ammonia spike from hell

[saltysand]

I posted about a week and a half ago about an ammonia spike in my 29gal aquarium that has been up for about 5 months .I did water changes 3 times in the last week . I did one yesterday of 9 gal . I added cycle which helped dramatically during the cycle when I first started.everythings still alive but I have no idea what is taking the water so long to come down?I am ready to give up on this hobby , the cycle was pure hell and now this

I am considering just giving the livestock to a friend who has a saltwater aquarium because after almost 2 weeks of this spike nothing I do helps.

 

[lion_crazz]

I did not read your last thread, but I will try to help you here.
Have you double-checked your test kit with another, perhaps at the LFS?

 

[psusocr1]

join the club...i got one and have no clue why? but dont give up! well get through his together!

 

[fishguy84]

What I find that helps every time I add livestock (which is typically when I see spikes) is I'll cut down on the ammount I feed them. Granted my tank is low stocked right now so I don't see anything of very much significance (let alone length.... wow...)
nitrAtes were my problem up until about a week ago (100 down to 30), and the only way I was able to bring that down was to make sure that A) I wasn't doing anything extra to raise the amm' and 'trites in the first place, and B) that I do small but constant water changes. I'm sure that if you post some poll about constant small changes vrs sparse large changes, a ton of people will get up in arms over it, but I will say that there's a lot of value to small constant. You don't have to spend so much time at once doing the change, and the ever-so-slight change of water won't affect the fish nearly as much as a large one does. This, adding live rock (if you don't have any), and encouraging algae growth can help a lot. Try that for a few weeks, and hopefully nothing bad will happen in the meantime.
oh yeah, and kent's ammonia detox works well for ammonia at least.

 

[saltysand]

Yes I took water to lfs and had them double check and got the same reading. I am at my wits end because I don't want any of my fish to die, I am very attatched and cant afford to start over right now. I am just so frustrated. MY perimeters are 1.024 salinity,8.2ph,nitrates 0, nitrites 0,ammonia .25-.50 (is what they have been ranging in the last couple of weeks. I have spent a ton on salt here lately because of doing constant water changes .I even checked my well water before I put it in the tank to ensure there was no ammonia in it(I know stupid but I wanted to cover all bases)
I have been feeding every 3 days and very very little to allow things to settle but doesn't seem to help at all and when I do give the fish a very little to eat they are acting famished so what would you do? I know they are getting enough to eat that no one is starving but I want to do whats best for them.I know people with 10 g marine tanks that never have any issues so I am wondering what I have done?

 

[pilar]

I have been going through the very same thing with my 29 gal. Fortunately, a friend of mine has two tanks and was able to take some of my corals but unfortunately I lost all of my fish and other creatures.

I had actually added about 10 lbs. of live rock and I'm afraid that is what caused my ammonia to spike. I'm pretty sure it caused my tank to cycle again but it is so hard to not get frustrated. I really don't want to go through this again and risk loosing more fish. Keep us updated on how your tank is coming along.

 

[saltysand]

I just went to the lfs and updated them on the situation and asked what else I could do and they gave me an ammonia sponge which is basically a bunch of little rocks in a mesh bag that you just throw in your filter. ON the way home I read the box and it said freshwater only but the lfs said they had used it before in salt so doesn't any know the reason you shouln'd t use it in saltwater? ITs aquaclear brand filter insert zeo carb for 10-30 gallons.Please respond quickly.

 

[psusocr1]

they have ammo lock which is basically th e same thing..it doesnt take the ammonia out of the tank as it does just lessen the efect on fish( makes it less poisoness) if i am saying that right, but they make thsi stuff for freshwater AND saltwater and are two different things, however i dont know if you can use one and not the other..
i added live bacteria called TLC for saltwater aquariums and some biozime bacteria to see if that helps me,,ill check back in witht he results tomm.!

 

[saltysand]

good luck with that. The company that makes the ammonia sponge makes a product called cycle which is beneficial bacteria . They told me to double dose the cycle and prime which is another prodcut but not bacteria . and they said to test in 24 hrs. I will let you guys know what happens and will check to see your results as well. thank s

 

[psusocr1]

heres the results..
so i added TLC for saltwater aquariums which is not a chemical its just live bacteria . They say it takes up to 7 days to work itself out, but i did not notice any change in the first three days so yesterday iw ent ahead and added the reccomended dosage (well alittle more) of BIOZYME for saltwater aquariums . Today i woke up tested my ammonia and it went from 8.0 to 1.0 overnight,. i dont know if it was the mixture of what ia dded or justt he biozyme but it saved me! i will contnue to monitor my levels and share results later today and tomm, im thinkign this stuff will take me back down to zero!!