be 0, I too can never keep it at perfect 0 although nitries are 0 and nitrates are 10. You can drive yourself crazy shooting for 0. you said the oscar was ripping up your minnows? ammonia may be from decaying fish or fish pieces.
that could be it, rotting fish pieces will give off ammonia, also the extra load of a new fish will cause a spike in levels for a few days till extra bios can grow to keep up with new load.
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