I have a 10 gallon tank with an AquaClear 20 filter. I had a fish in it for a few days before the poor guy died, and in that time I treated the water with Amquel+ (well, I'm 90% sure it was plus, but I'm at college and the bottle's at home). Anyway, my ammonia tester (one of the ones that hangs on the tank, so I can see right away if there's a problem) read "safe" while my fish was alive and for several days after, but then the reading went up to "alert." Did the Amquel only temporarily remove the ammonia, or was it messing with my tester? I know you need to have a Salycite (or however it's spelled) tester, but I don't know how to find out what it uses. It's a Seachem Ammonia Alert tester. Does anyone know if it's compatible with Amquel+?

Hi Alyssa, go back to the water quality topics page and read the second thread from the top called "Prime, is it messing with my ammonia readings?" I think you'll find your answers there.

Thanks, it never occured to me I might find an answer about Amquel in a post about Prime. Now if only my tank would start cycling.

Actual, AmQuel+ and Prime work differently in this respect. And, for a non-cycled tank, AmQuel+ is better. Check out the Water conditioners thread and my comment near the end on there.

I'd think the most likely cause is the Ammonia Alert is just not a great test. Whether AmQuel+ affects it or not, I don't know, but AmQuel+ binds ammonia and does not let it back into the water at any point (Prime does), so that's not the cause. When it comes to tests, dropper stests are better. The ammonia alert is okay, but I wouldn't rely on it solely. The API test kit is pretty compatible with AmQuel+ according to Kordon/Novalek.

Also, chances are there was some waste in the bottom of the tank after your fish passed. This could have easily snuck into the water in the next few days and upped the ammonia levels. In fact, it almost certainly did unless you cleaned it out well. AmQuel+ doesn't allow the old ammonia back, but it won't stop all new ammonia either without regular doses.

Its also possibly its a combo of both. Maybe the alert just isn't sensitive enough, and only registered once the levels continued to rise, but didn't warn you early enough.

Lastly, maybe the fish died of other causes - perhaps nitrites and not ammonia? You don't say if you were running the full slate of tests or just using the ammonia alert.

The lesson here is you should probably have a drop-based test, two-bottle variety and run those tests regularly in a new tank too. Preferably one that the makers of AmQuel+ have listed as compatible (at least partially). Also run several other tests as well, if you hadn't been.