Ammonia in tap water... or I'm doing something wrong

[twolovers101]

Hey guys... I have a problem...

I either have 2 PPM of ammonia in my tap water or I'm doing something wrong with the liquid test kit :/

My tank isn't filtered or cycled (I'm at my parents with a 2.5 gal)
I teat the tank with Prime and add stress coat every now and then with 1 50% and 1 100% per week... which may change with the plants... but I'd like to figure out what to do first...

I recently bought some plants to try to help... but it's not really working :/

Should I just use spring water from the store for the next few weeks or...?

My fish looks fine right now, he's very active, and doesn't seem to be too distressed other than glass surfing (which he's always done, even in my 5.5) his fins are relaxed and he's very attentive and eating just fine. I feed him 2-3 pellets twice a day if that helps.

Suggestions?

[callistra]

So if you were to fill up a test tube straight out of the tap right now it'd test at 2 ppm ammonia?

Are you using the api drops test kit?

[twolovers101]

yes :/

[callistra]

That's a problem :S You can't use that water for fish.. you really shouldn't even be drinking that water :S Where in the world do you live??

I've never suggested this before, but for you I would be using RO water and treat it with Equilibrium plus acid and alkaline buffers at a rate of 2 to 1.

Just to be sure.. before you use the RO water test it with the drops test kit to make sure there's nothing wonky with the test.. it shouldn't be but that is really bad water..

[twolovers101]

Yeah... the weird thing is is that the water in our city has won awards for being the best drinking water around :/

I'm thinking that something is up with the kit... I mean he would be acting weird if the water was that bad right?

Where would I even find RO water? or those buffer things? I haven't seen them before :/

[callistra]

Well bettas can be little troopers. I've seen them act fine in worse.

IDK try another test kit before you jump ship with RO but if there really is that much ammonia in your water I would not use it.

These are what you want: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=4124 http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=4828. The buffers will stabilize your ph and increase your KH. The Equilibrium will add all the elecrolytes and lost minerals through the RO process and it will also increase your ph a tad but really doesn't do a thing for the KH just GH. They last forever. I use that little white scoop that comes in the seachem med tubes if I need to measure the equilibrium or buffers for less than a 5 gallon. There are about 10 (really 9 but close enough) of those in 1/4 tsp so it works for ratios and stuff. I also use equilibrium at 1/3 of the bottle dosage and I arrived at that by testing my gh/kh but it'll be up to what you're comfortable with and my RO water won't be exactly like your RO water, but just basically I'm saying a full dose of the equilibrium leads some pretty hard water.

[twolovers101]

Well that's a pretty penny I'm looking at spending o.o (I'm a bit short on cash right now)

So you don't think the spring water would be okay at all? (I know the RO is probably the best solution... but I'm only going to be in this situation for maybe 2 more weeks or so... so I'd rather not buy stuff I won't be needing in the future)

Also I think I'd have to order the buffers online :/

This may not mean anything... but he's been pretty good at alerting me when something's wrong, but you are right, they're quite the tough little dudes

[callistra]

Are you talking about the bottled betta water at petco? I have never tested it but I'd guess that would be okay.

I would not go buy spring water from your grocery store. That IS usually RO water and it will lack electrolytes and also the ph of that water tends to be too acidic to keep fish in. That's the stuff that needs treated.

Just whatever you do, be SUPER careful about acclimating him. Changing water sources can be very stressful on fish and they can go into shock and even die if you don't acclimate carefully and slowly enough.

[twolovers101]

Okay, well I guess I could use that water then (the betta water) I'll have to go out and get some tomorrow then... geez... what a pain this is... *sigh*

Going to have to buy like... 8 of those... :/ still cheaper I guess... since it's just temporary

[callistra]

You could try cutting tap with ro 50/50 and then adding a double dose of prime and seeing where ammonia is at..