amonia
 

I did a test and i still have a little bit of amonia registerinmg... about .25-.40

is this bad? i noticed my fish are breathin pretty fast today...

Re: amonia
 

Any ammonia in a tank with fish and corals is definitely bad :eek:

How old is the tank? Was it completely cycled (no ammonia or nitrite) before adding livestock? Anything died in the tank recently?

Re: amonia
 

i switched tanks 2 weeks ago, moved everything over. The previous one was cycled and i used about 40g of its water. I did put three new fish in on monday. and nothing has died in it.

I'd do a water change.

Dave

Did last night. about a 20 gallon. :)

Think i'll do a water change once/week for a while.

Weekly water changes should be a MUST if there is ammonia or not. If this was my tank, I would be testing ammonia daily and, if there is still detectable amounts, do another water change.

EDIT: Also, adding Prime or Amquel will change the ammonia to non-toxic ammonium. However, ammonium will then turn into nitrite, which is still pretty toxic, so keep testing and keep water on hand for frequent water changes.

Good news, I did a 45g water change last night and this morning, I got a 0ppm on the ammonia test. And I have moved my dying lil unicorn tang to quarrintine tank, he looks like he is a fighter!! He still looks really rough but he's hangin on. *fingers crossed*

one more thing, I find it interesting that one of my test kits says 0.25ppm of ammonia is in the safe zone and won't stress the fish. That seems to be conflicting with the thoughts on canreef. :confused:

I have found that in my experience with fish that bad water can be tolertated as long as it gradual build up but a spike will cause things to die. I am not saying dont take care of your tank. I have had fish since I was ten and I didnt do water changes back then I do them now though.

Brad