Help! ammonia/HLLE

[coolwine05]

[hr]
I have a 90 gallon tank with around a 130lbs of live rock thats been up for over a year with a few soft corals, some lps and an anemone. It has a 1-1 1/2 inch bed of aragonite/live sand/ and a little crushed coral. My corals and anemone are getting huge and doing well the problem is my regal tang. He has H.L.L.E. i have been adding vitamin C, marine selcone, added a grounding probe, and offer him seaweed every day and still it gets worse. Today i tested my tank and i am puzzled, my nitrates are at 0, my nitrites are at 0, my phosphates are under .25, but for some reason my ammonia read at a little under .25. I use an API test kit. What would be the cause for a little ammonia in my well established reef? is it a bad test kit or how should i go about taking out that little bit? any help would be much appreciated either with the ammonia or the HLLE. Thanks, kyle

 

[sac10918]

Hey Kyle
I don't know too much but since no one else has posted I thought I would. I know that HLLE is best treated by improving conditions and it seems like you are trying to do that by giving him good quality food (have you tried adding garlic to his food?) and improving conditions. I think its a bit weird to have ammonia but no nitrites since ammonia gets converted to nitrites eventually. I would suggest getting a new test kit (I use Salifert brand and they seem really accurate) and testing again. Also, I am sure you have done this, but do some water changes if you do have ammonia to get it out. And don't over feed. Sorry I cant be more helpful. Ask BEth in the disease thread.

 

[seannmelly]

What the hippo tang's tank mates?? What are you feeding him exactly??

 

[coolwine05]

ok, i feed him seaweed selects algae clips to graze on daily. And then i alternate between frozen emerald entree, plankton, and spirulena enhanced brine shrimp. 2-3 days a week i soak the food in marine selcon and vitamin C. Tank mates include 1 royal gramma, 1 neon dotty back, 2 percula clowns, 1 4stripe damsel, and 3 green chromis. He is a lot bigger then them eats like a pig and doesnt seem to get bullied. I occasionaly soak the food in garlic guard as well. It seems like i am doing everything right so i thought maybe it was the little bit of ammonia my test showed that could be hurting him, but i am not sure. Any and all ideas are greatly appreciated.