I came for help please!

[sinn3r21]

So I have had my tank set up for about a year and three months. And decided to clean all my equipment and do a partial water change. A mistake I’ll never forget as I bottomed out all my levels lost all my mushrooms and cuc. My LTA looks absolutely terrible. Over the course of the week I have added beneficial bacteria as my ammonia spiked almost to 4.0. Right now my parameters are 1.024 salinity 7.9 ph ammonia is like 0.25 0nitrate 0nitrite. I have turned off my skimmer and added carbon to my filtration. All the bristle worms have been coming to the surface stunned so I know I’m in rough shape. My toad stools are bent over even my Kenya tree is drooping and refusing to open. Is there any hope? Should I just leave it alone monitor parameters and pray it cycles? Or should I start looking for someone to take my live stock before it all dies. My bubble tips are really un happy but no where near as upset as my Long tentacle. My fish seem to all be fine with no strange activity.

 

[revhtree]

Welcome to your new home for saltwater reef aquarium resources and fun! Welcome to the family! :D

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’m

 

[fishguy242]

Yes, rehome the nems until full cycled

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome!

 

[kevgib67]

Welcome, glad you are here! Sorry for your troubles.

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[vetteguy53081]

So I have had my tank set up for about a year and three months. And decided to clean all my equipment and do a partial water change. A mistake I’ll never forget as I bottomed out all my levels lost all my mushrooms and cuc. My LTA looks absolutely terrible. Over the course of the week I have added beneficial bacteria as my ammonia spiked almost to 4.0. Right now my parameters are 1.024 salinity 7.9 ph ammonia is like 0.25 0nitrate 0nitrite. I have turned off my skimmer and added carbon to my filtration. All the bristle worms have been coming to the surface stunned so I know I’m in rough shape. My toad stools are bent over even my Kenya tree is drooping and refusing to open. Is there any hope? Should I just leave it alone monitor parameters and pray it cycles? Or should I start looking for someone to take my live stock before it all dies. My bubble tips are really un happy but no where near as upset as my Long tentacle. My fish seem to all be fine with no strange activity.

This tank is likely not mature for coral and anemone and subject to water/chemistry changes which will stress out these specimens. Anemones dont do so well in tanks under 4 -6 months even up to six months as they are sensitive to water changes and require stable conditions to stay in good shape which often requires water changes which may result in early death and affect tank parameters.
Take some time to get parameters in the system to mature for a few months which assures that conditions are stable and safe for the anemone and coral.
Ammonia and nitrate levels should be safely verified by using good quality test kits and Not API either.
Here are some water parameters to maintain.

• Water temp: 77°F - 80°F (stay close to the middle of this range)
• pH level: 8.1 to 8.3
• Alk: 8 to 11 dKH
• Salinity: 1.024 to 1.025
• Nitrate < 5 -15
• Phosphate < .05 - .08

 

[1112-425XL]

 

[Utubereefer]

Welcome to the club

Lots of good info here

 

[Reef_Aquatics]

Welcome. I am really sorry to hear about your issues. Hopefully you will be able to overcome them.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Sorry for the issues you are having, good advice was given in the above posts.
Welcome to Reef2Reef

 

[B&CinB.C.]

Hi . Welcome to Reef 2 Reef

 

[Troylee]

This tank is likely not mature for coral and anemone and subject to water/chemistry changes which will stress out these specimens. Anemones dont do so well in tanks under 4 -6 months even up to six months as they are sensitive to water changes and require stable conditions to stay in good shape which often requires water changes which may result in early death and affect tank parameters.
Take some time to get parameters in the system to mature for a few months which assures that conditions are stable and safe for the anemone and coral.
Ammonia and nitrate levels should be safely verified by using good quality test kits and Not API either.
Here are some water parameters to maintain.

• Water temp: 77°F - 80°F (stay close to the middle of this range)
• pH level: 8.1 to 8.3
• Alk: 8 to 11 dKH
• Salinity: 1.024 to 1.025
• Nitrate < 5 -15
• Phosphate < .05 - .08

The tanks been up for 15 months it’s plenty mature.. I’m not sure why a water change would hurt anything unless it wasn’t rodi and they used tap water?

 

[W31Olds]

Vetteguy, His Tank is 1 year and 3 months old. Sinn, why do you think your Tank is no longer cycled? The ammonia spike is probably due to the die off. Water Changes are probably your best bet.

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

Hi and welcome to R2R! I’m really sorry you’re dealing with this, it can be overwhelming to watch a tank you’ve worked so hard on take such a hit. From what you’ve described, it sounds like your system is still trying to stabilize after the cleaning and water change, and right now the biggest concern is that lingering ammonia. Even at 0.25 ppm it’s stressful to corals and inverts, so the steps you’ve taken with beneficial bacteria are right on track. I’d recommend continuing to dose bacteria until that reading consistently holds at zero.

With your skimmer off, make sure you still have plenty of surface agitation from power heads or pumps so oxygen levels stay strong. Running carbon is a good move as well, since it helps pull out toxins released from anything that’s been stressed or dying. At this point, I’d avoid making more big swings, large water changes can just keep knocking the system around, but a series of small changes can help dilute what’s left without shocking everything further.

Unfortunately, soft corals like mushrooms, Kenya tree, and toadstools are some of the first to collapse in an ammonia event, so their reaction isn’t surprising. Anemones are also very sensitive to instability, and it’s normal to see them look rough before fish start showing issues since fish are generally more tolerant. The bristleworms coming to the surface is another sign of how stressed the environment is right now.

The best course from here is to keep things as steady as possible, keep testing daily, keep adding bacteria, feed fish lightly to reduce waste, and let the system try to cycle back into balance. If things continue to head in the wrong direction, especially with your long tentacle anemone, then rehoming some of the more sensitive animals might be the safest option. But as long as you can keep ammonia trending down and oxygen up, there’s still a good chance your tank will recover.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The tanks been up for 15 months it’s plenty mature.. I’m not sure why a water change would hurt anything unless it wasn’t rodi and they used tap water?

Hmmm- was under the impression new but looking back do see 15 months. With the bristleworms surfacing and leathers bent over, Points to water or parameter issue and saw cycled also mentioned by fishguy giving me impression of newer tank

 

[Fish Fan]

0.25 ppm ammonia is not only not dangerous, it can actually benefit corals:

Ammonia is Our Friend!

Ammonia is Our Friend By Randy Holmes-Farley Yes, I know the title is provocative, and likely goes against much of what you read and hear in the reef aquarium hobby. I believe, however, that the hobby may have been harmed by the continual...

www.reef2reef.com

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

Additionally, salt mixes can result in low levels of ammonia in freshly mixed saltwater:

https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-02/rhf/index.php

Salt causing ammonia?

Ok everyone I posted on my local R2R club forum with no answers so hopefully you guys can help me out. My LFS told me I had an ammonia reading in my tank of .025ppm and I found this odd but I hadn't tested for ammonia since my tank first cycled about 9 months ago. So I tested my tank and got a...

www.reef2reef.com

Last, 0.25 ppm ammonia is commonly nothing more than hobby-level test kit inaccuracies, such as API and others.

I hope this helps!

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R. Good advice given. Hope you solve your problems.