Elevated Ammonia and Fish Death -Suggestions

[Ortho Bill]

I have a 90G that's approx 9 mo. old. 4" DSB. Purple Tang , Lemon Peel, 3 B/G Chromis, 2 Clowns, Hawkfish and a Flame Angel. Euroreef 6+2 skimmer. 20 Gal sump that has a 5 gal fuge w/ chaeto in it.
Over the last 4/5 days I noted that my corals have receded somewhat. The two leathers and my hammers that is. 3 days ago I noted that a B/G chromis (1-1/2" lg.) was missing (#4). At that time I checked my water paremeters and noted that the ammonia was between .25 and .5. WoW. Nitrite was 0 and Nitrate was negligible. SG 1.026. Temp 78-80 degrees. All the snails went belly up but my fish all seem OK - no labored breathing, discoloring, lethargy etc.
I did a 10G water change that day and a 20G change the next. Last night I checked again and there was no real change. I looked everywhere for the dead fish- no luck. I did another 12 Gal change and checked the water again this morning. No significant improvement. Do I tear the tank apart looking for the fish ? (110# LR). Can 1 fish death have that kind of affect on a tank of this size or should I be looking at something else such as feeding habits, other chemicals etc. I'm open for suggestions? I plan on changing another 20/25 gallons again tonight but I'm starting to get VERY concerned that I'm missing something......Sorry for the long story.
Bill

 

[Anonymous]

What brand and how old are your test kits?
Hows your circulation, surface agitation?
10gl and 20gl water changes in a 90 gl are mere drops in a bucket.
I'd change as much water as possible to get your readings down as something is terribly wrong for your snails to now go belly-up.
btw a 1 1/2" dead fish in a 90gl tank should not have much of an effect on your tank parameters.

mario

 

[Anonymous]

My 55g has tested at .25 ammonia with the aquarium pharm**** test kit for two years. I have had fish and corals live in it for over a year and a half. No DSB and being maintained with macros. Tap water with no water changes.

As you have found out water changes will not bring down the ammonia to 0.0 but could reduce the ammonia.

First your kit could be wrong but if it is the same kit you used a weeks ago I highly suspect you have something else going on. Especially with the snail deaths.

To me your ammonia spiked up because your fuge is too small. The chaeto will rapidily consume any increase in ammonia. And in a matter of hours. Just there is not enough in the system. And if the snails died because of say a toxin the expanded chaeto may have prevented that also.

So I would recommend expanding the fuge and/or increasing the amount of plant life.

 

[HClH2OFish]

To me your ammonia spiked up because your fuge is too small.

huh? please clarify this Bob...I don't even have a fuge, so does that mean my ammonia will be off the charts?


I agree with Mariob -- one dead fish in a 90 shouldn't have caused your snails to kick it. Sounds like there could be something else going on...how are the corals doing after the water changes?

 

[Mihai]

Bill, I also vote for wrong test. You didn't mention live rock, but I assume you have it. If yes, there should be no ammonia in your water unless a rat fell in your refugium and drowned in there. Any major inhabitant missing? (e.g. a cuke, large starfish, urchin). It must be something else, if you can double check the temperature and Sg. Perhaps you dropped a penny in the tank? That would turn the snails belly up and upset the corals... or anything else with Cu.

M.

 

[Anonymous]

To me your ammonia spiked up because your fuge is too small.

huh? please clarify this Bob...I don't even have a fuge, so does that mean my ammonia will be off the charts?

...

?

Not ncecssarily. But if something does go wrong and you do not have enough plant life then yes ammonia will spike. In this case a larger fuge with more plant life would have consumed the ammonia.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, Bill. I would rule out the test kit first as well.
How is your skimmer performing?
Any filter media?
Added any new live rock recently?
Make sure all the circulation pumps are clean and working. Good luck.
Andy

 

[danmhippo]

Bill, do an ammonia test on the source water and the newly prepared SW. What's the reading on these 2?

I'd also suggest you get another brand of test kit to verify ammonia level. I have to be honest that I don't do ammonia and nitrite tests anymore after 6 months of setting up a new tank. Did you use any cleaners of some sort (such as windex) around the tank?

 

[Ortho Bill]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Here's the update. After the 3 smaller water changes I removed all dead snails I could find (4) and did a 25 gallon water change. Roughly 40 % when you factor in LR 110#'s and a 4" DSB. I added a second powerhead (802), put a polyfilter in my sump just before the return and added an enzyme product that my LFS guy suggested to reduce my ammonia. Last night I noted that my corals looked slightly better but were nowhere near fully extending. I took a water sample to the LFS and everything "looks great" - zero ammonia, ph fine, trace nitrates only. I wonder if it's just a matter of time or are the corals permanently harmed?
Thanks Again,
Bill

 

[Mihai]

Most corals bounce back if you fix the water (did you figure out what was wrong?).
M.

 

[Silinxia]

This sounds alot like what happened to me the past few weeks. I think you should lower the salinity because that helped me a whole lot and put as much biological filtration media as you can.