Ich/ High Ammonia

[Bray]

Recently my satlwater tans ammonia levels have raised slowly from zero to 0.25 then s few weeks later 0.25 and a week later up to 1.0 ppm. At this point I cleaned the tank and did a 22% water change on my 55 gallon tank. The levels still did not drop. I added ammo lock and waited. 5 or so days later my ammonia levels went through the roof at 8.0 ppm and my Hippo Tang has developed Ich. He eats and functions fine but the Ammonia levels and ich have me worried. I do not over feed and I have plenty of filters to include a protein skimmer, live rock and. 70 gal. Filter. Please give me advice so All my fish don't die!!

 

[Minkota]

How old is the tank?

 

[Bray]

3 months

 

[Bectan01]

What's your livestock list? There should be no ammonia present in a fully cycled tank. How much live rock is there, what kind of filter. Tell us more about your tank and hopefully we can help you! Do you QT new arrivals?

 

[Bray]

I currently have:

--Livestock--
5 snails
12 crabs
4 blue chromis
1 blue hippo tang
2 clowns

--Filtration/ Setup--
Protein Skimmer
70 gallon Fluval filter sponge/carbon/bio rock
50 lbs. cured live rock
Sand bed
2 powerr heads 1300 each
2 200 watt heaters
HO T5 lighting
55 gallon saltwater tank

Started with 2 chromis and added 2 fish per week since then . I have not quaritined any fish, as I purchased cheap fish first.

Lost in the past:
1 angel fish- last week
1 snail- 2 weeks ago
2 chromis - in the first week of setup
3 crabs - here n there

 

[Bray]

PH levels is 8.0-8-2

Nitrates and nitrites are fine too!

 

[Beengirl]

Har you added anything to the tank recently that may have killed off some BB?

 

[Bectan01]

My first guess is the tank isn't/wasn't fully cycled coupled with adding some big fish/too many fish too soon? That's the only thing I can think of to raise ammonia levels that high so quickly. Anything else in the tank that could be dead, missing snail or crab perhaps?

 

[huma-huma]

how often are you doing water changes? how much water are you changing?
did you test your levels before and after adding each fish?
did you physically remove every single fish you've lost? or did they go missing in the tank?
have you removed any rock from the tank?

the rather quick spike in ammonia means that your beneficial bacteria cant keep up with your bioload. this means you either removed/killed off a substantial portion of bacteria ( it happens) or added fish too quickly without testing. the dangerous part about ammonia is that it sneaks up on you. itll take several days, if not a week or 2, for ammonia levels to spike. adding 2 fish per week could def cause a ammo spike. what id do is drop to feeding every other day, do atleast a 40-50% water change, wait a few hours, then test. also it wouldn't be a bad idea to have someone else test the water (friend, neighbor, pet store).

 

[huma-huma]

and the ich on the hippo isn't really uncommon, its a stress related disease and hippos tend to stress easily. just be careful with him because they get rather large and need a ton of swimming room.

 

[Bray]

I fid have a chromis go missing, and the dead crabs as well, minus the shell.

 

[Bray]

I have not removed any live rock, I did Add a few tho. Also I had s sea hare a that got scared a week and a half ago and released a bunch of the purple toxin, I was able to remove 90% of it out the tank. Then a few days later he got sucked into my filter intake and was there several hours I assume. Do you think this has anything to do with it? Out of the last 30 days or so that I have added fish , I have done about 5 10% water changes and last week my ammonia was still climbing up to 1.0 so I did a 22% water change testing both before and after with no change in ammonia levels at all. It is frustrating! Also I am aware of tangs and Ich, I noticed he had it prior to the white spots because he was scraping against the rocks. So back to the ammonia, so you recommend a 50% water change?

 

[Bray]

I haven't added anything to the tank in about 2 weeks

 

[TheTodd]

Sorry to jump in late...how often are you cleaning the filter? Any mechanical filter should be cleaned weekly to remove detritus and whatever else might be in there. It seems odd to me that you would have high ammonia but perfect nitrites and nitrates.

I would slow down on adding fish. Two a week is a lot. Two a month could be too much depending on the fish. You've got to let the beneficial bacteria multiply in order to keep up with the additional bio load. Get the parameters under control and maybe do a fish a month.

Lastly...hate to do the Tang Police thing, but a Hippo in a 55g is going to be stressed. They need much larger, regardless of how small I am sure you will say it is. 180 is the minimum recommended size. Once you get the parameters under control, its health is going to be a concern due to stress. What are you doing to treat the Ich now? High ammonia plus Ich is going to be tough on everything in the tank.

 

[huma-huma]

I have not removed any live rock, I did Add a few tho. Also I had s sea hare a that got scared a week and a half ago and released a bunch of the purple toxin, I was able to remove 90% of it out the tank. Then a few days later he got sucked into my filter intake and was there several hours I assume. Do you think this has anything to do with it? Out of the last 30 days or so that I have added fish , I have done about 5 10% water changes and last week my ammonia was still climbing up to 1.0 so I did a 22% water change testing both before and after with no change in ammonia levels at all. It is frustrating! Also I am aware of tangs and Ich, I noticed he had it prior to the white spots because he was scraping against the rocks. So back to the ammonia, so you recommend a 50% water change?

find the source of ammonia, but until you do, do larger water changes. id do a 40-50% to knock down the ammonia for now, then monitor it as needed. again you need to find the ammonia source. also don't test the water right after changing it..wait an hour or so then test.

 

[Bray]

40 % water change reduced my ammonia from 8.0 ppm to 4.0 ppm,, still high

 

[huma-huma]

keep going with the water changes. youre getting it reigned in. another 40-50% will bring it down to 2.0ish

 

[Bray]

Now my ammonia levels are back to 8.0 in the matter of 12 hours with no changes being made!

------Frustrated--------

 

[TheTodd]

Something is causing ammonia to rise that quickly. It does not come from nowhere, so you've got to figure out where.

Are you testing or is it an LFS? If its you, have you taken a water sample to an LFS to get a second opinion? Maybe its a bad kit? Again, it seems odd to have high ammonia, but no nitrates or nitrites. They all kind of go together and if its only ammonia, then trites and trates should be coming soon.

How often are you cleaning your filter?

Are you doing anything to treat the Ich?

 

[Bray]

I clean the filter weekly and clean the skimmer monthly or as needed. Since day one my nitrites and nitrates have never changed. My PH has changed but it always was in the normal level during change. The ammonia was at zero for a week or so since I added the fish from day one. It has risen since then from .25 to .50 with a fluctuation plus or minus. Only recently it has surged. My feeding has been the same except recently Ii reduced it. I use the API master test kit and have not tried the LFS as they use the same kit from what I noticed one day. I only have one fish that vanished a month ago. Everything else is either been removed or accounted for. I do not have a quarintine tank as of yet to treat the ich.