Ammonia Spike! Crap!!!

She only fed sat because i feed every 2 days and i fed them on thursday before i left town. I really dont see anything else it could be. She has taken care of it before and aside from having to clean the glass a little and trim out the cheato, there hasn't ever been a problem like this. I am sure the firefish is the cause. Is there anything else i should do to try and lower the Ammonia?

 

I would check the ammonia again in a couple hours.

Water change: Check.
New Carbon: Check.
Binder: Check

Your biological filter should have been able to handle the death of one fish without an ammonia spike or a bacterial bloom IMO.

If ammonia still present in those numbers try another water change, at least have plenty of water ready incase.

 

I am going to do another first thing in the morning. And yes, I wouldn't have expected such a spike from the death of one fish. But, it was a fairly large AND i'm sure she overfed when she fed sat. This isn't something that is going to cause immediate death to my corals is it? All the zoas and softies look ok, but my frogspawn looks like crap and the hammer does as well. How long do i have before the ammonia is going to cause severe damage? I'm going to try and get it down as fast as i can regardless, just curious.

 

ummm, wasn't SHE the one taking care of it???

Did she do any cleaning or air freshening or anything else while she was there feeding the fish? Stick her hand in there after using anti-bacterial gel or anything like that?

 

Ha... Cleaning??? No, i can rule that one out ha ha. She is pretty good at taking care of it for the most part. Water always is topped off and she has even done a few water changes for me while im away. The feeding issue is the one i just cannot get her to figure out. I have considered some type of other contamination, but i just can't imagine what it could be.

And yes, she was the one watching the tank... But somehow i'm still in trouble for it. I dont know, it defies logic ha ha. O well, i'll never understand the female species and quit trying long ago. That is another topic though...

 

Well there is some polyp extention on the LPS again today... But the water is still cloudy. Managed to get in a 10 gallon change about an hour ago, but haven't done a post change ammonia test yet. I've got finals now until 4 pm so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that its better! The fact that my duncan and frogspawn have been extended about 75% of normal is a huge relief, since yesterday they were completely closed up.

 

LOL

I'm at a loss unless maybe she was wearing lotion & put her hands in the water, or used antibacterial soap or something right before.

Good luck!

 

ummm weird... it is a possibility that overfeeding did this, but thats just a possibility. Maybe try looking for anything dead such as snails just in case to confirm what caused the ammonia. What were your parameters at the time? Still seems kinda weird