Ammonia spike! Please help.

[Unitylover]

Api is innacurate with ammonia, but not that innacurate. Best course of action is to take fish out into some freshly made saltwater, as the ammonia will be 0 in there

 

[Hawkaholic]

What do you think about ATM colony or

Fritz Zyme 9? They are cheaper than doctor Tim’s​

I’m unfamiliar with those. Most will do the trick though. It’s just a matter of introducing the correct bacteria and it should populate if the conditions are correct - live rocks or equivalent surface to grow on.

 

[Karen00]

The reason I asked about what the ammonia reading was before adding Ammo Lock is that if it showed 8.0 and the fish are still alive then it seems to suggest that the reading is high NH4 and NH3 is not at toxic levels (the ammonia badge seems to suggest that as I believe the badge is just NH3). Having said that if the ph is increased the NH4 will shift to NH3. The same will happen with increasing temp (but I assume the temp is stable). Lowering ph or temp will have the reverse affect. Ammo Lock also converts NH3 to NH4 so I was trying to understand what API was showing before the Ammo Lock was added. Having said all that there should not be that much NH4 in the first place. Something is definitely wrong somewhere whether it's the test, ph, temp. I don't know how that much NH4 would get locked up.

Feel free to correct me. I haven't had this happen since my freshwater days. I had a way overstocked, newly cycled tank (not on purpose, I had to quickly bring in some pond fish) and after about a week I tested the water with API and it showed beyond lethal but the fish were fine. That's when I realized API was showing total ammonia and what I had was NH4 (it was coldwater tank). Still concerned I started dosing Ammo Lock knowing it converted NH3 to NH4. In the end I made sure I got total ammonia down because if my ph and/or temp had gone up all that NH4 would've started turning to NH3.

 

[khittik]

on post #1 you showed dead shrimp and said clowns were on surface breathing irregularly. That was 6 hours ago. What is status of clowns now?

I’ll update I’m outside

 

[reeftankdude]

With ammonia that high is it possible that his bacteria died off? After a 50 percent or more water change I would add a bottle of Dr.Tim's and some water flow to the surface. There seems to be no surface agitation from what the image is showing. The tank may need more oxygen. I use three pumps with one pointed at the surface. I got the pumps from Walmart's website.

 

[Subsea]

The reason I asked about what the ammonia reading was before adding Ammo Lock is that if it showed 8.0 and the fish are still alive then it seems to suggest that the reading is high NH4 and NH3 is not at toxic levels (the ammonia badge seems to suggest that as I believe the badge is just NH3). Having said that if the ph is increased the NH4 will shift to NH3. The same will happen with increasing temp (but I assume the temp is stable). Lowering ph or temp will have the reverse affect. Ammo Lock also converts NH3 to NH4 so I was trying to understand what API was showing before the Ammo Lock was added. Having said all that there should not be that much NH4 in the first place. Something is definitely wrong somewhere whether it's the test, ph, temp. I don't know how that much NH4 would get locked up.

Feel free to correct me. I haven't had this happen since my freshwater days. I had a way overstocked, newly cycled tank (not on purpose, I had to quickly bring in some pond fish) and after about a week I tested the water with API and it showed beyond lethal but the fish were fine. That's when I realized API was showing total ammonia and what I had was NH4 (it was coldwater tank). Still concerned I started dosing Ammo Lock knowing it converted NH3 to NH4. In the end I made sure I got total ammonia down because if my ph and/or temp had gone up all that NH4 would've started turning to NH3.

I also don’t think ammonia got that high. Shrimp are very sensitive and they sometines die for no apparent reason. The clowns gasping for air and stressed is quite a different thing.

@khittik
How are the clownfish doing and please take a full tank shot with white light.

 

[Karen00]

I also don’t think ammonia got that high. Shrimp are very sensitive and they sometines die for no apparent reason. The clowns gasping for air and stressed is quite a different thing.

@khittik
How are the clownfish doing and please take a full tank shot with white light.

I agree. The fish gasping for air is totally different and seems to suggest an oxygen issue. Hopefully the OP updates us.

 

[khittik]

I also don’t think ammonia got that high. Shrimp are very sensitive and they sometines die for no apparent reason. The clowns gasping for air and stressed is quite a different thing.

@khittik
How are the clownfish doing and please take a full tank shot with white light.

Hi they are doing a lot better than. Happy as usual.

how about corals? Are these dead? Will dead create ammonia?

 

[fishguy242]

not dead, need parameters.
did you increase top water movement ?

 

[Tamberav]

Not dead but closed/unhappy.

 

[khittik]

not dead, need parameters.
did you increase top water movement ?

I did my 50% water change yesterday. No the water movement stays the same.

 

[khittik]

not dead, need parameters.
did you increase top water movement ?

I am getting AI Nero 3 but it’s coming end of next month

 

[131696]

Throw that stuff away use Prime to get rid of ammonia

 

[khittik]

The reason I asked about what the ammonia reading was before adding Ammo Lock is that if it showed 8.0 and the fish are still alive then it seems to suggest that the reading is high NH4 and NH3 is not at toxic levels (the ammonia badge seems to suggest that as I believe the badge is just NH3). Having said that if the ph is increased the NH4 will shift to NH3. The same will happen with increasing temp (but I assume the temp is stable). Lowering ph or temp will have the reverse affect. Ammo Lock also converts NH3 to NH4 so I was trying to understand what API was showing before the Ammo Lock was added. Having said all that there should not be that much NH4 in the first place. Something is definitely wrong somewhere whether it's the test, ph, temp. I don't know how that much NH4 would get locked up.

Feel free to correct me. I haven't had this happen since my freshwater days. I had a way overstocked, newly cycled tank (not on purpose, I had to quickly bring in some pond fish) and after about a week I tested the water with API and it showed beyond lethal but the fish were fine. That's when I realized API was showing total ammonia and what I had was NH4 (it was coldwater tank). Still concerned I started dosing Ammo Lock knowing it converted NH3 to NH4. In the end I made sure I got total ammonia down because if my ph and/or temp had gone up all that NH4 would've started turning to NH3.

My tank ammonia with API never goes down to 0ppm. I always use NH3 and NH4 calculators in order to get the right reading of NH3. After 50% water changes, ammonia is still 8.0ppm. But now the fishes are doing good except two corals remain closed. Now with 8ppm API test kit, I calculated and NH3 is still 0.37ppm which is still toxic. How to reduce this

 

[Karen00]

My tank ammonia with API never goes down to 0ppm. I always use NH3 and NH4 calculators in order to get the right reading of NH3. After 50% water changes, ammonia is still 8.0ppm. But now the fishes are doing good except two corals remain closed. Now with 8ppm API test kit, I calculated and NH3 is still 0.37ppm which is still toxic. How to reduce this

You can try Prime until you get it down but the only way to get it out is through water changes. Remember that NH4 can convert to NH3 depending on ph and temp. When this happened to me in my freshwater tank it took a lot of water changes to get things back in balance so it will probably be the same for you. Do you have another tank you can move the inhabitants to while you're doing this? Doing water changes in a freshwater tank doesn't impact the system too much but in a saltwater tank lots of water changes can have more of an impact in the system.

 

[khittik]

I also don’t think ammonia got that high. Shrimp are very sensitive and they sometines die for no apparent reason. The clowns gasping for air and stressed is quite a different thing.

@khittik
How are the clownfish doing and please take a full tank shot with white light.

They are doing well now. But ammonia still 8.0ppm. The same as before.

 

[khittik]

You can try Prime until you get it down but the only way to get it out is through water changes. Remember that NH4 can convert to NH3 depending on ph and temp. When this happened to me in my freshwater tank it took a lot of water changes to get things back in balance so it will probably be the same for you. Do you have another tank you can move the inhabitants to while you're doing this? Doing water changes in a freshwater tank doesn't impact the system too much but in a saltwater tank lots of water changes can have more of an impact in the system.

No I don’t have other tanks. What about dosing ATM colony nitrifying bacteria to convert those ammonia?

 

[reeftankdude]

No I don’t have other tanks. What about dosing ATM colony nitrifying bacteria to convert those ammonia?

I could be wrong, but your ammonia level will kill the bacteria. I would keep doing water changes unitl I am down to at least 3ppm. I would then add a double dose of a high quality bacteria product like Dr. Tim's. However, you need to go to the pet shop and get a pump to better circulate the water into the rock that the bacteria will colonize onto.

 

[damsels are not mean]

They are doing well now. But ammonia still 8.0ppm. The same as before.

Ammonia is no 8ppm because your fish are alive
I really think this is all a testing error

 

[Karen00]

No I don’t have other tanks. What about dosing ATM colony nitrifying bacteria to convert those ammonia?

To the best of my knowledge that bacteria won't touch NH4. What you have to know is that NH4 can convert back to NH3 easily so that's the threat to your tank and I think you said your NH3 is climbing. That could be coming from the NH4. You need to get that down. Even going through the nitrifying cycle will then have your nitrates skyrocket which isn't as bad as ammonia but can still be lethal if it gets high enough so you'll still be doing water changes. High nitrates can also cause an algae bloom (maybe bacteria as well). You are best to get the ammonia down to save yourself other issues down the road. It also takes time for the bacteria to process the load which could still leave your inhabitants vulnerable to the NH3. Someone might have a different view but I see your tank as being very unstable right now and using Prime or Ammo Lock are meant to be temp solutions until you can get the situation corrected.