Ammonia in my tap water all of a sudden?

[teeneythebetta]

I started to cycle my tank fish-less... Talked to OFL and she recommended I do fish-in instead because I would have a low bio load. I did some water changes to bring down the ammonia... It wouldn't go lower than about .75 ppm... I did literally 5 big water changes, kept testing... STILL ammonia. Then I tested my tap water.. .75 ammonia! It use to be at 0 ammonia... This is new!

I'm not sure how to go about this... I know there are water conditioners for neutralizing ammonia, but wouldn't that be bad while cycling??

Why should I do?

[aokashi]

apparently chloramine is chlorine + ammonia... are you using a water conditioner when doing WCs? thats whats breaking the bonds...
or maybe ur tap water is just ammonia infested :/ i think bonded ammonia can still be used by the bio filter. prime or stress coat bonds ammonia...

[teeneythebetta]

Yea I use the tetra betta safe water conditioner... So if I get prime, it won't have ammonia in the water any more?

[LebronTheBetta]

Originally Posted by teeneythebetta

Yea I use the tetra betta safe water conditioner... So if I get prime, it won't have ammonia in the water any more?

No, Prime doesn't do that.

[aokashi]

It bonds the ammoniafor a certain amount of time :/ I'm thinking that you probably need to invest in some duckweeds, hardy plants etc and have your betta in a smaller tank until yours cycles.

[Aahnay]

Is your tap water from your well? If so you need to clean it. Usually just dumping couple gallons of chlorine down the well does it, then letting it run for a while. But google it, its been a long time since i had a well.

[teeneythebetta]

Originally Posted by Aahnay

Is your tap water from your well? If so you need to clean it. Usually just dumping couple gallons of chlorine down the well does it, then letting it run for a while. But google it, its been a long time since i had a well.

Nope, not from a well

[Oldfishlady]

The dechlorinators and products that neutralize ammonia change it to ammonium that will not harm the livestock but the beneficial bacteria and live plants can still use it, however, you may still test positive for ammonia since the test products can't tell the difference between ammonia and ammonium....

You might want to go to your city water web-site and see what is going on if the ammonia in the source water is new....

[jennesque]

What's your tank's ph?
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[teeneythebetta]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

The dechlorinators and products that neutralize ammonia change it to ammonium that will not harm the livestock but the beneficial bacteria and live plants can still use it, however, you may still test positive for ammonia since the test products can't tell the difference between ammonia and ammonium....

You might want to go to your city water web-site and see what is going on if the ammonia in the source water is new....

Thanks. I don't see anything on my city's website.. Is there a specific product youd recommend? Or would prime be the best to get?