Ammo spike & dying (?) emerald crab

[barry cuda]

I added about a 3.5" foxface to the 100g tank on Friday, and now I'm measuring about .25 ppm of ammonia. This tank has over 100 lbs of live/base rock in it and has been up since April. Only other fish in the tank are two very small Banggais, plus there are a few hermits, 20 or so turbos, and a couple emeralds. Feeding habits haven't changed, in fact if anything we're feeding less, and I can't find anything that's dead (yet). Is it reasonable to believe that adding one small fish could have caused the ammo bump? I'm just wondering if I need to keep searching for dead things...All the fish look just fine and I'm suspending feedings of any kind until the ammonia is back to zero.
Also, one of the two emeralds, the one added most recently, is looking extremely pale or bleached, almost an ivory color, and is just sitting there on the sand. The only reason I can see he's still alive is that his little mouthparts are moving. We found him upside down twitching faintly and flipped him over, but he hasn't moved even though he's out in the open. I am pretty sure he's dying, probably from the ammonia spike, but it occurs to ask if maybe he's molting. What would cause an emerald crab to bleach like that? The other emerald has been in the tank since May 20th and is acting normally (when I can see him) but also appears to have white patches, although most of his body is still the usual green.

 

[barry cuda]

Well, Mr. Emerald Crab died. I'm getting REALLY frustrated with this. I've put three emeralds in there, two have died, and the one that's left looks like it might be ready to go the way of his tankmates. My hermits look to be fine, as do all my snails, the three skunk cleaner shrimp, and the fish. Obviously I've got a problem with the ammonia spike (still not sure what caused it), and I'm taking steps to get that under control. Is .25 enough to kill these guys?

 

[splash]

How old/mature is your tank? A small fish should not raise the ammonia very high. I don't mean to insult your intelligence but do you have a protein skimmer, good filter etc. My tank went skyrocket with the ammonia. I gave it ro/di water regularily in the sump as it evaporated. This helped to decrease the ammonia level day by day. Currently it is at 0 again--thank God! Other than my yellow tang I had a royal gramma. I fed it freeze dried foods. I either may have overfed the "aquarium" or my tank has not gone thru its tru cycle. The one I had before may not have been the actual cycle. Algae is starting to grow etc. Other than proper eqipment, give your tank reqular water changes as it evaporates or change water if evap is too slow. Remember salt does not evaporate. I read that even .25 can kill fish. Sorry I know this stuff can be a real pain in the butt. I too get frustrated. THis hobby looks easier than it is, but I plan to stick with it. I have learned to be patient.

 

[barry cuda]

Yeah, I just had a long discussion with the wife about the frustration I'm feeling, and about how I need to learn more patience, and stop messing around with the tank. I'm a tinkerer by nature so I always want to do this or that, and it's hard for me to learn to just step back, take it slow and let everything do its job. The tank has only been up since April, so it's still very young.
I have a Euro-Reef skimmer in the sump, so at least that base is covered. I suspect the ammo spike is from a xenia frag that went through the return pump a few days ago. I'd forgotten about that. I noticed it was floating in the water column while changing a diaper on my son and before I could get away from the task at hand to deal with it, it had gone through the overflow and all the way through the sump and been chopped up in the return pump. I don't know if the last emerald is going to make it, but I'm hoping it's not too late to stabilize the water chemistry and see if he recovers his color.

 

[barry cuda]

Well, found a dead/rotting turbo in the sump last night...I'm sure that didn't help any. We'll see if the water chemistry returns to normal with a couple days of no feeding and that dead turbo outta there. Sigh.