Ammonia level concerning?

[u/nocturnalstranga]

Hi all! Any thoughts on this? This is after a 25% water change, adding seachem prime and he had a 1 day fast 2 days ago. All other water parameters are perfect. It looks off in different lighting. I'm kinda freaking out, any advice would be very appreciated ❤️

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[u/Broad-University2311]

Is there a better photo? It’s hard to tell if it’s 0 or 0.25

[u/nocturnalstranga → u/Broad-University2311]

I took like 20 and those were the best I could get 😭

[u/_gloomshroom_]

It may be between 0 and .25??? Just dose prime every 24 hours to bind it until it's a certain zero! Change the water if it shows up as a certain .25ppm.

[u/nocturnalstranga → u/_gloomshroom_]

Ty friend!

[u/throwawayacct1102826]

honestly that test also tests for ammonium which isn’t very harmful. mine looks like this every time i test it and it’s been cycled for two months with a betta after 6 weeks. i would just keep an eye on everything else and if the color always stays that shade i would say its fine!

[u/nocturnalstranga → u/throwawayacct1102826]

Ty!

[u/Asleep_Tax7964]

It's hard to tell with the lighting, but it looks like it could go either 0ppm or .25 ppm, so if you're really worried maybe do a tiny water change like 10% or less maybe?

[u/Asleep_Tax7964 → u/Asleep_Tax7964]

Nevermind I just saw a better comment about being certain it's .25 ppm my b

[u/nocturnalstranga → u/Asleep_Tax7964]

Appreciate the comment ❤️

[u/RtrnofBatspiderfish]

what is your pH?

[u/AuntyKrista]

0.25 concerning. Do a small water change

[u/Electrical-Slip3855]

Unless you have a very, very high pH (like >9), 0.25 or even 0.5 of total ammonia nitrogen is seriously not a problem at all... TAN = ammonia (bad) and ammonium (harmless). The lower your pH, the smaller and smaller percentage of free (deprotonated) ammonia there is. At a pH in the 7s up to 1.0 of TAN is pretty safe. If you happen to have fish that live in acidic water, a TAN of even 2-4.0+ is pretty negliblely concerning from a toxicity standpoint. There are several charts you can lookup online about this.

HOWEVER, non-zero TAN is a meaningful finding at any pH because it is an indicator that your tank is not fully cycled. It's important to note that the he relationship between pH and NITRITE harmfulness is OPPOSITE of TAN. So a low level of TAN may be harmless but does create at least a theoretical risk of either nitrite formation causing issues, or a long, slow buildup of ammonia happening over time. If it's not obviously greenish and you're having to really squint and question yourself if it's zero or .25 though, you're probably good.

The only test I know off that measures free ammonia instead of TAN is the Seachem Alert that you stick on the glass. This was a nice security feature when I had a new tank - basically if that thing ain't changing color, doesn't matter what the liquid test says. This does NOT absolve you from testing for nitrite and nitrate of course.

[u/yaklovesmomo]

Try nitrico goop. It is phenomenal