Ammonia spike

[Beaux]

Would possibly dying coral cause an ammonia spike?

Three days ago it started to spike. Everything is accounted for.

4 days ago I  added a beautiful new toadstool, which did fine the day after it was in. Opened fully and had the neon green tips out and everything.

 All other parameters are good except the amonia. I have been doing 10 to 15% water changes for three days now and I can not get the ammonia to drop.

The main coral piece in the first photo, i think parts of it are dead? The second is the toadstool that  is closing up.

I did purchase a much better lighting system and an ATO.

Ph 8.4

Ammonia. 50

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 0 

Sal 1.025

Any help would be great. Thanks!

[jolt]

I'm not sure what it could be, but you may need to do larger water changes until you track it down.  You could also try adding some nitrifying bacteria like MIcroBacter7 or similar

[Isaac]

check your topoff water for ammonia/chlorine

[Sierra Bravo]

Bio spira has always worked as good as Tim's for me to get bacteria boosted and up to help break the ammonia down, with the added advantage that you can run down to any Petco and grab some easily.

It doesn't help with finding what caused it, but you need to get that ammonia down asap.  I'd probably run some carbon also with the toadstool going south.

 

[Beaux]

Thanks for the quick replies. 

Yes I constantly check the values of my RO/salt before I add any.

I did do close to a 20% water change today but it knocked my salinity way off. I am trying to correct that now.

So this stuff you are recommending is an all natural additive and not chemical? 

With such a small tank it is like a domino affect.

Plus the only thing being affected buy this is the new piece. It is a green tip toadstool. 

Being that it was under a stronger lighting setting than mine, I am unsure if that could be an issue as well.

With my new lighting I am working up to the 50 to 60% power range. Its just odd that none of my other corals are affected, nor my 2 clowns.

I will head out now to get that stuff now.

Thanks again.

[Beaux]

Oh and could someone explain what running carbon is please?

[Sierra Bravo]

It's a mix of detoxifier and nitrifying bacteria.  It's used usually when you first cycle a tank to establish the bacteria you need to convert ammonia into nitrite.  Sometimes when I add fish in QT and ammonia builds up, I'll throw in a small bottle to help the process along and the tank generally responds right away.

 

Running carbon means to add a bag containing granulated activated carbon to help remove toxins from the water.  It is also often also used in a media reactor.  Toadstools and leathers will sometimes release toxins, especially when stressed, into the water that can affect other corals.  The carbon filters these out and should be changed every three days or so while you are having the problem.

My knowledge is limited; perhaps some others on the forum can chime in as well.

[Vernon Saunders]

I want to add that (going off your tank size in your profile) with the problem your having that it would probably be better to get a reactor (nothing too complicated) and a pump that can put out about 100-200 gph and run it on the reactor. Use about 1 cup of carbon (don't need to be exact) and that will help force water through the carbon than just running a bag in the tank (the more water that comes into contact with the carbon the more toxins it can pull out). Change the carbon out evefry 3-4 days until your ammonia spike settles back down.

 

[Beaux]

Thanks to everyone again. I did finally get the bio speria. Had to go cross town Lol.

I again thank you all. I am just having a rough time. I though the older my tank is, and as long as I stay with my set schedule, cleaning, maintenance ect, this would get easier. It takes 1 reaction to set off the domino effect.

I have a special built hanging filter so I doubled the carbon. I also used 3/4 of the bottle, (directions 1 bottle per 30 gallon).

My salinity was stable at 1.027, but i have no clue how it dropped within a few hours to 1.00. I did an immediate mix to gradually get it back up to 1.025.

Needles to say few of my corals are not to happy right now. I think they will make it.

But back to my original question, in photo 1 if that is dying off could it be part of the cause? The tops are white and stems are solid. No squishiness anywhere.

[Sierra Bravo]

30 minutes ago, Beaux said:

My salinity was stable at 1.027, but i have no clue how it dropped within a few hours to 1.00. I did an immediate mix to gradually get it back up to 1.025.

 

1

I'm not seeing where you had mentioned your salinity dropping - can you go into more detail on that?

[Beaux]

I did a small 15% water change early this morning, prior to the last 2 days of 10%. I didnt see a drop in the ammonia so this morning, while I went looking for that additive is when whatever happened. 

I did remove my carbon when I was gone to get replacement packs. 

I retested the ammonia as well as a salinity when I got back. That is when I noticed the sudden drop in salinity.

I promise I am not making all this up. I thoroughly tested my meeter by tank water 1.00, tap water (0), RO (0), lfs premade saltwater (1.027) and again my tank.

Other that my largest mushroom  being upset, and my torches withdrawn everything else was fine. I slowly added over a few hours my salt and RO to get it back to 1.025.

Now everything is back out and happy. I will recheck the salinity again a few times before bed, and the ammonia level in the morning.

 

[Vernon Saunders]

Keep us posted on the progress.

[Beaux]

Salinity stable at 1.025, but the ammonia is still unchanged at .25ppm.

[Vernon Saunders]

The Bio Spira is going to need time to work. You probably wont see a change till tomorrow at least cause the bacteria need to populate the tank.

[stoneroller]

Leathers will sometimes close up and build up a waxy glossy appearance which will go away at some point (days usually) and the polyps will come back out. I wouldn't worry about the leather unless it turns dark and/or gets slimy. My advice is to not add any more animals for a while. 

[Timfish]

Did you salinity actually drop to 1.00 or was it 1.020?  You should know not all refractometers are the same.  While some refrctometers I've used read salinity pretty good when zeroed with freshwater some refractometers will read salinity very differently if fresh water is used to zero them.   Many refractometers are also are for just saltwater not seawater and will be off when we use them for our reef systems (seawater has a lot more in it than just sodium chloride).  Sea water standards for calibrating refractometers are inexpensive and readily available and the best way to calibrate refractometers, they do need to be kept tightly closed so evaporation doesn't change the salinity and I replace mine yearly.     Additionally, if refractaometers are not cleaned well after each use residual salt can make them read high.  

FWIW Ammonia at .5 mg/l isn't going to cause stuff to react much if any at all, it is after all an important source of nitrogen for corals.  All the various corals we have open and close for various reasons, most we may have no idea why and no way to test.  If you look at my skimmerless system in the "Build" section there's a wild 20 year old Toadstool that opens and closes for different reasons than it's daughters so individual colonies of the same clone line can have their own personalities.  When trying to assess potential problems I always start by looking at everyone in the tank, if most are happy I'm going to wait before I start messing with things.