I need help

sugarfox03

sugarfox03

Member
Ok, I just checkd my nitrate level, and the test came back around 80 ppm. My nitrite is at 1.0 ppm, same with ammonia. It was fine a week ago. All corals look fine, I noticed white spots on my clown that I have had for months, and my scooter blenny died 2 days ago, he was removed the morning I found him.
What on earth is going wrong with my tank?! Temp doesnt go above 80, there's no sponge, bioballs, ceramic rings. I have an AquaC Remora thats been on atleast 6 weeks now, it works great, and gets cleaned every other day. I feed once every other day. I havent used any cleaning agents in my room since the last time it spiked. I have no candles lit, nothing smelly in the room except my sheets which are 15 feet away from the tank. I'm at a loss right now. I ordered live rock rubble and chaeto a week ago, it should have been here by now (I'm getting pretty upset about it not being here.) What can I do? SG is 1.023/24. pH is 8.2, phos is almost 0. I have carbon in the back. I havent added any chemicals in weeks except the Amquel for the ammonia. Any ideas what I am doing wrong? Last weekend I took out every piece of rock I had and scrubbed them down. I cleaned most of the crud off the sand from the rocks. I cleaned all powerheads. I have too much invested in this tank to lose it. I just dont understand it? I use only RO water from the LFS (and their premixed RO+salt water.) I did a 3 gal water change this evening, with no change in water params. I appreciate any info/comments/suggestions. I'm really bummed out about this, as I am clueless as to why its happening. Thanks in advance.
-Melody
 
L

lbaskball

Guest
The only thing I can ask you is...
Did anything die or dying?
The fish that died might of caused a spike other then that im bummed. Thats weird. Im guessing your tank is going into a mini cycle again..how long have you had your tank?
You may have added too much food on one day and it may also have caused it to go through a mini crash, hopefully everything will be low by tomorrow. If not, try using a polyfilter, I heard they get rid of ammonia and phos. Hope your good bacteria can catch up to get rid of the nitrite and nitrate levels to go down.
Let me know how your tank is doing.
 
sugarfox03

sugarfox03

Member
Just the scooter blenny died, my true perc has (I'm guessing) ich from the white spots. He is still eating great though. I scrubbed the rock with saltwater and a new toothbrush (same thing I use to clean the tank sometimes) I have been doing the once every other day feedings for about a month, I believe, I always add just enough to feed everyone. I'm going to do another 5 gal water change today, to see if that will help. The dead scooter wasnt in there long, he was alive the night before, and dead the next morning when I took him out. The tank has been up 5 months now? I can't remember exactly. I got it at the beginning of summer. The ammonia isn't terribly high (more than it should be) and the phos are at zero (undetectable on the Salifert test I used.) I changed the carbon 2 weeks ago, should I change it again? I'm really worried, I dont want to lose anyone/anything else!
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
any ammonia is too much though if you can test it. there's something else going on in your tank.. die off, uneaten frozen food, something, that is rotting in your tank giving off ammonia.
i wouldn't think you should need to scrub your rock... you're probably killing things that shouldn't be by doing it. what's your cleaner crew doing?
 
sugarfox03

sugarfox03

Member
The nass. snails are all over the place. I have 3 turbo snails (the big ones) that are all over the rock and glass. I have about 10 other snails (smaller than turbos) and they too are all over. The hermits are all in the rock...I guess doing what they should be. I dont feed frozen, just flake. And I havent fed my corals in about two weeks, but they get spot fed with a pipette. Nothing is rotting that I can see, and I scrubbed the rock just to get debris and stuff of it, thinking that it would one day cause a problem. All corals and 3 fish are alive and accounted for. What do I need to do to correct this? Will daily water changes (5 gal in a 24 gal tank) be enough? Should I stop feeding? I cant take anything out, I have a damsel in the other tank, which would stress out the 3 fish in this tank, and the lights on the other tank wouldn't be able to sustain some of the corals.
 
sugarfox03

sugarfox03

Member
Should I remove all the rock in the tank and search for something dead? Would a snail cause this much trouble? My chaeto/live rock rubble came in yesterday, so thats in the back of the tank now. I did a 5 gal water change yesterday, and tested everything this morning, still high, nothing went down. If I can get rid of my long fin damsel, I will move the fish and corals to the other tank I have, and just wait it out. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance!
 
robsw

robsw

Member
i have heard that adding too much amquel is worse for the tank than the ammonia. not sure if u add the stuff every day or just now cuz u saw the ammonia readings. all i am saying is dont add too much of the stuff. i agree about doing a water change asap. after that your reading might level off again.
good luck.
Rob
 
L

lbaskball

Guest
I agree with what the other person said, dont scrub the rocks you might be getting rid of the good bacteria too. Maybe one of your turbo snails died? That could cause your ammonia to jump a little. You should add the real saltwater by instant oceanic that they sell at *****. That water is real saltwater with good bacteria in it and the ph is already set at 8.2, no phos. That might help when you do water changes. I believe for 5gal they are about 10bucks. But thats the only advice I can come up with. THere must be something that is dying that is causing a chain reaction. Did you clean out your sponges (if you have one) latly? If you did, you might of killed off lot of good bacteria, that can cause the tank to go through a mini cycle again.
 
fishboy52

fishboy52

Member
every time i move my sand or rock around my tank goes all weird i don't think it was a good idea to scrub the rock down as someone said you prodably killed a lot of good bacteria try using cycle to your tank the last three times this happened to me i used it and in about a 1-2 days it cut my readings in half ........... over dose its what i did ...... but i don't know if it'll effect your corals (don't have any). And as for salt i usualy costs about 5-8$ for 10gal at ***** or petland
oh and by the way the product realy is called cycle and can be bought at petland, *****, pet not so smart, and now even in wal-mart for about $6
hoped this helps
 
sugarfox03

sugarfox03

Member
Originally Posted by lbaskball
I agree with what the other person said, dont scrub the rocks you might be getting rid of the good bacteria too. Maybe one of your turbo snails died? That could cause your ammonia to jump a little. You should add the real saltwater by instant oceanic that they sell at *****. That water is real saltwater with good bacteria in it and the ph is already set at 8.2, no phos. That might help when you do water changes. I believe for 5gal they are about 10bucks. But thats the only advice I can come up with. THere must be something that is dying that is causing a chain reaction. Did you clean out your sponges (if you have one) latly? If you did, you might of killed off lot of good bacteria, that can cause the tank to go through a mini cycle again.
I dont have any of the media in the back that it came with. I removed the sponges 2 months ago, the bioballs and ceramic rings were removed just a few weeks after I got the tank. Also, when I say "scrub" all I did was take a toothbrush and got all of the debris/detritus that was collecting on it, and shook it around in some fresh saltwater. I didnt exactly scrub them down to kill anything, I just wanted to get the loose stuff off it because it was falling down on the sand and looked bad. The nass. snails don't really do much for that stuff (atleast mine dont) so I figured that may one day cause a spike if it started to break down. I checked one of my receipts from the LFS and for the salt water I buy it says "filtered seawater" I'm going to ask them tomorrow what exactly that means.
And thanks for the good wishes blondie!! :happyfish
fishboy - I have heard about that stuff. at this point, I'm going to stick with just water changes. I dont want to add anything else. I hate adding anything that I dont absolutely have to. Thanks for the advice though!!
 
sac10918

sac10918

Member
Hey SugarFox
Do you have the 24gal aquapod? Maybe you should do a water change in the back compartment. I have one of those extendable siphons. I will sometimes take out all the stuff in the back compartment (heater, skimmer, pumps, etc.) and clean those off real good and put my siphon down in the bottom of each compartment to get the deitrus and stuff out. I think that may help you out. I also do not have any bioballs, ceramics, or sponges but I do have quite a few pumps and stuff back there which do seem to collect organic matter. Just a thought. Hope it helps.
 
sugarfox03

sugarfox03

Member
Originally Posted by sac10918
Hey SugarFox
Do you have the 24gal aquapod? Maybe you should do a water change in the back compartment. I have one of those extendable siphons. I will sometimes take out all the stuff in the back compartment (heater, skimmer, pumps, etc.) and clean those off real good and put my siphon down in the bottom of each compartment to get the deitrus and stuff out. I think that may help you out. I also do not have any bioballs, ceramics, or sponges but I do have quite a few pumps and stuff back there which do seem to collect organic matter. Just a thought. Hope it helps.
Dumb question, but doesnt the same water in the main part of the tank, go in the rear of the tank too? I've never really noticed the water level in the back when I do a water change, but I just assume it would be the same? I dont have any sponges, bioballs, or ceramic rings in the back. In the right chamber I have live rock rubble and chaeto and the left has the power heads for the main output for the tank and also the ph for my Remora skimmer. I just cleaned the powerheads 2 weeks ago, they were getting pretty nasty. Until everything is cleared up, I added a MJ400 to the main part of the tank, pointed straight at the top for increased surface movement. I will siphon out of the left chamber next water change I do (sometime this week.) I can't do it in the left though. Thanks for the info!!
 
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