Ammonia reading / picture

[Tula]

I've read the stickies about what to include in a question about water quality, but I'm just looking for opinions about my ammonia reading picture. It's only the second time I've tested my water, so I'm truly unsure if it's closer to yellow or green.

Please feel free to disregard this post, if it's a bother. Thanks, Kim

 

[dieselplower]

To me, it has a green tint. Turn the tube upside down and view it through the bottom. That will make it more obvious. Or take the cap off and look down.

 

[capewind]

Color varies on different computer screens but it looks like .5 to me ... what was your nitrite results?

 

[Tula]

I will test again tomorrow and look through the bottom, as I already dumped it.

I rehomed 7 fish ( shebunkin and comet) yesterday, bringing my total for the summer to a dozen. None of these fish were purchased, all born in the pond. The koi now eat the fry, but I had too many from the years prior to my having koi. My goal is to have my five koi and perhaps a couple of the others. I was frustrated, as I called in advance of taking the fish to Petco and was told they would take them. When I got there, they said I had been misinformed by an employee. I finally found a place 45 minutes north of my house, that had an indoor pond, to take them

I appreciate the tip of looking through the bottom of the test tube. Kim

 

[Tula]

Color varies on different computer screens but it looks like .5 to me ... what was your nitrite results?

Color varies on different computer screens but it looks like .5 to me ... what was your nitrite results?

Today I only tested ammonia, as I was interested in a reading from the water quality prior to my re homing fish yesterday. I was in my wadders for over an hour catching the fish , fell over and in general made a mess of my pond

I am cleaning the pond and doing a partial water change this evening and will test all parameters ( except KH, as it's not included in my kit) tomorrow. Kim

 

[Waterbug]

It is difficult to tell what color the water is with these types of tests (but still good tests). A real pain. From the photo, and colors can be off in photos, I'd say it's between 0.25 and 0.50 ppm so I'd call it like 0.40 (just made up some number in between). Many people would consider 0.4 ppm ammonia to be very toxic and suggest all kinds of pretty dangerous "fixes" which causes the owner to start doing all kinds of things in a panic. That can kill fish.

But what you are measuring is called "Total Ammonia". Ammonia in water exists in two states. One if toxic to fish, the other not a huge problem. As water temp and pH change these two types of ammonia move back and forth...Total Ammonia stays the same.

If you go to an ammonia calculator like this one and type in "0.4" for "Total Ammonia" it will generate a table so you can see how much of the Total Ammonia reading you have is toxic. You need temp and pH too. You want to measure pH once as soon after the sun comes up as you can manage and once in late afternoon. The level of pH goes up and down daily.

Given Ohio in Sept and kind of a pH I would expect, I can see on the chart you might not have a huge problem, but certainly a concern. You should of course actually check temp and pH to be sure.

My suggestion is to first get an idea of cause. If this is a new pond, like under a month, and you added city water and dechorionated the water that could explain some ammonia maybe. Or if you had a green pond that just cleared. That type of deal. That can tell you what would be a good course of action. For example dechorionators normal make the ammonia safe so maybe you don't have any problem.

If the suspect is too many fish for the current system you can create a bio filter, could be converting ammonia in less than a week. So there's time before winter. You would want to watch nitrite levels which would follow. That can be a more serious problem.

I wouldn't panic. Take it step by step. Keep testing so you get an idea of what direction things are going. Possible ammonia is actually on it's way down and nitrite up. Multiple tests tell you. At some point down the road you'll kind of get to know what does what and you won't need to test as much.

 

[capewind]

Do the tests BEFORE the water change so you can get a picture of what your pond is doing ... write all the results down and post

 

[Tula]

Thank you. I tested my water for the first time about 10 days ago. My PH was 8 and ammonia between 0 and .25 It is not a new pond, but I have too many fish. I've re homed ,in total ,15 over the last year.

i believe I've been able to maintain fairly good ( of course no data to prove this, as I just began testing) water quality over the years, because I work hard (not smart) at it....this translates into lots of cleaning of my pumps, skimmer, pads etc. I'm looking to keep my five koi, but would re home one or two if neccessary. Kim

 

[dieselplower]

How many gallons in the pond?

 

[crsublette]

I've read the stickies about what to include in a question about water quality, but I'm just looking for opinions about my ammonia reading picture. It's only the second time I've tested my water, so I'm truly unsure if it's closer to yellow or green.

Please feel free to disregard this post, if it's a bother. Thanks, Kim

For the ammonia test, sometimes the reagant takes a while to complete its reaction. So, once you do the test, let the vial sit (with closed lid) for around 10~15 minutes and then look at the color.

Now, for other tests such as phosphorus, this would not work and would contaminate the test.

 

[crsublette]

Thank you. I tested my water for the first time about 10 days ago. My PH was 8 and ammonia between 0 and .25 It is not a new pond, but I have too many fish. I've re homed ,in total ,15 over the last year.

i believe I've been able to maintain fairly good ( of course no data to prove this, as I just began testing) water quality over the years, because I work hard (not smart) at it....this translates into lots of cleaning of my pumps, skimmer, pads etc. I'm looking to keep my five koi, but would re home one or two if neccessary. Kim

Hmmm. pH of 8 with between 0 and .25 and fish not stressing nor showing signs of secondary ailments. This is tolerable. Definitely nothing to be anxious about, but definitely nothing to be ignored.

Reducing fish population was a smart move. Also, generally, when folk begin noticing ammonia accumulating, then feeding will be reduced, whether slightly reduced or more depends on you.

For the future, I would definitely do some research into improving your biological filtration system, whether it be plants or other means.

These small warnings are nice when you catch them ahead of time before Winter comes, in which the cold weather will essentially force your bio-filtration system to slow down and ammonia to accrue even further.

 

[Waterbug]

Thank you. I tested my water for the first time about 10 days ago. My PH was 8 and ammonia between 0 and .25 It is not a new pond, but I have too many fish. I've re homed ,in total ,15 over the last year.

i believe I've been able to maintain fairly good ( of course no data to prove this, as I just began testing) water quality over the years, because I work hard (not smart) at it....this translates into lots of cleaning of my pumps, skimmer, pads etc. I'm looking to keep my five koi, but would re home one or two if neccessary. Kim

So if total ammonia is really 0.4 today and was 0-.25 10 days ago, that's not a good direction, and a bit odd. It's not just the level remember...but also the length of time fish are exposed. There had been a higher load, and 10 days ago 0-.25 not 0, so have to guess this as been a long term issue. Can stress the fish so something else gets them, like winter.

Good to keep watching and start getting a plan together.

You also mentioned you stirred up the pond catching the fish. Muck + fish load high enough to make ammonia a problem + winter = risk. Might think about vacuuming the pond before winter.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I find these test tubes so hard to read. I will normally hold the test tube in front of the strip of colors that I'm testing and hold it to natural sunlight if at all possible.

 

[Dave 54]

So if total ammonia is really 0.4 today and was 0-.25 10 days ago, that's not a good direction, and a bit odd. It's not just the level remember...but also the length of time fish are exposed. There had been a higher load, and 10 days ago 0-.25 not 0, so have to guess this as been a long term issue. Can stress the fish so something else gets them, like winter.

Good to keep watching and start getting a plan together.

You also mentioned you stirred up the pond catching the fish. Muck + fish load high enough to make ammonia a problem + winter = risk. Might think about vacuuming the pond before winter.

Yes WB is right about vacuuming the pond before winter just done a thread on prepping your pond for winter which you might like to look at Tula

rgrds

Dave

 

[capewind]

Dave, due to shapes of ponds, it's hard to do a good job with the vac, so after netting what can be gotten that way, then vac the best we can, we drop a pump on the bottom to stir up the little left, and the filters can grab it ..