Ammonia increased with water change

LaloJ · Jan 2, 2022

Hello guys, I have a 10 gallon QT tank where I had a clown fish and a damsel. About 4 weeks ago I noticed signs of cryptocaryon in the clownfish, so I immediately converted the QT tank to a hospital tank and added cupramine, for about 3 weeks, but I had a problem with the tank as it started to leak and had to I sent it to the LFS to have it sealed with new silicone, and it took about a week to deliver it, during this time the fish themselves were in a 5 gallon container still with cupramine, and when my tank was ready 4 days ago, I placed the fish in the tank, I added new water and everything working back in the 10 gallon tank but the next day my fish woke up dead, and I have no idea what happened here, I'm talking about last December 30, I did tests and my ammonia was more than 0.50 ppm and nitrites maybe 0.10 ppm, that didn't make sense since I added new water, which turned a slightly white color, which is normal after I do the water changes but normally clears up in a few hours, and tonight it still doesn't clear a bit, since that day I added biological material that I grow in the sump of my main tank, and today when I see that my water is still a little white, I realized tests again, I have a slight decrease in nitrites, since now they are 0 but in my opinion I think the ammonia has risen a bit, the pH is 8.2 and the salinity is 1.019, does anyone have any idea what happened here? Why did ammonia increase with new water? I'm concerned that there are practically two resistant fish that died, which means that at the moment I cannot maintain anything with these conditions.

LaloJ · Jan 2, 2022

brandon429 · Jan 2, 2022

I estimate about fifty thousand running reef tanks stocked with fish and corals run at that level on api so it’s hard to assign toxicity to that level vs disease malady, if this was a seneye we’d know a closer measure to the truth. that color isn’t rare for running reefs, it’s common. Given the inability of that kit to give precise readings it’s hard to ascertain water change issues, trace ammonia in newly mixed saltwater has shown that in thousands of posts, it’s the common cause of the ‘stuck cycle’ alert post across forums

ssdawood · Jan 2, 2022

Cupramine affects ammonia test. I think so bit someone will correct me

ssdawood · Jan 2, 2022

False reading. Copper is messing with it

brandon429 · Jan 2, 2022

Hey neat call I didn’t know that. Added to list of api adulterants #28 heh

LaloJ · Jan 2, 2022

ssdawood said:
Cupramine affects ammonia test. I think so bit someone will correct me

Man I don't know how I could forget this, it's true, and although the copper level surely dropped a lot after adding enough new water I suppose that it's enough copper to present a false ammonia reading, but then if it was not the ammonia then what was it? what killed my fish ?? They did not last 24 hours in the repaired tank.

brandon429 · Jan 2, 2022

Disease, how is that ruled out for them

HomebroodExotics · Jan 2, 2022

Did you allow enough time for the new silicone to cure? Lots of stuff can go wrong and cause problems in that situation.

LaloJ · Jan 2, 2022

brandon429 said:
Disease, how is that ruled out for them

After I started to medicate, the signs of cryptocaryon disappeared immediately, and they were only in my clownfish. Both fish ate well and never had any problems, they fed quite well in the container just before being placed back in the tank, they attacked the food voraciously, 20 hours later they were dead.

JNalley · Jan 2, 2022

Was the water in the bucket also 1.019? I understand Hyposalinity to some degree can help with hospitalizing fish and curing disease, but did you move them from 1.024 to 1.019 immediately? or was the level slowly brought down over time? I'm genuinely interested as this is something I've never done, but understand that a quick change of salinity can kill an already ill fish...

taricha · Jan 2, 2022

ssdawood said:
Cupramine affects ammonia test. I think so bit someone will correct me

"FAQ: I'm using Seachem Cupramine™ and my ammonia test kit is showing ammonia off the scale. What is going on?
Ammonia test kits can not distinguish ammonia from the amine based complex present in Cupramine™ and will therefore give a false high reading for ammonia while using Cupramine™."

So not the copper exactly, but it is the cupramine. it shows up as ammonia under the conditions of the API test, even though it isn't.

(the ammonia reading is not the cause of the fish death, as others have said. Look elsewhere.)

LaloJ · Jan 2, 2022

JNalley said:
Was the water in the bucket also 1.019? I understand Hyposalinity to some degree can help with hospitalizing fish and curing disease, but did you move them from 1.024 to 1.019 immediately? or was the level slowly brought down over time? I'm genuinely interested as this is something I've never done, but understand that a quick change of salinity can kill an already ill fish...

The salinity of the water in the container was at 1.020, a slow change in salinity may not have been made but it was not very radical either, I must say that my clownfish showed 3 or 4 white spots, so I medicate immediately, and the spots disappeared in just a few hours, also both fish never stopped eating, they were in good condition before entering the repaired tank. Today the water still remains with a whitish tint, could it be the new silicone? It dried for 36 hours maybe, or maybe in the LFS they accidentally spilled something into the tank? Either way wash it well before adding salt water again.