Help with High Ammonia level

[ks03aqu]

About 4 months ago I purchased a 75 gallon running tank, with existing fish. About a month later I purchase some new fish for the tank, 1 got ICK, I went to my local pet store and was told to use Saltwater MarOxy and Greenex (Formula M 4-1H). In the meantime I have lost 7 fish, I have also set up a hospital tank and put the remaining fish in it and they are now healthy. I have moved them back into the big tank, but my ammonia levels are extremely high, off the scale. After doing much reading I have come to the conclusion that putting all the medicine in the tank I have killed my live bacteria and that is what I believe is spiking the ammonia off the scale. I am trying to control the ammonia with AMGuard. My question is do I remove all the sand and gravel in my tank and replace with new live sand , or can I just place new live sand on top of the old to re-establish my tank.
I have done three water changes in 1 week at 30 gallons a change. My pH is good, my nitrate is 10, my nitrite is .4, all reading are good except for the ammonia.
Any advise that you can give me to get my system back to normal would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Len]

I have moved your post to the appropriate forum where your answers will be answered. The "Questions, Comments and Suggestions" forum is used for questions or comments regarding Reefs.org administrative issues.

Again, welcome to our community!

 

[mountainbiker619]

hmm..funny that the water changes has not made any improvment. Just a few days ago my ammonia was very high and it only took 2 water changes in a 3 day period to resolve the ammonia prob. Are you currently running your skimmer?

 

[ks03aqu]

Yes, I am running a skimmer and a emperor 400 with only char.filter.

 

[Anonymous]

Are you sure you don't have something else in the tank dead? Have you accounted for absolutely all the fish?

Sometimes they hide under rocks before dying

I think other than that, If the levels are really high, take out the fish, put back in quarantine, and let the tank recycle.

BTW I personally am not in favor of treating the tank with any chemicals

Bryan

 

[liquid]

My gut feel is that something died in your tank someplace. That's about the only thing I can think of...

Shane

 

[ks03aqu]

All the fish are accounted for. The question is,is the medicine I put in the tank killing my live rock and sand and if that is causing the high ammonia level.

 

[liquid]

What exactly are you using for filtration? Wet/dry, bioballs...anything like that? What about a skimmer?

Shane

 

[ks03aqu]

The skimmer I am using is a Remora 1200 and a Emperor 400 with only char. filters in it.

 

[liquid]

Sounds like your tank has started cycling again for some reason. I'd pretty much stick to the large waterchanges 2-3x per week and it should settle down.

Shane

 

[ks03aqu]

Would putting more live sand in it help.

 

[brandon4291]

The surface area of your current setup should reseed and balance out to the existing bioload--especially if it was running smoothly (zero ammonia and nitrite) before the ICH outbreak. As long as you have no residual meds left in there, which is a real possibility, it won't be necessary to add extra sand. Whatever is still killing off or inhibiting bacterial growth on the current structures (sand, rock, etc) will also kill/inhibit growth on new sand or rock you may add. We know that copper additives (malachite green etc) will stay in the system long after dosing, but how about antibiotics and other medications? (a question of David Len or Shane if you read this guys) or maybe its just not through cycling...

 

[ChrisRD]

Running some carbon/poly to help eliminate residual medication from the water column might not be a bad idea...

 

[ks03aqu]

Another question, when I got the tank it had a undergravel filter, I disconnected it and left the grades under the gravel and sand, some say I need to pull them out ???
I will keep putting Am guard in and doing 2-3 water changes a week.

 

[liquid]

Are you finding that AM Guard is working for you to reduce your ammonia levels?

Shane

 

[ks03aqu]

I used my last bottle of Am guard this morning. I have used three types, Am guard, Prime and Kent ammonia detox. I am going back to Kent ammonia detox, because it looks like it works the best and the fastest for my tank.

 

[Anonymous]

What fish do you have in there now?

Have you added fish since you started having problems?

If there are no fish in there now, I wouldn't add any more until you have the problems (nitrogen cycle issues) under control. Sometimes the only way to "fix it" is to just leave it alone, and let it balance itself out.

Nothing good ever happens fast in an aquarium.

If you don't have any fish in their now, I would just let it run its course.

If you do currently have fish, I would try to find a place for them until the tank is recycled.

What do you currently have in the tank?

 

[ks03aqu]

Yes, I do have fish in the tank, a yellow tang,green chromis, blue damsel,(2) scooters (12) hermit crabs, (1) arrow head crab and (3) snails.
I have not added anything new. But the ammonia level is down to 1.5 mg/l.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds good on the ammonia. Just don't add anything for at least three weeks and I think you'll be okay. Adding stuff now will set you back to square one basically. You have to go slow, or you end up starting over every three weeks.