Any quick way to lower ammonia levels?

[troyw806]

I tested my 40 gal tank yesterday and the ammonia levels were climbing so I did a water change. This morning I noticed my yellow tang had what looked like little raw spots on his forehead and tail. Guessing ammonia burns. I did another water change and added some more prime, also put another powerhead at the other end of the tank for added circulation. All other levels are good. Does anyone out there have any ideas on how to bring the levels down without spending a fortune at the lfs?

 

[jjlittle]

Get amquil or another additive which remove ammonia instantly or fish will die.

 

[birdy]

The big question is "why" is your ammonia level rising.
How long has your tank been set up?
How many fish do you have in your tank?
How often, what and how much do you feed?
What type of filtration do you have in your tank?
Some sort of ammonia locking stuff, would be fine to use, also do water changes, lots of them.
What exactly is your ammonia level?

 

[troyw806]

My tank has been set up for over 3 months. I have 2 damsels, lm blenny, yellow tang, snowflake eel, cleaner wrasse,3 bl hermit crabs. I use a skilter 250 skimmer combo. I feed mysin shrimp and herbivore pellets once a day. Also have green seaweed or whatever for the tang to graze on once a day. My ammonia level is at .50 or higher so I really need to get it down fast.

 

[birdy]

Did something die, or have you added fish recently? What size is your tank?
Ammonia level shouldn't rise unless there is an upset in the biological filtration.
Get some ammo lock and start doing water changes, daily if you have to.

 

[mr_bill]

I agree with what Birdy said.
Have you taken a head count. Sounds like something might have died. Thats a full blown 2nd cycle at .5 , lots of water changes.

 

[troyw806]

Everyone was present and accounted for this morning. I lost a goby but he jumped out of the tank and I didn't find him until the next morning on the floor. I'll probably do another water change when I get home from work this evening. If ya'll think of anything else please let me know. Here lately I've been having some trouble keeping everything stabilized. I had a fish who died with ich but it was only in the tank for around an hour until I got home and took it out. that was a few days ago. I did medicate the tank with marcyn.

 

[birdy]

Ahhh, theres the problem I believe, maracyn is an antibiotic and will kill the good bacteria in your tank, causing a cycle.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but that would be my best bet.
Just keep doing water changes, there is little else you can do until the bacteria re-colonizes.

 

[murph]

If your going to leave the fish in the tank you have no choice but to use some sort of locking agent for the ammonia. Amquel plus works well as previously suggested. Your test kit will still show high ammonia levels since amquel does not actually remove the ammonia but binds it to make it harmless to the fish. The ammonia will still be present in this locked form to begin your new cycle.
Remove any carbon filtration and add amquel to any water changes until your tank recycles. It is virtually impossible to overdose with amquel so be generous in its use. You are now cycling with live stock and a heavy load at that. Watch out the cycling police are going to be after you around here.

 

[the reef]

also start adding the product caled cycle in a dubble dose every day untell your amonia goes down when my amonia went up on my trigger tank I dubble dosed the cycle stuff and few days latter my amonia was at zero

 

[fishmamma]

I would say do another massive water change and run a polyfilter. This would remove additives though..........

 

[fishmamma]

Another though I had was to add some more live rock or a few pounds of live snad to help replenish the lost bacteria. But this is not a cheap thought. Also not sure how long the anti-biotic will stay in your system with out running carbon and poly. :notsure:

 

[murph]

Very good point fishmamma. I had not even thought of that. At this point I would now say leave the carbon in the filters and dose with amquel also. You can buy a ammonia sensor for the tank that will only show free ammonia levels to get an idea if its harming the fish.
I think if it were me I would try to house the fish at the LFS if he will do it and start fresh.

 

[ryan115]

not factoring in the length of time the antibiotic is in the water, but not having to spend that much money on live rock. You could go to your LFS and get a couple of scoops of the junk at the bottom of thier LR curing tank and put that somewhere in your tank or a fuge if you have it. It contains tons of the bacteria and will probably be just given to you

 

[troyw806]

Thanks to everyone for the great advice.