Ammonia Problem

t-towntank

t-towntank

New Member
Here are my tank stats-
75gal started a little more than a year ago
Current fish - 2 clowns & 1 blue hippo tang
Current inverts - lots of snails, crabs & 2 clams
Recent passings - bubble tip anemone (removed from tank on Thursday)
Ammonia - 8.0
Nitrite - 0
The ammonia reading went from 0 one day to 8.0 the next (officially spiked last Wednesday). We did a huge (70%) water change that night and another huge water change (80%) on Thursday. The ammonia was 1.0-2.0 on Friday, 1.0 on Saturday, but then back to 8.0 today. We have added ammo-lock every other day for several days.
What's going on?! The anemone had been looking poor for a while but didn't seem to fall under the "dead" descriptions we had read (it was still attached to a rock and didn't have anything oozing out of it). We did take it out of the tank Thursday thinking that if it was dying that could be the problem.
Why did the ammonia drop and then spike again? What is the source and what should we do next? What seems more puzzling is that the nitrites have stayed at 0 the entire time. Not sure how much more the fish can take.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3068895
If your ammonia is 8...everything would be dead....Is your test kit expired???
+1 I would get another test kit or take to lfs for testing! Also, how are your nitrates?? How much live rock? How much and how often do you feed?? What kind of filtration do you have??
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Also, what kind of clams?? What kind of lighting?? Are you sure the clams are OK??
 
jayson417

jayson417

Member
Originally Posted by Shrimpy Brains
http:///forum/post/3068950
Also, what kind of clams?? What kind of lighting?? Are you sure the clams are OK??

Also has anything disappeared and cant be found? perhaps its dead in the tank. Also when is the last time you cleaned your filters?
 
t-towntank

t-towntank

New Member
Nitrates are 0
I feed once a day - a small amount of flake/pellet (rotate this) and ~1/4 cube of frozen brine shrimp. I basically stop when the 3 fish quit eating.
Filter is a ehiem
Protien skimmer is remora pro
110lbs of live rock (40lbs of that was added at the end of May)
I thought about the test kit. How do you know if it's expired? I use an API kit and don't see a date. I went to the lfs today and bought the only thing available (API) to double check and got the same result. It certainly looks like 8.0 but even if it's not it is still a dark green color.
There is nothing obvious that's missing from the tank (of course I don't know how many snails or crabs I have). The clams are 2 cleaner clams. I thought if they were dead they would pop open (they are both closed).
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Could the 40 pounds live rock you just added be the problem?? Was it cured??
Out of water for a long time?? Can you pull some out and smell it??
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Shrimpy Brains
http:///forum/post/3068975
Could the 40 pounds live rock you just added be the problem?? Was it cured??
Out of water for a long time?? Can you pull some out and smell it??
BUT do you think it would take 3 weeks for a spike????
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3068976
BUT do you think it would take 3 weeks for a spike????
Seems like a long shot.
Just trying to help find a reason. Tank is cycled long enough. (should be nitrate problem, not ammonia) Anemone removed before drastic water changes and nothing else dead or dying. Does'nt seem to be overfeeding.(although I would do away with flakes) Tank not overstocked.
So, what else is there?? Someone already mentioned filter change/clean. Do you use ro/di?? Maybe water problem??
 
t-towntank

t-towntank

New Member
The new rock was cured. It was out of water for no more than 1 hour in transport from lfs to tank.
I use RO water. A whirlpool system purchased from Lowe's and installed at home.
I have not cleaned the filter. My understanding is that cleaning it removes the "good" bacteria and you should never clean the filter.
Here is a better time line of when things were added to the tank:
2 clowns added over 6 months ago
40lbs live rock added 5/21
blue tang added 6/9
small spikes (<0.5) in ammonia noted 6/13
jump in ammonia to 8.0 and cloudy water on 6/17
bubble tip removed 6/18
2 clowns and 1 hippo tang still alive and eating 6/21
Again - how do I know if a test kit has gone bad? Getting the same ammonia reading from 2 different kits. Both kits read 0 for any water not in tank.
 
windlasher

windlasher

Member

Originally Posted by T-townTank
http:///forum/post/3069045
The new rock was cured. It was out of water for no more than 1 hour in transport from lfs to tank.
I use RO water. A whirlpool system purchased from Lowe's and installed at home.
I have not cleaned the filter. My understanding is that cleaning it removes the "good" bacteria and you should never clean the filter.
Here is a better time line of when things were added to the tank:
2 clowns added over 6 months ago
40lbs live rock added 5/21
blue tang added 6/9
small spikes (<0.5) in ammonia noted 6/13
jump in ammonia to 8.0 and cloudy water on 6/17
bubble tip removed 6/18
2 clowns and 1 hippo tang still alive and eating 6/21
Again - how do I know if a test kit has gone bad? Getting the same ammonia reading from 2 different kits. Both kits read 0 for any water not in tank.
You NEED to clean your filters. replace the pads and other filter material. Normally I would say rinse them out at the least, but if its been that long, I would replace ALL of your filter media.
 
nanomantis

nanomantis

Member

Originally Posted by windlasher
http:///forum/post/3069136
You NEED to clean your filters. replace the pads and other filter material. Normally I would say rinse them out at the least, but if its been that long, I would replace ALL of your filter media.
On this, you should have different types of filter material. The sponges ect which are just there to catch debris need to be rinsed. If you have the ceramic rings, I would not clean those.
You had this ammonia spike because your biological crashed (Hence no nitrite showing). That is what we need to figure out. It could be as simple as the canister got an air bubble caught in it which made it loose suction and the biological died. Or maybe an outside chemical got into the tank. Have you dosed with any medications recently?
 
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shrimpy brains

Guest
Wow, did'nt know that was possible. Even if you lost the bacteria on sponges, thought the bacteria in live rock, sand on glass etc. would still be enough to support the denitrificating(spelling?) process in your tank, and the sponges would quickly be replenished with new bacteria.
Does seem like a logical explianation for what is happening! Scary thought, to have to recycle an existing tank!
Hopefully, will not take long.
OP: Not sure how you know if test kit is no longer good, but if you are getting the same results from 2 different tests, I would assume its correct!
Hope things work out for you!
 
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