Ammonia spike! Should I move my RBTA?

[AliKat]

My ammonia went up from very little to 1.0. Do I need to move my RBTA to a more stable tank, or will it be okay? I wonder if moving it might cause a lot of stress.

 

[Lance M.]

I would move it to another tank. NH3 is very toxic and lethal.

What caused the spike?

 

[AliKat]

Don't know yet. I'm looking into it. Doing a water change now.

 

[AliKat]

He's not looking good. He's shriveled up and has little white flakes coming off of him. Is there any chance he'll make it?

Anything I can do besides moving him to help him pull through?

 

[Lance M.]

I would move him ASAP Ammonia is very lethal to invertebrates.

 

[AliKat]

Okay, he's in my 55 g now. He's in a little plastic thing at the top of the tank so I can keep an eye on him. Hopefully, he'll get better, but it's not looking good.

 

[Lance M.]

Make sure you take into account the light intensity on the new tank as compared to the one it was just in, especially since it is close to the surface of the water. If it's more intense then you should either reduce your photoperiod or shield the anemone with a screen or something to block out the light or a combination of both.

Did anything die in your other tank to cause the spike? Did you recently add anything new?

 

[AliKat]

Good point. The good news is that it's in the corner of the tank and not directly under the mH. What can I use to shield it that will still give it adequate light?

 

[Lance M.]

You can use plastic mesh or you could set something over the top of the container (not directly on it but on the aquarium) so to block out some light. Anything to give it some shade or move the container to a corner that is away from the MH.

How is it doing? What is the NH3 in your other tank?

 

[AliKat]

It's high. I'm thinking that it's just that the other tank is a fairly new aquarium. Also, I was fooling around with the filtration today, so I could have knocking something loose. Who knows?

But apart from the nitrates occasionally being a problem, everything has been fine on the other tank and the RBTA has been happy.

 

[Lance M.]

How long was the aquarium set up? (The one the rbta was in)