Help!

[Mikeybones76]

So I have a 20 gallon tall for starters and my parameters have been stable then all of a sudden my ammonia shot way up within a 5 day period and I realized I haven’t seen my sand sifter in a while and he was pretty big and I read they starve which ticks me off cus I didn’t know and wouldn’t of bought until later on. I did a water change and ammonia just goes way back up. I had ****** filtration but last couple of weeks added a big canister filter and filled it full of awesome ceramic balls but not enough time for bacteria to establish on there so is there anything I can do? Tank full of small frags some not looking good and my bubble tip anemone isn’t looking good at all. I’m worried

 

[blaxsun]

You need to find what died or is dying and remove it. Seachem AM Guard might also help you in the interim.

 

[Mikeybones76]

Also the tank has been running about 8-9 months and before I added the canister it was only 2 hang on the back filters but parameters were still stable and I still have the hang on filters on so I didn’t remove any filtration from the tank. I’m also running carbon and a ton of purigen to try and help but it’s not.

 

[Mikeybones76]

You need to find what died or is dying and remove it. Seachem AM Guard might also help you in the interim.

I was poking around in the sand all over but I couldn’t find him

 

[Mikeybones76]

I was poking around in the sand all over but I couldn’t find him

How long does it take for a sand sifter to decompose? I also have trophius snails and hermits that could of been eating him

 

[blaxsun]

How long does it take for a sand sifter to decompose? I also have trophius snails and hermits that could of been eating him

Depends on the size of the fish, size of the cleanup crew and how long they've had to work on the corpse. I'd get some AM Guard to make the ammonia non-toxic and look at a different type of filtration setup (canisters aren't ideal for saltwater tanks).

 

[DrZoidburg]

How big is bio load? Is there sand in there?

 

[DrZoidburg]

My thoughts are that if you have a reasonable bio load, sand, and still have hob filer in water there is plenty of bacteria. You did a water change and it is still up? How much? Usually inverts turn to mush quick. Check the salt mix or source water.

 

[Mikeybones76]

Depends on the size of the fish, size of the cleanup crew and how long they've had to work on the corpse. I'd get some AM Guard to make the ammonia non-toxic and look at a different type of filtration setup (canisters aren't ideal for saltwater tanks).

The clean up crew is decent size and have the probably been at it at least a week at this point and the starfish was pretty big compared to everything else in the tank. Is am guard like prime cus I used prime once but the levels just got back up and ya I’m working on filtration just didn’t know when I started but I did buy a canister that is really big for the tank at least

 

[Mikeybones76]

My thoughts are that if you have a reasonable bio load, sand, and still have hob filer in water there is plenty of bacteria. You did a water change and it is still up? How much? Usually inverts turn to mush quick. Check the salt mix or source water.

The bio load admittedly is too big cus idk at the time but learning as I go and yes there is 2-3 inch of sand and plenty of rock. It was at 1ppm when I first tested it then I did about a 6-7 gallon water change got it down to .5 then added a couple drops of prime then 2 days later (today) it’s up to 2ppm! Worried about dosing prime constantly and having the levels go back and forth