What are my amonia levels and how do i find them out, I thnk my fish are dyig because of this.?

Answer 1

Thumbs up to magicman and for motor mouth Rickster, it's not chlorine doing it. Apparently using outdated techniques is what you know. Aqua Plus conditioner when adding to new water will instantly neutralize chlorine and chloramine when added. Generally letting your water sit for 24 hours is when you first set up a tank, but I certainly don't wait 24 hours when I do a water change. If everyone followed the way you worded your input, we'd all have dead fish, so let's move on.

What are ammonia levels? and how do you find them? As they all said, you need a testing kit. Avoid getting the testing strips, and get a liquid reagent tester. They are far more accuract and reliable. Your ammonia levels in your tank come from four main sources. 1, being fish respiration, 2, fish waste, 3 uneaten excess food, and 4, plant decay. Now there isn't much you can do about 1, 2, and 4, but you have direct control over food. Giving your fish only as much as they will eat, entirely within a few minutes is the best policy to help keep excess food to a minimum. You'll still have to do water changes no matter how many plants or catfish you have though.

Ammonia exists in two forms in your water, ammonia ion, and ammonia compound. By far, ammonia compound is the one to more worry about. However, the testing kits very rarely measure both levels, but you rather get a composite reading of both. As your tank completes the nitrogen cycle, you should not be able to read any ammonia in your water. If you are showing ammonia, there could be several reasons, and mainly I've found it's because too much food is being given, or you have some plant decay. Generally, fish if they are dying from ammonia exposure, they will be near the top of the tank, looking like they are gasping for air. The water may also become very cloudy which is a bacterial bloom and that is a good thing. Get a testing kit, and if you suspect your fish dying from ammonia exposure, I think you'll find levels near 1.0 or higher. If this is the case, you'll need to do a water change. Also of importance when looking at ammonia, is your ph. The higher the ph, the more lethal the ammonia will be, in general. You may need to adjust your ph. How old is this tank and what is your population?

JV

Follow up:

It's pretty simple really. Aqua Plus will instantly neutralize any chlorine and chloramine in your tap water, and that's a simple solution that very few people, no matter the age will know. Less then 1% of cases have I seen or heard of fish deaths from chlorine, and even in those cases, it was simply a matter of not adding the proper conditioner is all. This isn't a matter of spending money, I certainly have nothing to gain by this, and I've had my own education in chemistry to know that chlorine isn't the problem. I am assuming that you know like most people would know that you condition your water to filter this out when doing water changes. I've also had enough fish to know the signs of ammonia exposure as well. If it takes a matter of putting up equations or stating my families education to convince you, sure I can do that, but I'm just going on a little common sense as well as actual working experience. Simply test your water for ammonia and rule that out or discover that's the issue and most anyone in here would tell you the same thing.

Answer 2

Your pet store/fish store should have an ammonia test kit, THe test kits comes in different forms; test tubes, tablets ans strips. I generally prefer the test tubes because they are very accurate on testing the ammonia. To test your water, then read the instuction of the kit.

I think that it is the reason your fish are dying. Try changing the water for now while you don't have the ammonia kit.

Have you ever cycled you tank before? I guess not because an established tank wouldn't have a hig ammonia level. If you haven't then your fish and ammonia are doing the right thing for now.

Answer 3

Well, first off, if you didn't KNOW this, let the water that you are going to use for the fishtank SIT for about 24 hours. If you can let the water sit, exposed to the atmosphere, for MORE than 24 hours, that is even better. It is the chlorine in the water that is killing your fish. If you leave the water exposed to the atmosphere, as explained above, the chlorine will evaporate out of the water, and your fish will LOVE you, i.e. they won't DIE!!!

Oh! One OTHER thing! Be sure to put the bag that contains the fish into the water for about 24 hours too BEFORE you untie the bag and release the fish into the tank. This will allow the fish a chance to get accustomed to the temperature of the water in the tank, and there is less chance that the change in temperature will shock (kill) it.

So, in short, introducing a fish to your new tank will take about 48 hours. You can put a little food into the bag before you put it into the water if you haven't fed the fish already.

My dad taught me ALL this stuff many years ago! Where were YOUR fathers, people? Jeez!

My father kept fish in the house all the time while his children were growing up, and some of these fish lived for ten years - at least. We had one angelfish for SO long! There was another kissingfish that we had too for MANY years. This is the explanation that my dad gave to me, and he is/was a chemical engineer. So if ANYONE knew what was going on, it was he who knew.

Asker, you can buy that ammonia story with all its rules, or you can buy my much shorter and easier-to-understand chlorine story. The chlorine is added to the water by the water company to help to keep it clean.

My answer will only cost you time. Jon V's answer is the one that will cost you coin! Everyone has time, and if you want to do this right, you will follow my advice. Jon's answer is typical of liberal thought, i.e. throw money at your problems until they go away. My solution is just to be patient, and you will get what you want.

Jon sounds like he is a company schill! Maybe he owns stock in the company! Who knows? He sure won't tell you here if he did own some! *laughter*

Answer 4

Ok first thing, ignore mista ricksta, who cares if this egotistical dude's dad was a chemical engineer was he a marine biologist? Ammonia and chlorine are two different things. Ammonia is a result of fish waste, but ALSO in many states it is added to the water supply. Here is why: ammonia + chlorine = chloramine. Ammonia LOCKS chlorine, thus ammonia, chlorine, chloramines will NOT come out just from air exposure. They did this to make sure the chlorine stays in to do its job i.e. protect humans, not fish. You need a modern de chlorinator that treats ammonia and chloramines, before you add any fish. Buy a tester and learn about cycling your tank/ biological filtration.
Hope this helps

Answer 5

You need to test the water with an ammonia test kit. THe other option is to take a sample to the pet store and ask them to test it for you. I would really recommend you get a kit to test for yourself though, that's far easier than atrip to the pet store everytime you want to know.

If you feel this it the problem, set asside a sample of your water and then do a 50% water change. After that go get the sample tested.

MM

Answer 6

I agree with Magic. If fish are dying, toss the corpses, do a water change, and have a sample of the old water tested.

Answer 7

Its basicaly how much fish pee is in the water i think, Do water changes to break it down, you should have 0 ammonia in ur tank.