Ammonia in fish tank with no fish inside??

Question

I recently brought a small hard plastic fish tank to keep a couple of goldfish in, i set up all the decorations and added the water with the purifier, i tested the water and the ph and ammonia was fine, then i cleaned the outside with glass cleaner and tested it again and the ammonia levels really high, so i took half the water out and cleaned the outside with hot water and a clean cloth, but still the ammonia levels are the highest i have ever seen, what could of casued it? could the glass cleaner absorbed into the tank?how do i get rid of it?

Answer 1

Apart from the ammonia problem, you won't be able to keep goldfish in a tank under 10 gallons for more than a few months. Fancies will get 4 inches+, and common types (those with a single tail) will get 9 inches or more. These produce a lot of ammonia in their wastes, and should be allowed more volume than most people think. As adults, you should plant to have about 20 gallons for one, and 10 gallons for each additional fish. Don't believe the photos on the "mini" tanks showing 5 goldfish in a 5 gallon tank - that's just for show!

As to your problem with the ammonia, how quickly did the change happen? If it was just the time from before to after cleaning, either there's something wrong with the testing, or you got some of the cleaner in the tank. I doubt that it would go through the acrylic that quickly, but if what you used to clean was saturated, some may have been pulled up through the space under the plastic rim at the top and entered that way. It may have entered if what you used was sprayed onto a sponge or paper towel near the tank as well.

If what you had was pure ammonia, that will leave as the tank cycles. If you don't have fish yet, there's no danger to them, but you need to have the level below 0.5 for it to be completely safe for your fish. The concern should be what other ingredients may have also been in the cleaner besides ammonia. You may be safest to rinse the tank and everything in it well at least 3 times to remove any residue.

Before going to that, I'd double check your second results by doing one more water test. If you use paper strips, make sure to handle them carefully - don't let them touch anything but water. If you use a liquid kit, wash the tube out, then rinse it 3 times with water from the tank (pour down the drain after each rinse). If it still checks high for ammonia, you should remove gravel (which could scratch the tank during rinsing), and rinse the tank and the gravel well.

Answer 2

Stop using the Ammo-lock and rely more on the filter and test kit. Ammo-lock stuffs up your results because the ammonia is still in the water - just locked away from the fish. A test kit can't tell the difference but the fish can ;-) . Put the fish back into the new tank. Test daily and carry out DAILY water changes of 15% until ammonia and nitrite read 0 consistantly for one week. Let the filters do what they're designed to do - convert the ammonia and nitrite into nitrate. It's going to take time (weeks, in fact) but if you can get some mature media from an established tank it'll take a week or 2 off the cycling time. If you don't have any already, you need a bottle of dechloronator because chlorine kills filter bacteria as well as suffocating the fish by building up in the gills. Even a single 10% water change without dechloronated water is enough to kill the bacteria in the filter.

Answer 3

ammonia should cycle out by itself. its part of cycling -- you get peaks in ammonia -- then nitrites peak and finally you get nitrates. i use ammonia chips if my tank smells -- they look like white carbon. you can put them in a bag and put them in your filter. i think its better than dumping in chemicals like ammo-lock.