I have had my 10 gallon tank for 6 weeks now, and 4 of those weeks with an amano shrimp. The ammonia levels are still off the chart, I guess my nitrogen cycle has not completed yet. They have been off the chart for the past 4 weeks. Despite that, my shrimp is surviving. How is this possible considering what I have read regarding their sensitivity to ammonia?
The tests are being done with liquid droppers.
your tank should not be having high levels of ammonia, especially after 6 weeks. Are you using some sort of ammonia locking solution like Ammo Lock or Seachem Prime?
If you use these ammonia binders, the ammonia will still be detected as normal, but it's toxicity will be much much lower. It will remain in the system until your beneficial bacteria can convert it to nitrates.
What brand of test kits are you using and have you checked their expiry date?
Does your test kit test for ammonia (NH3) or ammonium(NH4+).
One possibility would be that you have low pH, where ammonia would be converted to ammonium naturally. If your test kits in fact detects ammonium, high levels of that would be fine (but probably not advisable) as ammonium is much less toxic.
The tests are being done at my fish store, so I do not know the details on the them. I would like to avoid the expense of getting my own test kit. What do you think the pet store is using to test?
I am not using any ammonia locks, etc... I simply run a bio wheel filter in addition to a sponge filter. I have been doing weekly 25% water changes. The fish are fed every other day, a minimal amount. And it only has 3 small fish at the moment.
Very puzzling..maybe if you posted a picture or two we could suggest possible issues?
Maybe you could ask the petshop what they use to test, then let us know?
And what was the amount of ammonia( or ammonium?) , that you said was off the chart?
In any case, you just could have a super strong amano shrimp. I think there was once where all the fishes died and my amano shrimp was the sole survivor....
Amano/Yamato shrimp are indeed incredibly hardy. I've had some survive in conditions that all my fish died in when I had a filtration failure a little over a year ago.
The China brand canister cracked and emptied out half the tank onto my floor, I didn't find out till 12 hours later. That's when I started buying Eheim canisters only...
I'll see this coming weekend what the pet store uses. I believe the chart said 8ppm.
I'll see if I can put up a picture this weekend
Here's the picture
hmm... can anything survive in 8ppm NM3 at all ?
I didn't think any fish could survive in ammonia levels beyond 2ppm for long, let alone shrimp.
I strongly suspect a problem/error with the pet store reading of 8ppm.
My ammonia levels went to zero!!! Hoorah! Everything is looking great. Thanks for all the advice guys
congrats! take your time with the adding of lvestock and everything should be fine!
That's great to hear .
But hopefully this reading is accurate
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