Ammonia 8ppm

Chrisv.

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The decent sized ones died last week and were removed a week ago. Some smaller ones were just removed yesterday. I was hoping to save some but doesn’t look like it now i down to 3. Could those big pieces removed a week ago still keep the ammonia that high?

I'm sorry to hear that the corals are toast.

I doubt you're seeing ammonia from coral that's already out of the tank, but depending on the kinds that just came out, there could be some. For example a fleshy coral like a leather or lps is sort of like a shrimp that is thrown in the tank to start a cycle.

Great to hear that you're down from 8 to 3. Heading in the right direction. How did you get there? WC or did it get converted to NO2?
 
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coralcoralcoral10

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Of course, I have moved enough tanks in my life to know that if OP didnt rinse or use new sand (if tank is 2+ years old and deep), let the rock dry out, ect that you can get a small spike but its unlikely much and far less than 8 ppm. The lack of nitrite readings and physical symptoms of ammonia issues all point to a misread. A 60% water change would have set him on the right path if OP had an ammonia issue. I trust API about as much as I trust Fedex to deliver livestock to me alive.
When people say OP what does that mean? Owner of post?
 
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coralcoralcoral10

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What started to decline first? Did corals start declining immediately or did you find a fish dead first? Few paths to explore.... Corals got stressed, died and caused ammonia which cascades quickly. Fish could have gotten stressed from the move, gotten sick and died causing the ammonia. Not sure exactly but the fact that the LFS used new sand and the rock was established indicates something fishy might have happened. Reefing conventions, dozens of threads from @brandon429 has collected and personal experienbce indicate something happened and we are missing a piece of info. Either way, I would redo the transfer... Remove rock and fish to buckets, do a massive water change and remove the dead inverts and retransfer. How much rock lb wise did you have before and after the move?
After transfer there was a dead fish removed the next day. A dead starfish removed 2 weeks ago that was a bit decomposed. Then corals started going one by one then all closed and died. Or most died. I may do that I’m going to LFS tomorrow I don’t have an ro water supply i buy salt water and fresh ro water from them. After those losses that was it all animals haven’t died in 2+ weeks. I may have to do it over depending. Thank you all.
 
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I'm sorry to hear that the corals are toast.

I doubt you're seeing ammonia from coral that's already out of the tank, but depending on the kinds that just came out, there could be some. For example a fleshy coral like a leather or lps is sort of like a shrimp that is thrown in the tank to start a cycle.

Great to hear that you're down from 8 to 3. Heading in the right direction. How did you get there? WC or did it get converted to NO2?
I wish I was 8 to 3 still at 8ppm :-/
 
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coralcoralcoral10

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I wish I was 8 to 3 still at 8ppm :-/
Thank you. It sucks. But I would rather lose corals than fish. Also I can stop feeding them but I just got a puffer and I’m worried that not feeding Him will result in him snacking on my slugs. I fed them today i have cut food in almost half. Since a week ago
 

Chrisv.

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I wish. Just put a badge on for ammonia it’s showing 5ppm or above. Ughhhh so frustrated. Fish are eating now. Lowered food even more. How long can fish go without eating.
What kind of fish? What is their body condition? Are they chubby or did you feed sparingly?
 

brandon429

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and Prime daily



Coral was informed of misreads in another thread.

Corals decline due to being in less than ideal conditions, it's very unlikely ammonia caused anything

Last week we'd addressed prime + misreads

we can fix the poor conditions. Post a full clear picture of the tank currently, many details about its biology will be apparent. There isn't anything wrong with your tank it's just pumped full of mixed additives vs being clean high feed reef water


You shouldn't be withholding food. It's time to remote pilot fix the reef, we can create a condition for strong feeding vs challenged/ hungry animals


Need one full tank pic
 

Chrisv.

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In a well established tank I would honestly say that well conditioned fish could go more than a week with no food other than what they forage from the live rock... In a tank with a bunch of new dry rock, probably not as long.

Wholesalers don't feed for several days to keep fish from fouling the shipping bags.

I'd say that unless they are skinny already they can probably go 3 days between feedings.

My vote is for another big water change and a bunch of bottled bacteria, as if you were cycling a new tank. I really think biospira did well for me.

Keep in mind that with this much ammonia, you will soon (or may already) have a bunch of nitrite. NitrITE in any appreciable quantity will 100% screw up your ability to test for nitrATE.
 

brandon429

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You should not do that at all this is chemically souping the setup. Post full tank picture and we can fix your tank the right way

You wouldn't buy bottled bacteria because nothing is wrong with your cycle. The current sum of choices that led here were based on misreads of the test, we can fix that by doing opposite

You wouldn't add oxygen competing bacteria, it directly shouldn't be done. If concerned you can do a water change but post a full tank picture first that'll fix it
 
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brandon429

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"Keep in mind that with this much ammonia, you will soon (or may already) have a bunch of nitrite. NitrITE in any appreciable quantity will 100% screw up your ability to test for nitrATE"


There isn't any ammonia above norm see tank pics on page two. This has been one giant test interpretation error but then again the old cycling rules don’t give permission to disregard any test reading, ever.
 
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coralcoralcoral10

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and Prime daily



Coral was informed of misreads in another thread.

Corals decline due to being in less than ideal conditions, it's very unlikely ammonia caused anything

Last week we'd addressed prime + misreads

we can fix the poor conditions. Post a full clear picture of the tank currently, many details about its biology will be apparent. There isn't anything wrong with your tank it's just pumped full of mixed additives vs being clean high feed reef water


You shouldn't be withholding food. It's time to remote pilot fix the reef, we can create a condition for strong feeding vs challenged/ hungry animals


Need one full tank pic
and Prime daily



Coral was informed of misreads in another thread.

Corals decline due to being in less than ideal conditions, it's very unlikely ammonia caused anything

Last week we'd addressed prime + misreads

we can fix the poor conditions. Post a full clear picture of the tank currently, many details about its biology will be apparent. There isn't anything wrong with your tank it's just pumped full of mixed additives vs being clean high feed reef water


You shouldn't be withholding food. It's time to remote pilot fix the reef, we can create a condition for strong feeding vs challenged/ hungry animals


Need one full tank pic
 

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coralcoralcoral10

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You should not do that at all this is chemically souping the setup. Post full tank picture and we can fix your tank the right way

You wouldn't buy bottled bacteria because nothing is wrong with your cycle. The current sum of choices that led here were based on misreads of the test, we can fix that by doing opposite

You wouldn't add oxygen competing bacteria, it directly shouldn't be done. If concerned you can do a water change but post a full tank picture first that'll fix it
and Prime daily



Coral was informed of misreads in another thread.

Corals decline due to being in less than ideal conditions, it's very unlikely ammonia caused anything

Last week we'd addressed prime + misreads

we can fix the poor conditions. Post a full clear picture of the tank currently, many details about its biology will be apparent. There isn't anything wrong with your tank it's just pumped full of mixed additives vs being clean high feed reef water


You shouldn't be withholding food. It's time to remote pilot fix the reef, we can create a condition for strong feeding vs challenged/ hungry animals


Need one full tank pic
 

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coralcoralcoral10

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Totally understand why you thought that! 8 ppm is pretty high! Could still be partly a testing issue. Ammonia test kits have always been hard for me to buy. Once a tank is established you should never ever need them. Hate spending money on a fancy version of something I will essentially use only a few times.

OP, how's the tank today? Any luck? Did you do a WC?
No WC headed to go RO tomorrow. Tank is fine ammonia still 8ppm and above. All fish are fine behavior is same and they are eating with no lethargy.
 

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No WC headed to go RO tomorrow. Tank is fine ammonia still 8ppm and above. All fish are fine behavior is same and they are eating with no lethargy.
Have you confirmed the high ammonia reading with another test kit? Most LFS test for free, even test strips from Walmart could indicate if the kit is accurate. If it is, the largest water change you can afford is best but. Additional air stones or aeration can help fish get oxygen
 

brandon429

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something that's important: the ammonia here is in safe zone not alert and react zone. this tank isn't an outlier to the thread ' all sustained ammonia events are misreads' its a direct supporting entrant example.

the tank has aged surfaces and plenty of surface area in the middle of the display, incredibly low bioload, there's no ammonia problem. once rotting animals were removed the ammonia self stabilized in fifteen minutes, and prime is causing all these false reads. the highest the ammonia even got even with rotting animals spread about was in the hundredths ppm, see how the current fish are still alive and never swam sideways etc, that tells us things about upper end control. the water never crashed and clouded. this tank doesnt have an ammonia issue Im amazed a seneye owner would think it might have some

I depend on ya'll to put out false alarm fires owning such kits and seeing the patterns they show on running reef tanks.

at no time has a calibrated seneye shown a legit false ammonia control alarm in a display reef, not once.
 
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