Ammonia after adding fish need help

[Bike2k]

Ok I screwed up....long story

My 75g DT with 20gL refugium, nwb-150 skimmer and cheato growing in the sump had finished it's cycle. I added (2) Banggai Cardinals, (1) emerald crab (size of a nickle), (5) Ceirth snails, (5) nassarius snails, (2) blue legged Hermits (size of pencil eraser) and (3) Mex. Turbo snails. All was good for about 3 or 4 days.

The Card's were really boring and hiding in behind the rocks so my wife and I get talking and we talk ourselves into buying (2) small black and white clowns. I knew this was wrong and I should wait longer but we reasoned that all these fish were small and their bio load would be minimal in such a large tank.

We were wrong. my ammonia has jumped from 0 to 0.5 which I got to drop to 0.25 with water change (30%) I have also added prime to try to lock up and trap as much ammonia as I can. I only have an API kit so i can't tell if it is helping.

I am pretty sure it's the fish but just in case, our feeding is as follows:
We are currently shutting down circulation and feeding 1/2 cube of Hikari mysis shrimp twice a day. The fish eat this amount in less then 5 minutes. Once the feeding is done we turn pumps back on. This stirs up remaining food and the fish and nassarius snails eat what is left.

My current water is SG:1.024, ammonia:0.25, nitrite:0.0, nitrate:20, PH:8.0.

I not sure at this point if I should be just continuing water changes every other day or just pull the fish and letting the tank continue to cycle. I only have a 10 gallon QT and I was have problems with ammonia build up in it with the cardinals so we didn't QT the clowns.

any advice would be great, thanks in advance.

 

[b0bab0ey]

How long has this tank been setup? I'm sure I'll get yelled at for this, but the clowns should be able to handle a little ammonia. Not so sure about the Cardinals.

If I were you, I'd get one of these and continue to do WCs as needed:

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/AmmoniaAlert.html

And please stop buying fish. Just slow down until your bacteria levels can support the fish you already have. You'll know you've achieved this when the ammonia gets down to 0 and stays there for at least a month. And I would start religiously QT'ing each & every fish you put in there. Or you're gonna start having disease problems next.

 

[b0bab0ey]

double post

 

[jamesbaur13]

If you are testing ammonia something is dying off. Continue to test for it. The 0 reading you got on the nitrite is a good thing... the biofilter is converting it quickly (as it should). I would refrain from additives (such as prime). Remove what you can that is dead and let nature take it's course. You have some resilient fish, they should be ok so long as you don't have anything ridiculous dying off.

How long has it been since you added your last live rock?

As b0b told ya, QT all fish. Many fish ailments are untreatable in a reef tank. Meaning, you either watch all of them die or you go through a lot of effort to rid all of them of what you introduced.

 

[Dr. Reef]

i am sure with prime and water changes at those parameters ur livestock will be fine. looks like ur tank was just out of cycle and u added too much bio load on it than it could handle. keep an eye on ammonia (mind you with use of prime u will get false ammonia readings)

 

[jamesbaur13]

oops

 

[MuffsAbby]

I agree with b0bab0ey. Continue what you're doing...WC's and adding prime to detoxify the ammonia, and get a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge, which measures free (toxic) ammonia only. I would also reduce feeding to once a day until you get the ammonia under control.

In addition, take a spare filter cartridge from the filter you use on your 10g QT and put it in the sump of your DT now, so that it will be seeded in 3-4 weeks. That way, when you do get your next fish (but not for a while!), you can put the new fish and the seeded media in your QT, which will eliminate or at least reduce ammonia issues next time around in your QT.

 

[Bike2k]

Thanks all, I will continue on my path of water changes. this event has pushed me back into line. I will also pick up the seachem tester so I know how much ammonia is affecting my fish.

 

[jamesbaur13]

Honestly, I wouldn't use prime or any ammonia detoxifier in a reef tank. Ammonia is less toxic as a lower PH. This is one of the mechanics an ammonia detoxifier utilizes. They rapidly drop PH... which can be bad in a reef tank. In a QT tank it's a differnt story, but in a reef I'd be hard pressed to use one... honestly I'd move whatever i placed value on before doing so.

 

[Bike2k]

ok i will also check the ph since i already added prime

thanks

 

[jamesbaur13]

You are probably ok Bike2k... if all you got is the fish you mentioned and some LR I wouldnt worry about it. I just would never use that stuff with corals or a well established biofilter. It could be bad.

 

[Bike2k]

Finally after about 4 days the ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0.0, Ph is 8.0 and nitrate is 2.0. the tank has returned to normal. All inhabitants are fine. :fish2: How long would you give it before adding any new fish? a month?

 

[sasharotty]

Are you qt'ing? I would add a fish or two a month to get your bacteria built up. Just dont want to add too quickly.

 

[Bike2k]

yes qt'ing. figure i would pick up a fish now and drop it into qt and pull it out in 4weeks.

 

[Sidewaze67]

I'm new myself and read a post somewhere about the API test kits and not to trust their 5ml markings. I know with mine when measured with a eye dropper two were slightly off. That can affect your readings. So you might want to verify your test tubes.

 

[EllieSuz]

If you're going to go to the trouble of quarantining, make it at least six weeks duration. If you have fish in QT and add another, the waiting time begins all over, so wait at least six weeks between fish to remove the old ones to the display tank before you add a new one. You'll want to carefully observe your clowns for signs of disease or parasites. If they stay healthy, you dodged a bullet. If they turn out to have problems, you'll have to treat them in the QT tank along with the cardinals.