Ammo Level @ 2.0 Angel and Tang still ALIVE?!!

[tranman777]

I'm very surprised and confused to see this happening.
I set up my 10 gal QT tank on the first of this month and placed my yellow tang and flame angel in it. I used my DT water which has ZERO ammonia.
I used filter material from my DT tank for bio filtration.
The QT tank is down at 13ppt right now going on it's second week of hypo.
Every day I check my ammo level, and every day I get 2.0 reading!!
At first, I panicked when is saw that high of a level and did 3 gallon water changes with fresh distilled water @ 13ppt for 3 days straight. (My qt has only 7 gallons of actual water)
I used Prime, I used ammonia absorbing filter, and did water changes for three days straight.
Surely I thought it's over, my precious delicate fishes are gonna DIE!!
Ammonia sucks!
My ammo level is STILL at 2.0 as I type.
Everything reads zero w/ a 13ppt salt level @ 79 degrees.
Now I'm very confused and surprised.
Surprisingly my delicate fish are still alive and thriving with vibrant colors swimming and eating like crazy.
What's the deal here?
I thought the ammonia would kill them days ago.
But they've been thriving for nearly 2 weeks now with 2.0 ammo reading
help?!!

 

[shogun323]

Their gills are definately getting burned up. Get em out ASAP!!!

 

[catawaba]

Keep doing water changes---every day!
You may also want to get Ammo-Lock (or whatever it's called)

 

[catawaba]

How old is your test kit?
What reading do you get on your DT water?

 

[promisetbg]

What test kit are you using? Have you tested your source water for ammonia..some locations do have it?

 

[aztec reef]

i woul do a 50% water change daily until ammonia is gone..even do they're eating fine one of this days your gonna wake up and they will be dead. even if eating and looking fine.

 

[tranman777]

I got a master test kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (sp) about 3 months ago.
It is brand new and will not expire for 3 years. I confirmed with the company.
My ammonia level for my DT tank is zero.
I also thought the same thing, that maybe there's ammonia in my distilled water I'm using. But that came up to be zero and clean as well.
I've compared the ammonia in my DT and got a reading of Zero, so I know the test kit is not bad or expired.
So it's not the water source, it's not the test kit, and water change doesn't help.
What the heck???!!

 

[tranman777]

These two fish are no where near sick or dying.
I checked all vital signs.
They are swimming normal, gills are not flapping hard, no heavy breathing, no gasping for air, no purple color around gills, and mouth is normal (not opening and closing).

 

[nigerbang]

I am a tad lost....You have a Angel and a YT in your QT with only 7 gallons of water?

 

[tranman777]

Yep.
The QT tank is a 10 gallon tank.
Initially I purposely filled it up to a 3rds way so i can make room for diluting the salt concentration to bring down the salinity by adding fresh distilled water.

 

[aztec reef]

so you have both of your fish in a 10g qt with ammonia? how big is your DT?

 

[geridoc]

Do water changes, but get some Amquel Plus and follow the directions. If there is an error in your assay, it won't hurt, but if the ammonium levels are really elevated, the Amquel Plus will minimize the toxicity until the levels come down.

 

[pallan]

Get another test kit and test the water or take the water to LFS Ive had testkits read ammonia before and yes same brand you have there. it may just be goofy but before i did anything else i would buy a salifert test kit and/or go to LFS and have them test.