Ammonia spike?

[Jan]

Okay so my tank was seeded with live rock and 50% water from established tank. All my levels were really good as stated in previous post. the last 2 days testing showed .25 ammonia. I purchased a unit of chemipur. I changed the poly filter media, added the chemipure according to directions and I also did a 50% water change to try to get the ammonia out. I used a different salt mix, Oceanic. I was using Instant Ocean before. Everything went smoothly. This morning I tested everything and now my ammonia is up to 1.0???? All the other levels are fine. I used bottled distilled water. I tested the distilled water. It read 0 ammonia. I then checked the salt water I had left over from the mix and it reads .025 ammonia? Everything in the tank seems to be doing okay but I don't know how long that will last. What is up with ,025 ammonia in fresh mix and now 1.0 ammonia in my tank???? I'm concerned that doing another water change will take all the bacteria that was in there out. What the heck is going on????

[spankythepyro]

you could have stirred up the sandbed, that will release amonia among other things. You could have gotten a bad batch of salt as well. Use the same salt, mix up a gallon of it and test that.

 

To determine the cause of this you have to systematically go through every variable

[Jon Lazar]

I would make new saltwater and recheck for ammonia. If it's present, perhaps it's coming from your distilled water.

 

Your tank will not "run out" of bacteria from doing too many water changes. There is a huge amount of surface area on your live rock, and this is where most of your bacteria live. Your fish, though, can be harmed by even low levels of ammonia.

 

Jon

[flowerseller]

I'm about to change 15g on my tank if you want to bring buckets and come get it?

 

McLean, VA

Kirby and Westmoreland.

[Jan]

I would make new saltwater and recheck for ammonia. If it's present, perhaps it's coming from your distilled water.

 

Your tank will not "run out" of bacteria from doing too many water changes. There is a huge amount of surface area on your live rock, and this is where most of your bacteria live. Your fish, though, can be harmed by even low levels of ammonia.

 

Jon

Jon,

I've cheked the distilled water and it reads 0 ammonia. The mix of water and salt reads .025. Can it be the salt?

[Jan]

I'm about to change 15g on my tank if you want to bring buckets and come get it?

 

McLean, VA

Kirby and Westmoreland.

 

I may take you up on this offer. First I'm going to mix another batch and test it. I will get back to you

[Jan]

It's the mix I just mixed a gallon of it and the ammonia reads .50. The distilled water is 0 ammonia alone. So .50 with stirring the sand bed a little yesterday and the already existing .25 brought it up to 1.0.

 

Chip, I'll take some of your water, it that's alright. I'll need your adddress. I'll also purchase different salt mix. This really stinks. Why would the salt mix have ammonia in it alreadY? I got this salt mix from the person that gave me the water and live rocks. She used it without any problems.

[astroboy]

It's the mix I just mixed a gallon of it and the ammonia reads .50. The distilled water is 0 ammonia alone. So .50 with stirring the sand bed a little yesterday and the already existing .25 brought it up to 1.0.

 

Chip, I'll take some of your water, it that's alright. I'll need your adddress. I'll also purchase different salt mix. This really stinks. Why would the salt mix have ammonia in it alreadY? I got this salt mix from the person that gave me the water and live rocks. She used it without any problems.

 

What salt mix was it?

[Jan]

It's the mix I just mixed a gallon of it and the ammonia reads .50. The distilled water is 0 ammonia alone. So .50 with stirring the sand bed a little yesterday and the already existing .25 brought it up to 1.0.

 

Chip, I'll take some of your water, it that's alright. I'll need your adddress. I'll also purchase different salt mix. This really stinks. Why would the salt mix have ammonia in it alreadY? I got this salt mix from the person that gave me the water and live rocks. She used it without any problems.

Oceanic Natural Sea Salt mix.

[spankythepyro]

It's the mix I just mixed a gallon of it and the ammonia reads .50. The distilled water is 0 ammonia alone. So .50 with stirring the sand bed a little yesterday and the already existing .25 brought it up to 1.0.

 

Chip, I'll take some of your water, it that's alright. I'll need your adddress. I'll also purchase different salt mix. This really stinks. Why would the salt mix have ammonia in it alreadY? I got this salt mix from the person that gave me the water and live rocks. She used it without any problems.

 

what I say , and :( I would stick with Instant Ocean even though they are filing for bankruptcy, but its under a title where they can still produce their products

[Jan]

what I say , and :( I would stick with Instant Ocean even though they are filing for bankruptcy, but its under a title where they can still produce their products

 

You were right. I'm outta here. Going to get Instant ocean and more water. I'm so pissed !!!!

[davjbeas]

I have plenty of RODI water prepared if you need some.

 

David B.

[Origami]

Jan, are you mixing up your salt water and aging it a day or two before putting it in your tank? Normally, freshly mixed stuff can be rather caustic and needs to air out a bit in order for it to stabilize.

[FishyTim]

Just as a side note on using distilled water. Many times distilled water is held in copper so if you are planning of having inverts you might want to check that out....

 

 

Jan, are you mixing up your salt water and aging it a day or two before putting it in your tank? Normally, freshly mixed stuff can be rather caustic and needs to air out a bit in order for it to stabilize.

[Jan]

Jan, are you mixing up your salt water and aging it a day or two before putting it in your tank? Normally, freshly mixed stuff can be rather caustic and needs to air out a bit in order for it to stabilize.

 

No, I didn't wait and age the mix. Caustic wouldn't necessarily mean there is ammonia in it, would it? I'd think the PH would be affected too and that's fine. I'm baffled, really. I just swapped out 7 gallons with 7 gallons from a beautifully well maintained tank. The ammonia is still 1.0. I dunno, might be the test kit too.

 

The fish are doing great. There's no heavy breathing, no rubbing up against rocks or anything. They're out and eating. The clown fish keeps doing a shimmy with his tail in the sand, but clown fish do strange things, don't they?

[spankythepyro]

if you have 2 clownfish that shimmy is a sign of submission, your male or smaller one is submitting to the bigger or female clown.

 

If you are feeding daily knock it back to every other day. Amonia is caused by the breakdown of the fish food/poop and dieoff

[Jan]

if you have 2 clownfish that shimmy is a sign of submission, your male or smaller one is submitting to the bigger or female clown.

 

If you are feeding daily knock it back to every other day. Amonia is caused by the breakdown of the fish food/poop and dieoff

 

Oh I don't feed daily. Once every other day. There's only 1 clown and 1 damsel.

[Origami]

No, I didn't wait and age the mix. Caustic wouldn't necessarily mean there is ammonia in it, would it? I'd think the PH would be affected too and that's fine. I'm baffled, really. I just swapped out 7 gallons with 7 gallons from a beautifully well maintained tank. The ammonia is still 1.0. I dunno, might be the test kit too.

 

The fish are doing great. There's no heavy breathing, no rubbing up against rocks or anything. They're out and eating. The clown fish keeps doing a shimmy with his tail in the sand, but clown fish do strange things, don't they?

 

Jan, my concern was that, if the new mix was too caustic, it might cause a die-off of bacteria or other forms leading to an increase in ammonia.

 

A lot of salt mixes have low levels of residual ammonia when mixed up. This thread might offer you some insight: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1432895

[Jan]

Jan, my concern was that, if the new mix was too caustic, it might cause a die-off of bacteria or other forms leading to an increase in ammonia.

 

A lot of salt mixes have low levels of residual ammonia when mixed up. This thread might offer you some insight: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1432895

 

This is interesting because the Instant Ocean I purchased yesterday showed an ammonia level of .50 after I mixed it. That's .25 more than the other stuff. I never thought to test the mix. This is bizarre. I also bought a live rockfrom Super Petz last week. Its the only one that didn;'t come with the other things in the tank. I forgot all about it. It looks like a lot of iot died off. Should I take it out? This morning the ammonia level was up to 2.0 but the fish are still doing fine. Many star fish are out. Hermits look fine too. I mixed another 10 gallons and let it sit until the temperture got up to 78F. I also had a nano wave maker in there to mix it up. I replaced what I took out....about 5 gallons. I'm going to try to make my way to a pet store. I'm going to purchase another ammonia kit, just in case. No one in the tank is in distress. Thank you. Please keep the thoughts and information coming. I really enjoy all the information and reading.

[Origami]

This is interesting because the Instant Ocean I purchased yesterday showed an ammonia level of .50 after I mixed it. That's .25 more than the other stuff. I never thought to test the mix. This is bizarre. I also bought a live rockfrom Super Petz last week. Its the only one that didn;'t come with the other things in the tank. I forgot all about it. It looks like a lot of iot died off. Should I take it out? This morning the ammonia level was up to 2.0 but the fish are still doing fine. Many star fish are out. Hermits look fine too. I mixed another 10 gallons and let it sit until the temperture got up to 78F. I also had a nano wave maker in there to mix it up. I replaced what I took out....about 5 gallons. I'm going to try to make my way to a pet store. I'm going to purchase another ammonia kit, just in case. No one in the tank is in distress. Thank you. Please keep the thoughts and information coming. I really enjoy all the information and reading.

 

For me, 2 ppm calls for a pretty big water change to prevent the rising ammonia level from killing off stuff and rising further. You may want to consider using something like AmQuel right now to bind up some of that ammonia. If you have a rock in there that you suspect has die-off, get it out and let it cycle in another vat (with a heater), isolated from your tank. Bring it back to your main tank after it's finished. If you notice anything like dying sponges on the rock, scrape them off before you put it in the vat. That way things will move along more quickly.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Origami2547

[Sugar Magnolia]

Jan, was that piece of live rock that you just purchased fully cured? I'm with Tom and suspecting that that may be the culprit. I'd say take it out and put it in a separate bucket with a heater and powerhead and let it cure for a couple of weeks. Do water changes weekly in the bucket along with your normal weekly water changes.

[Jan]

Jan, was that piece of live rock that you just purchased fully cured? I'm with Tom and suspecting that that may be the culprit. I'd say take it out and put it in a separate bucket with a heater and powerhead and let it cure for a couple of weeks. Do water changes weekly in the bucket along with your normal weekly water changes.

 

I purchased the one piece of live rock from Super Petz about a week or so ago. They'd just gotten a shipment in. They told me that all of their rock was cured. Well it wasn't. When I took the rock out of the tank it stunk like rotten fish. There was a dead clam on it and sponge and other really bad smelling stuff. Before I put it in my tank I rinsed it off and dislodged anything that didn't look right, but I missed a clam and some sponge. They looked like rock. We live, we learn, and we stay up late doing many many water changes.

 

Tom's going to house the clown for me until everything settles.

 

You're all amazing. I've gotten water from one person and a place to house my fish from another. Everyone has given me good sound advice. You guys really care. I'm so happy to be here. There are so many knowledgeable people here. I'm very fortunate. Thank you all for coming forward to help. Thank you for caring enough to take the time. I hope I can do the same for you.

Jan

[Origami]

Your clown's settling in now, Jan. Here are a couple of pics of her temporary housing. The clown on the right is yours. As you can see, the two are getting to know each other (no aggression, just curiousity).

 

 

 

The lights are out now so everybody can settle down and settle in....

Edited March 3, 2009 by Origami2547

[Jan]

Your clown's settling in now, Jan. Here are a couple of pics of her temporary housing. The clown on the right is yours. As you can see, the two are getting to know each other (no aggression, just curiousity).

 

 

 

The lights are out now so everybody can settle down and settle in....

 

Tom,

It was great meeting you. She looks great! Thank you so much.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Jan, glad we could help. Now that you have that rock out, you should be able to get your water quality under control in no time. Keep checking those parameters, with water changes you should be good to go again in a week or two.