ammonia levels!!

So I just got home from work all day and wife informed me she forgot to turn lights on the tank. Noticed the foxface was looking a lil pale but figures it's from the lights being off but thought I'd test the water .. nitrates checked out good but ammonia was reading around 1.25! Shouldn't nitrates be off if this was the issue? ? And what's my best way to lower? Water change? I wont be able to get water till tomorrow night..should I be worried? ?

 

Maybe someone with more experience may have a better answer, but water changes are the only thing that are going to bring the ammonia levels down. And at that amount of ammonia I would be concerned (I would be)

 

First, calm down and observe your tank. How does your livestock look after the lights have been on? With ammonia at that level, most everything should be suffocating. Have you added anything or changed anything in the past 24 hours that might cause a spike? If not, and your stock appears healthy, you got a bad reading or your test kit has gone bad.

 

Well fish seem to be doing better after lights came on.. I havent seen my watchman though for about 4 days.. he was a small guy.. not sure what happened to him.. but the foxface clowns and chromis seem to be ok.. so not sure.. and my nitrates were perfect.. so maybe it is a bad test..

 

Try testing again, and if you can take a sample to the LFS to confirm. Might do a water change and add some prime for the mean time just in case.