Ammonia Spike..can't get it down

I have a sudden spike of Ammonia (0.022ppm) and can't lower it. Tomorrow I'll be doing a major water change to see if it takes care of it. If not, what do you guys recommend.

I think I've pushed my bioload beyond the limit. I have a 46 Gal tank with these fish:
1 yellow tang, 1 sand sifting goby, 1 coral beauty, 1 pink skunk clown, 1 six line wrasse, 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 coral beauty.

And these inverts: 2 cleaner skunk shrimps, 9 Nassarius snails, 4 blue leg hermit crabs, 1 emeral crab, 2 sally feet crabs and 1 red foot conch.

Currently running carbon in canister filter, remora skimmer and UV sterelizer 24/7. I've been feeding everyday. If I can't get the ammonia to drop with the water and carbon change tomorrow, what do you guys recommend I do? How long can I go without feeding the fish without killing them.

I will also be adding Seachem's Purigen, Prime and Stability.


My fish are not showing signs of stress at all.


Thanks for the help.

 

Are you feeding flakes or frozen? Also, move the tang to a bigger tank. If he hasn't outgrown the tank then he will soon. Tell us how it goes after the water change. It should definitely lower the ammonia.

 

Hey! As a quick remedy you can try one of the Seachem filter medium: deNitrate. It is made of highly porous material that is coated with ammonia/nitrite/nitrate adsorbants!

 

I'll be usin Seachem's Purigen, it's supposed to do the same as deNitrate. I'll order some deNi anyway. Tomorrow I'll be putting Seachem's Matrix Carbon, Purigen and Phosguard. Their carbon's supposed to be better, Purigen according to them, will take care of ammonia and the phosguard...well, to get my phosphates low.

About the yellow tang...he still a baby..pretty small guy...as soon as he grows in the next couple of months, I'll be taking him back to the LFS.

 

- That is a large bioload for that sized tank.

Not that big a deal if you are will willing to take steps to manage it.

Increase amount and frequency of water changes. May even need to do couple of times a week. :-/ Keep close eye on.

Only good longterm solution to a large bio-load. Hopefully biofilter will eventually catch up.


Decrese food amount as mentioned.

Reduce number of fish?

Good luck.

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEE...slow down a bit! Don't panic and start doing all these things at once in such a short period of time as you run the risk of over doing it causing more problems, and possibly much more dramatic ones at that!
First off, I would perform a 25-30% water change and see what that does!
Do you know if you have something that died in your tank recently, or did you add more inhabitants to your tank recently?
See how the water change works before going on to the next step!
Let us know

 

Yep, missed that.

Leave out those additives.

Better to do a number of smaller back to back water changes, then large ones (40-50%)

Make sure skimmer is working with max efficiency.

May want to invest in a larger one right away...:-/


Test, Test, Test!

 

My skimmer is for 75 Gals. BUT, now that you mention it....I bought the pre-filter for about a week ago...a couple of days later...the ammonia went up..could be related.

I'm doing a 40% percent water change today. I'll let you know how it goes.