Amonia - How to STOP IT

[TheReclas]

Hello,
I have a 55 gal which I took over from someone in Dec. We had an incident with an anemone and we lost him. When he started failing the ammonia levels increased from 0 ppm to .5 ppm although they have never gone higher they also will NOT go down. We have done a 10 gal water change(enough?) and used ammonia detox (after 3 days the whole bottle is gone) and we have not been able to reduce it. Well you might be able to say it is a tad lighter but still not less than .25 ppm. How do we get this down? Our other anemone seems to not be as happy as he was and we do not want to lose him too. We also have no place to put him until we get through this. Other tank readings: nitrites 0, nitrates 5, ph 8.0-8.2, 1.023, temp 78, 4 - 55 compacts.
Also I have noticed "bubbles" in the sand I am wondering if this is gases and if they are toxic gases and if so what now?
Any help is appreciated, I think this has gone on too long
Melissa

 

[reefrunner69]

used ammonia detox

Make certain you are using a salycilate test kit, all ammonia detoxifiers (that I am familiar with) will cause a false positive on any other reagent type test kit.

Also I have noticed "bubbles" in the sand I am wondering if this is gases and if they are toxic gases and if so what now?

Could be oxygen stuck to the sand or more likely it is nitrogen gas caused from denitrification occuring in your sand.