Ammonia Spike Emergency

[mandelbloom]

I have an emergency on my hands, I have a severe Amonia spike, its at 1ppm, in my tank. Everything else is fine. P.H. 8.2 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 5. It very strange when I wake up in the AM the fish are at the top of the tank panting, however after the lights have been on a while they look better. By the time I get home they look great. The whole thing happens again in the AM. At this point I plan on conctacting my LFS and seeing if they will take my two fish(clown and bangai) as I do not want to kill them. Then I will probably drain most of the water from my tank, toss my live rock and coral in a bucket for a little bit, and clean the tank very well as there is a but of an algea build up. Then mix up some new water, put the live rock back in as well as my corals. My corals seem to be doing well so I think they will make it. Any ideas why things are worse in the AM?? Does this sound like a decent plan??

[Winter]

That kind of a spike seems rather suspicious, especially with the corrals not suffering like the fish. Do you feed your fish and corrals at night? Are you sure you aren't over feeding? What types of corrals do you have? You might check and make sure you aren't missing a snail or other animal in the tank.

 

I would also check your test kits to make sure they are not too old. Especially the PH and alkalinity test kits. I think, but I am not sure, that a drop alkalinity can cause a spike in ammonia readings (hopefully one of the reef gods here can confirm this). Since alkalinity drops when the lights switch off on your tank, this could also explain the sharp rise in ammonia levels.

 

Start by double checking all your tank readings and levels. Look for something possibly dead or dying in the tank. Check what you are feeding the tank and how much.

[mandelbloom]

There have been a few missing inverts come to think of it. My tank had been doing really well for a while. My corals are Sun, Zoo's(Which have spread like wildfire) and a recenlty added Ricorida. The Zoos are actually a little aprehensive abotu opening ip first thing when the lights come on but do after about an hour. The mushroom is wide open. There has been an ourbreak of hair algea in the tank recenlty. Could this be the cause? I plan on taking out all my live rock this weekend to look for anything that is dead as well and remove any debree and or old food from the sand as well as a major water change. My fear is the fish wont make it. What do you think? Other than the rapid breathing in the AM they seem healthy, but its really bad in the AM I could sware they are about to die.

[lgreen]

i agree. you may even try taking a water sample to your lfs when you go and see if they will test your water.

 

old test kits like winter said are a deffinate possibility.

 

as far as the gasping, is the tank getting any oxygenation? for example are the power heads or a filter or something breaking surface and making a few bubble?

 

maybe I am wrong, but it seems as if the fish gasping in the morning, may have something more to it then just the ammonia.

 

i would consider running some tests before draining the whole tank.

 

a small water change is always good though.

[lgreen]

it is also some what suspicious that your have detectable ammonia, but no detectable nitrite

 

if you are having an algae bloom some possibilities are high phosphates or silicates (from the sand).

 

the only thing i can think of is that maybe this algae could be causing some of the problem. you might check your pH before the lights are on, and then again after they are on, just incase some how a change in pH along with the algae, is causing some dissolved oxygen problems.

[lgreen]

any other tanks specs would be helpful too.

[mandelbloom]

12 gallon nano cube

15 lbs of live rock

pretty much all standard except live rock rubble in place of the balls and rings. I dont htink oxygenation is the problem. Trites have been at zero for some time. I think the kit is accurate as I tested some fresh water and it came out at 0. I think something must have died in there somewhere. Water smells a tad off. My PH was a little low about 5 days ago, but I buffred it back up to normal. There is tons of life in my tank, lots of tiny creatures that look like starfish. about 30 baby snails. And unforntunaly I have noticed a large population of Bristle Worms over the past few days which I never saw before. This also leads me to believe something may be driving them out.

[lgreen]

yah, it sounds more like something just probably died.

 

but still, is your fish gasping a consisten thing, or has it just been since you started detecting ammonia?

[mandelbloom]

Thats very new. Fish have always been fine before. What do you recomened I do?

[lgreen]

i would really consider getting a second opinion on your water test results just to make sure.

 

there isn't any chance your overfeeding is there?

 

you might make up some saltwater, and try to do a water change, removing some of the algae, and also run the gravel vaccum over your substrate. if you have cc, then go for it, if you have sand, then just vaccum like the first 1/4 inch on the top.

 

you might look in your rubble compartment and make sure nothing is caught in there or dead.

 

how long has the tank been set up for? you might be suprised it still could be an oxygen issue. are you getting any oxygen in the tank via power head filter or anything? any bubbles entering the tank at all?

 

you aren't runing an undergravel filter are you?

[lgreen]

maybe this could just be an issue of running a little late on an over due water change?

 

how long since your last one?

[mandelbloom]

Nah I had just done a 2 gallon change 5 days ago and I did another one gallon yesterday. I think I need to take all the live rock out of there, remove as much algea as I can. Clean the sand, and check the back compartments for something dead. Come to think of it I do have a couple pepermint shrimp that are MIA. Ill bet they are the cause.