amonia
 

I did a test and i still have a little bit of amonia registerinmg... about .25-.40

is this bad? i noticed my fish are breathin pretty fast today...

Re: amonia
 

Any ammonia in a tank with fish and corals is definitely bad :eek:

How old is the tank? Was it completely cycled (no ammonia or nitrite) before adding livestock? Anything died in the tank recently?

Re: amonia
 

i switched tanks 2 weeks ago, moved everything over. The previous one was cycled and i used about 40g of its water. I did put three new fish in on monday. and nothing has died in it.

I'd do a water change.

Dave

Did last night. about a 20 gallon. :)

Think i'll do a water change once/week for a while.

Weekly water changes should be a MUST if there is ammonia or not. If this was my tank, I would be testing ammonia daily and, if there is still detectable amounts, do another water change.

EDIT: Also, adding Prime or Amquel will change the ammonia to non-toxic ammonium. However, ammonium will then turn into nitrite, which is still pretty toxic, so keep testing and keep water on hand for frequent water changes.

Good news, I did a 45g water change last night and this morning, I got a 0ppm on the ammonia test. And I have moved my dying lil unicorn tang to quarrintine tank, he looks like he is a fighter!! He still looks really rough but he's hangin on. *fingers crossed*

one more thing, I find it interesting that one of my test kits says 0.25ppm of ammonia is in the safe zone and won't stress the fish. That seems to be conflicting with the thoughts on canreef. :confused:

I have found that in my experience with fish that bad water can be tolertated as long as it gradual build up but a spike will cause things to die. I am not saying dont take care of your tank. I have had fish since I was ten and I didnt do water changes back then I do them now though.

Brad

grrrrrrr.. tested water today, says 0.40ppm. Doing another water change this evening, what a pain in the ass!!!

I currently don't have a skimmer running, could that be a problem? (waiting to get pump to hook it up)

What you have going on in the tank is not enough bacteria and/or macroalgae to process the ammonia being produced by some factor(s). In earlier posts, you say you have just moved the contents of a cycled tank to a new one. Perhaps stuff in your sandbed died and is contributing to the ammonia. Perhaps your LR was out of water too long during the changeover and bacteria and other stuff on the rock began to die. Additional food for your new fish might also be playing a part here, too.

Did you add any new rock that was not cured when you switched tanks? Is there leftover food floating around after feeding time? If you can find a cause of the ammonia, you might be able to remedy the situation.

I'm not an expert on skimming and don't know if having a skimmer running would significantly impact your ammonia problem. Hopefully someone with experience in this area will offer an opinion.

My fish don't seem to be eating normally, and there was some leftover food, i'm going to cut down the feeding, and make sure to take out any leftovers. My crabs usually do a good job cleaning it up, though.

How big is your tank and how much LR is in it?

Not feeding your fish at all for a few days untill you get things under controll won't hurt them either.(Will probably help actualy)

ya maybe I won't feed em a few days. I only have 40pounds live rock :redface: I am waiting for more funds.