False Ammonia Reading?

[icon83]

A few days ago, I added Ammo-Lock to my tank.
Before I added it, I was getting a reading of about .25
I used the Ammo-Lock, and did a partial water change, and now my ammonia reading are literally off the chart!!
It is really scary to see a dark shade of green in the test tube.

All of my other water parameters are fine, although my pH is a little low (7.8).
Is it possible that the sudden spike in my test results is from the ammo-lock??

 

[icon83]

I should also note that my corals all look very upset.
My mushrooms arent open, my devil's hand leather is limp and dark, my zoos are all closed, and my star polyps are hiding. :notsure:
This all happened after my last water change when I added the ammo-lock.
Before this, everything was blooming like crazy.
I did rearrange a few things, but not drastically. I also added stress coat.
Do you think that this sudden change of behavior in my corals is due to the ammonia actually being off the chart? Or was it the ammo-lock? What would cause such a spike in ammonia?

 

[alyssia]

I have been told that some ammonia removing products can give false readings on ammonia tests.

 

[icon83]

Thanks Alyssia...nobody else has any ideas??

 

[fishieness]

well products like amonia-lock dont actualy stop amonia from forming, they just add an extra H+ to make it to non-toxic amonium.
and having a low pH, like yors of 7.8, can actualy be a good thing when dealing with the amonia because that means, although there are more OH- ions in the water, there are still a lot more H+ ions than there are at a higher pH to form non-toxic amonium.
im not sure if they can give false readings, but keep in mind that less of it is toxic with the amonia lock. Still though, if your corals and sucha re not looking healthy, it isnt a good sign. What type of water are you using? Was the bucket covered? did you wipe it out before mixing salt?