ammonia WILL make u sick

ive been looking for any articles about the ammonia in a saltwater tank causing you to get sick and the only thing ive found is ammonia sickness which has the same symptoms as pneumonia.
recently we bought a new tank that was established... the process of moving it went like this
1st we took out all the fish and rock and coral
2nd we wrapped all the rock in wet news paper
3rd the guy drained the water but left the sand and enough water to cover it.
4th we moved the tank and stand and sump
5th the sump got filled back up and we used a skimmer for water flow so it wouldnt kill off all the bacteria and plants he had
6th the tank went into the kitchen for cleaning (we didnt get around to it)

the stand stayed outside so we could stain it (we didnt get around to that yet either). the 180g tank sitting in the kitchen was full of algae (the nuisance algae, bubble algae, and coralline) and sand. within hours it started to smell like dead fish (that the smell of ammonia taking place), in a few more hours we had breathed in so much that u could only smell it occasionally. we went to sleep at about 10 and i started getting severe cold chills even though i was wrapped in 3 blankets(on was a down comforter) and the heat was on 74 which was prolly y everything died so fast. everything after that became a blurr, moments i would wake up nauseous and lightheaded, other times my bones would ache like i was bein torn apart from the inside, and others i was coughing so hard that i swore my lungs were on fire. my mentality went out of control, i couldnt think straight, i didnt know y this was happening to me and i didnt have the common sense to get out of the house and get fresh air. i couldnt even stand to go shower or eat. i eventually called my boyfriend to come take me to hospital, he came over and moved the tank out of the house and opened all the windows and doors and within 30 minutes i was back on my feet. i still had a headache and my chest still hurt but i was feeling better. by night fall i was feeling great
so for those who think that ammonia will only hurt your fish and saltwater stock, youre wrong! be safe around your tank...
i hope this is helpful.

 

Ammonia can definitely make you sick with flu-like symptoms and respiratory distress. It basically burns any mucous membranes with exposure.

 

its never good to find that out the hard way lol

 

Wow this is good to know. I will be moving my tank in May. I will be upgrading to a 90 and moving to a new apartment in the same day. I will certainly take precautions and test for ammonia now that I know. I will know what is going on if I feel sick, although I don't expect much die off. Thanks for the heads up!

 

wow, something you would never think of being such a large problem. thanks for sharing

 

Seems like this would only be a risk if like OP you left organic matter to foul in a small space.

 

Think of that every time a reefer says "well, my ammonia is only .25, my fish are fine".

 

Your boyfriend picked up a 180 gal tank with sand in it, by himself? I'm impressed! Lol.

 

Now that you've had this experience, be very careful around any kind of ammonia in the future (cleaning products, hair dyes, etc.) or you'll start having issues again. I had an incident with mixing 2 cleaning products back when I was young and didn't know better, and any time I'm around ammonia now I start coughing like crazy.

 

Wow, you probably developed an allergy. Your exposure was probably high enough for your immune system to develop memory cells, so now it recognizes it right away! Crazy.. You can become allergic to anything!