Help! Ammonia !

[}phillyfish>]

Ok here we go. I have a 60 Gallon with a FX5 filter and a Gamma UV light set up for about 3 months now with 80Lbs of live rock. I cycled the tank for prob about 10 to 11 weeks with the live rock . Took a glass of water to the LFS and they tested it after I did and said I’m good to go water is ready. And then on about week 12 added 6 little Damsels. I feed them frozen food and everything was going great. a few more weeks whet buy and added a Clown and a Naso with the LFS saying it was just fine that should be no prob. 3 days goes by and my hole tank breaks out with Ick. So I treated the tank for 7 days with the treatment and started to see the AMMONIA spike. Went out to pick up some AMMO Lock and used that as directed. The next night I lost a few Damsels and my Naso. And this was after everybody looked great and rid of the Ick . So after all this I came on here and did a lot of reading to find out there was a lot of dumb advise the LFS gave me and now I’m really learning it’s all about taking your time and QT everything in this hobby. No prob I’m ok with that. So now in the middle of all my learning i lost the rest of my fish. It had to be the Ammonia cause it was not going down just getting worse. So now what came to mind was maybe my tank did not ever cycled from the start? But the LFS told me it did. At this point the only thing left in my tank is some Emril Crabs ,hermit crabs and a few Nas snails. The tank has now been fishless for almost 2 weeks and the AMMONIa is still nuts. The rock and the water do not smell the water is clear so I’m at a loss here???

Does anybody have a clue or know what’s going on ?

 

[coastie81]

do water changes to bring the ammonia down. DO NOT add chemicals to the tank unless you can specifically test for them. Water changes will bring it down. Do a few 20% plus or minus some about 3 times a week and it should start to bring the ammonia down.
Now when adding livestock I would suggest to QT them for about 3 weeks or so, just to make sure there is no ick or anything else wrong with them. Now when ready to transfer them over to the display tank. I would drip acclimate them to that tank. Remember saltwater is a very slow process you must me patient. Just my .02
Also ask questions on here, there are numerous people that have been mainting reefs for 20 plus years. most LFS don't give correct advice, remember they are a buisness and all about making some money. welcome to the boards

 

[geridoc]

First, check the test kit you are using - it might be inaccurate. Take a sample to your lfs and see if their analysis agrees with yours. If so, then I would guess that whatever you added to eliminate the ich really eliminated the bacteria in your tank, so the ammonia levels rose. At this point, you could do some water changes to get the ammonia levels below 1.0, then let the tank cycle until the levels go to zero. If you want to try to save the survivors, add Amquel Plus as per the directions on the bottle. Amquel allows the bacteria to develop while limiting the toxicity to your animals. Finally, leave your tank fishless for at least 6 weeks. I wouldn't trust whatever you added to eliminate the ich - only hypo and copper are reliable remedies. The ich parasite will die off for lack of a host if there are no fish present.

 

[jackri]

Yeah, I didn't hear anything about a water change in there the whole time and do you have a protein skimmer?
That and a naso tang in a 60g.... that's kinda pushing it. You may not have fully cycled or just added to much to quick after a cycle.
If you don't have a protein skimmer I would really look into getting a quality one and do some water changes.

 

[}phillyfish>]

Thank you for the fast reply! I am learning a lot . The stuff I used to treat the Ick was Chem Marina STOP Parasites. Ok now if i do the water changes will that restart the cycle? From what I was reading I was told to leave it alone but I think your right unless I help get the Ammonia down form how high it is I don’t think the tank has a fighting chance. And Hypo for the Ick sounds to be the best way I just could not get the fast lil suckers out of the DT for the QT. And I was going to do just like you said leave the Tank Fishless for a bit so the Parasites dye off.

 

[jackri]

If all your fish are dead, do your water changes and wait for the parasites to naturally die off... (10 weeks? can't remember) and then you should be fully cycled as well -- so you take care of your cycle and parasite problem in one.

 

[}phillyfish>]

I was doing 20% water changes a day after I went the 7 days with that Chem Marina Stop Parasites to help drop the Ammonia. Thats when I was reading and thought that I might be doing more harm then good not letting the tank fight back itself. But I guess I was doing the right thing .

 

[nycbob]

do ur water change as if u hv fish in the tank for the next 6-8 weeks. buy a reef test kit. dont bring water to the lfs bc most of them imo r that all that accurate.