Ammonia checker madness

[Pufferlover95]

I am going crazy! I’m losing fish, I suspect ammonia, but I can’t 100% confirm it.

I started up a brand new tank that I wanted to use as observation post-quarantine for fish I was treating in copper. It’s a 55 gallon tank that I used brand new saltwater and cycled with ammonia chloride and Microbacter Start.

I am testing ammonia with three separate checkers and I’m getting completely different readings all at extremes. The tank was cycling and empty for about two weeks and I was using the Hanna ammonia checker, which continuously was shown maxing out the meter above 2.5ppm. During this same time, I had two different Seachem Ammonia Alert badges in the tank which continuously showed the yellow indicator for safe levels of free ammonia. Finally, because of the continual high readings, I purchased a Salifert tester as I was coming up on the beginning of week three. Each time I tested with Salifert I got readings of 0.25-0.5ppm. I moved over the 4 larger fish and 3 mollies assuming most likely the Salifert was more accurate.


Yesterday I lost 1 fish. Rechecked ammonia with both checkers and results are similar to what I’ve been getting with Hanna maxing out and Salifert 0.5ppm or less. I did a 50% water change, added prime, and added bottled bacteria. This morning, I woke up to another dead fish and once again the ammonia checkers showed the same results.

What is going on, why am I getting such conflicting readings, and what can I possibly do at this point?



P.s. All of the reagents I’m using are not expired and are brand new.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

7 fish in one shot is a huge increase in bioload, it will have overloaded the biofilter at that point. I would have started with just 1 or 2 fish to get things going.

Since it is observation tank, is there ay rock, or what do you have for filtration?

 

[Pufferlover95]

7 fish in one shot is a huge increase in bioload, it will have overloaded the biofilter at that point. I would have started with just 1 or 2 fish to get things going.

Since it is observation tank, is there ay rock, or what do you have for filtration?

3 of them were 2-inch mollies, so they barely count for anything.

I was going for a fishless cycle, wasn’t trying to use them to cycle the tank. By 2 weeks it should be finished.

I have 2 hang on back filters both rated for 50 gallons each (and the tank is only 55 gallons), in the filter I have matrix, in the tank I have a bag of matrix, and I cycled with bottle bacteria, as well as added it occasionally during the two weeks to help decrease ammonia.

 

[Pufferlover95]

7 fish in one shot is a huge increase in bioload, it will have overloaded the biofilter at that point. I would have started with just 1 or 2 fish to get things going.

Since it is observation tank, is there ay rock, or what do you have for filtration?

Also, that does not count for why I’m getting SIGNIFICANTLY different readings with different checkers. Maxing one, and nothing for others.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What about rock? If not rock, then they have the added stress of no hiding spaces on top of an ammonia spike.

IMO it sounds like a case of too much too fast. But I'm no expert, lets see what others have to say. Sorry about your fish.

 

[exnisstech]

Just curious so you have any nitrate present? The presence of nitrate is how I tell if it's safe to add fish slowly when starting a new tank. I don't even own an ammonia test kit. Personally I would never add that many fish to a two week old tank unless I added live rock on start up. JMO

 

[Pufferlover95]

What about rock? If not rock, then they have the added stress of no hiding spaces on top of an ammonia spike.

IMO it sounds like a case of too much too fast. But I'm no expert, lets see what others have to say. Sorry about your fish.

Large PVC pipes for shelter.

And it may be too many fish, but I still want an answer for the checkers. I can’t max 1 checker and have barely anything in the other. Even the hang on ones don’t show the slightest change and those have always been pretty accurate for my other tanks.

 

[Pufferlover95]

Just curious so you have any nitrate present? The presence of nitrate is how I tell if it's safe to add fish slowly when starting a new tank. I don't even own an ammonia test kit. Personally I would never add that many fish to a two week old tank unless I added live rock on start up. JMO

I haven’t checked, but I can.

I figured since the Salifert showed safe levels I was in the clear to begin. 3 mollies really don’t count for much, the others were larger but still weren’t that large or messy I was that concerned.

 

[PapaFishRocks]

Might sound silly, but try a new fresh battery in the checker and check it again.

 

[Pufferlover95]

Might sound silly, but try a new fresh battery in the checker and check it again.

Worth a shot!

 

[B&CinB.C.]

I went through exactly the same thing in my QT tank about two weeks ago . Got completely different ammonia readings from hanna to salifert .My seachem badge was yellow And I didn't know what to do. I was doing twenty percent water changes every 3 days as I saw on BRS tv. The next day the seachem badge was green so I did another 20% change. The next day the badge was still green and the readings on the test kits were the same as the day before. I took the fish out of the QT and acclimated them into the display tank. I'm now unsure how to proceed with the QT but thankfully all 4 fish are doing well in the display tank. This was with a new hanna multiperameter tester and a salifert test kit about two months old , well within the expiry date

 

[Dan_P]

I am going crazy! I’m losing fish, I suspect ammonia, but I can’t 100% confirm it.

I started up a brand new tank that I wanted to use as observation post-quarantine for fish I was treating in copper. It’s a 55 gallon tank that I used brand new saltwater and cycled with ammonia chloride and Microbacter Start.

I am testing ammonia with three separate checkers and I’m getting completely different readings all at extremes. The tank was cycling and empty for about two weeks and I was using the Hanna ammonia checker, which continuously was shown maxing out the meter above 2.5ppm. During this same time, I had two different Seachem Ammonia Alert badges in the tank which continuously showed the yellow indicator for safe levels of free ammonia. Finally, because of the continual high readings, I purchased a Salifert tester as I was coming up on the beginning of week three. Each time I tested with Salifert I got readings of 0.25-0.5ppm. I moved over the 4 larger fish and 3 mollies assuming most likely the Salifert was more accurate.


Yesterday I lost 1 fish. Rechecked ammonia with both checkers and results are similar to what I’ve been getting with Hanna maxing out and Salifert 0.5ppm or less. I did a 50% water change, added prime, and added bottled bacteria. This morning, I woke up to another dead fish and once again the ammonia checkers showed the same results.

What is going on, why am I getting such conflicting readings, and what can I possibly do at this point?



P.s. All of the reagents I’m using are not expired and are brand new.

Is the Hanna test solution clear and blue or pale green and cloudy? The latter would be a testing issue.

The Seachem Alert badge seems to be saying the fish are not dying from ammonia exposure.

 

[Pufferlover95]

Is the Hanna test solution clear and blue or pale green and cloudy? The latter would be a testing issue.

The Seachem Alert badge seems to be saying the fish are not dying from ammonia exposure.

 

[Dan_P]

I have not come across a reason for the Checker to fail high like this. I want to believe it is working. I have also used the Seachem Alert badges and they worked correctly too.

The resolution to this contradictory data is that the pH is low in the aquarium.

 

[Pufferlover95]

Newest results!