Ammonia spike unknown source

[WeekendShepherd]

Please help!

I have a 60 gallon AIO with sock filters and a protein skimmer. It has been running for about 7 months now.

Over this week I noticed my corals (mixed reef) not doing great- polyps shrunken, staying closed up, etc. so Friday night I decided to test everything.

While my main elements were low, the most alarming result was my ammonia. On the API test it looked like 4ppm+. Immediately I dosed prime, then did a 15gallon water change. Saturday I took a sample to my LFS and had them test it just in case my test kit was wrong, but their test came back as 3.9ppm. I changed out a total of 25 gallons Saturday after that reading. I checked my source water and that is ammonia free, so it’s something in the tank. The only thing is- my fish are acting fine. No one has died, I counted all of them, and I don’t see any dead snails and such that could be causing it.

I took these tests this morning and when I got home from work today and it looks like it’s gone up again! The 1ppm was from this morning, and the one that looks like 2ppm is from now. Please, any help would be appreciated, I have no idea what’s going on and don’t want to lose anybody.

 

[Subsea]

Shepherd,
Would you better discribe your biofiltration with details of your substrate & rock. Pictures help; white light please.

 

[WeekendShepherd]

Shepherd,
Would you better discribe your biofiltration with details of your substrate & rock. Pictures help; white light please.

I started with a mix of dry and live rock (mostly dry) and live sand. I have the two filter socks, a UV sterilizer in one chamber, and my protein skimmer on the other side, then two return pumps in the middle.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Don’t count on Prime to have any benefit.

Its unusual to see ammonia at that level that long after set up.

 

[WeekendShepherd]

Don’t count on Prime to have any benefit.

Its unusual to see ammonia at that level that long after set up.

Well exactly, I don’t know what caused the spike. I’ve been doing large water changes every day, but between that I’ve been using prime so the livestock don’t die and make the issue worse.

 

[Baldyreef]

Well exactly, I don’t know what caused the spike. I’ve been doing large water changes every day, but between that I’ve been using prime so the livestock don’t die and make the issue worse.

what kind of CUC do you have maybe a snail died that you didn't notice?

 

[Fish Fan]

Well exactly, I don’t know what caused the spike. I’ve been doing large water changes every day, but between that I’ve been using prime so the livestock don’t die and make the issue worse.

I'm sorry you're having some trouble here!

As Randy mentioned above, I would discontinue the Prime; it doesn't help with ammonia as advertised. If your ammonia is truly elevated above about 0.50 ppm, I would do water changes to mitigate the elevated ammonia.

I know someone is going to swoop into this thread and proclaim that API tests are garbage, and you can't trust the results. I am not one of those people, I think their ammonia test kit is largely fine, if not a bit quirky sometimes.

But that said, let's be sure that your test kits are not expired and the results are indeed accurate

Short of a decent sized animal passing away in your tank, an ammonia spike like this is very unusually in a running, 7 month old tank. If nothing large has died (in my experience, things like a snail or even small fish will not cause a spike like this), and you didn't dump a pound of frozen mysis in the tank or something similar, I would be skeptical of the test results.

My suggestion would be to first verify the ammonia test with another test kit, maybe bring a water sample to your LFS and ask them to test it for you. Then, mitigate any elevated ammonia with water changes, and try to identify what's causing it.

This great of an ammonia spike is not typical at all. It *should* be very obvious what's causing it, if it's real.

I hope this helps and good luck!

 

[WeekendShepherd]

what kind of CUC do you have maybe a snail died that you didn't notice?

I have a mixture of snails, some hermits, and an emerald crab. I do think my CuC is lacking for my size tank, but right now I feel like I can’t add anything without it dying due to the ammonia.

 

[WeekendShepherd]

I'm sorry you're having some trouble here!

As Randy mentioned above, I would discontinue the Prime; it doesn't help with ammonia as advertised. If your ammonia is truly elevated above about 0.50 ppm, I would do water changes to mitigate the elevated ammonia.

I know someone is going to swoop into this thread and proclaim that API tests are garbage, and you can't trust the results. I am not one of those people, I think their ammonia test kit is largely fine, if not a bit quirky sometimes.

But that said, let's be sure that your test kits are not expired and the results are indeed accurate

Short of a decent sized animal passing away in your tank, an ammonia spike like this is very unusually in a running, 7 month old tank. If nothing large has died (in my experience, things like a snail or even small fish will not cause a spike like this), and you didn't dump a pound of frozen mysis in the tank or something similar, I would be skeptical of the test results.

My suggestion would be to first verify the ammonia test with another test kit, maybe bring a water sample to your LFS and ask them to test it for you. Then, mitigate any elevated ammonia with water changes, and try to identify what's causing it.

This great of an ammonia spike is not typical at all. It *should* be very obvious what's causing it, if it's real.

I hope this helps and good luck!

Hi, thanks for the long reply!

So I agree, I know API is not a favorite around here, but at least for ammonia I think the test is pretty accurate.

I did take my water to my LFS and they tested it at 3.9, which matched my results. I will say, I was doing a thorough sifting through of my tank to see if I could find anything dead and I did find a snail, but I doubt that would cause it to spike that much?

I feed small amounts 2-3 times a day as I have 3 types of wrasse, but I don’t think I “over do it”.

 

[Fish Fan]

what kind of CUC do you have maybe a snail died that you didn't notice?

Great thought! In my experience, something like a snail dying couldn't have cased such an ammonia spike. I don't even think a small fish, like a Firefish, would cause a spike this large.

I do believe that if the ammonia test results are accurate, then something pretty large died, or something else organic is rotting in the tank, like major excess food.

Again, just based on the situation and without something obviously rotting in the tank, I'd be skeptical of the test results, and looking to confirm them.

 

[Fish Fan]

I did take my water to my LFS and they tested it at 3.9

I'm sorry, your LFS tested your ammonia and it was 3.9 ppm? That's quite high! There simply has to be something organic rotting in your tank.

Or, did you dose anything, even hydrogen peroxide, that may have disturbed the biofilter?

I'm at a loss here, but what do I know

@Subsea and @Randy Holmes-Farley what would explain the OP's rising ammonia besides a rather large rotting fish corpse?

 

[Tahoe61]

Have you tested the make up water?
If you're running an ATO check the reservoir. My ATO had a bug die in it and unknown to me a bacterial bloom started in the ATO reservoir.

 

[WeekendShepherd]

I'm sorry, your LFS tested your ammonia and it was 3.9 ppm? That's quite high! There simply has to be something organic rotting in your tank.

Or, did you dose anything, even hydrogen peroxide, that may have disturbed the biofilter?

I'm at a loss here, but what do I know

@Subsea and @Randy Holmes-Farley what would explain the OP's rising ammonia besides a rather large rotting fish corpse?

I haven’t dosed anything, and besides my pistol shrimp I have accounted for all my major fish. I did find a dead astrea snail, but I doubt that would cause such a huge spike.

I just retested my water and it showed this result, this is after a 15 gallon WC.

 

[WeekendShepherd]

Have you tested the make up water?
If you're running an ATO check the reservoir. My ATO had a bug die in it and unknown to me a bacterial bloom started in the ATO reservoir.

I have, with the same test kit that I’m testing my tank water with, and it showed 0 ammonia.

 

[Fish Fan]

I don't get it. I don't know what would spike the ammonia so high and not be obvious

I'm following hoping the smart folks can figure this out

 

[Baldyreef]

How clean is your sand Bed? If it’s on the older side and dirt all the toxins and east tend to get trapped deep in the sand, if something stirred it up it may contribute to the spike? That’s all I got

 

[Subsea]

I started with a mix of dry and live rock (mostly dry) and live sand. I have the two filter socks, a UV sterilizer in one chamber, and my protein skimmer on the other side, then two return pumps in the middle.

How deep is substrate in display?

Better discribe your maintenance schedule of water cha;ge and sandbed maintenance.

Please provide a full tank shot using white light with a closeup of sandbed cross section.