Spike in Nitrates!

[drfu]

So my tank has been up & running for 8 months and on the weekend two things happened.

 

First my Hawaiian Feather duster was out of his tube, dead i assume and not really sure why.

 

Second is the following day i do mu usual water tests & 20% water change and noticed a large nitrate spike! I did a series of partial water changes to bring the level back down to 2 ppm and today for curiosity i did a nitrate spike and its up over 10 ppm.

 

So my questions are this:

1) so i need to dig out the tube the feather duster was in and that is what is causing the spike?

2) since i don't have any other deaths ti my knowledge where else could the spike come from considering i have not changed anything else in the tank?

3) everything else has great color, looks healthy!

 

Background info:

IM Nuvo 8. in tank fuge w/ chaeto. custom caddy filter basket with cpe, purigen & ff. spin stream & korelia 240 powerheads.

Chemestry: temp 79.5, sal 1.0245, alk 164, calc 484, mag 1280.

Livestock: royal gramma, 2 sexy shrimp, 2 blue legged hermits, 4 nassarius, 3 nerites

Bta & rock flower anemones, softies, lps, zoas,

[seabass]

Second is the following day i do mu usual water tests & 20% water change and noticed a large nitrate spike! I did a series of partial water changes to bring the level back down to 2 ppm and today for curiosity i did a nitrate spike and its up over 10 ppm.

If there is still a significant amount or dead organic material (producing ammonia), nitrate will continue to rise until remove it.

 

1) so i need to dig out the tube the feather duster was in and that is what is causing the spike?

I would. Try not to disturb the sand bed too much. Disturbing the substrate might even cause another spike in nutrients (and released organics).

 

2) since i don't have any other deaths ti my knowledge where else could the spike come from considering i have not changed anything else in the tank?

I don't know that there is another source. Let's take care of the worm, then (if you are still having problems) worry about something else.

 

3) everything else has great color, looks healthy!

Yeah, a level of 10ppm nitrate shouldn't be causing that many problems for your livestock.