Help ammonia problems!

[dobieasarus]

I am having a problem with my 55 gal marine tank. It has been established for a year. I have had no problems until 3 months ago. I had 1 clown trigger, 1groper & 1 dog face puffer. One day the ammonia levels skyrocketed! I did what I could and lost the fish. I put live rock and got the ammonias down. Now 3 weeks later I put in a queen trigger 6", 1 clown trigger 1" & 1 dragon trigger 1". Now I have a diatom xl, prizim protien skimmer,& emporer with bio-wheel on this tank. I have been doing water changes about 1/3 for the past two days an as long as I do this the levles of ammonia drop. What can I do to get this strightened out? I am buying a 125 gallon tank this week and today I am going to buy a bio-filter. Not sure of the brand. was reccommened by the pet shop I went to.:mad: I hope there is something more I can do to keep these fish from croaking!
Thanks. Cheri:

[MJC]

Hi Cheri,

A few questions to think about;

- Three months ago, did their feeding habits changed? Are you feeding them live food? Have they eaten all live food (and its not lying around hidden somewhere).

- Were you cleaning the outside with windex or some other commercial cleaning product that may contain ammonia? Ammonia can leach (sp?) itself into the tank.

- You mentioned no problems until three months ago but did you recently put in LR in the last three weeks? Was the tank empty during that time? was your filtration system in operation during that time?

- Regarding the LR, how many pounds did you put in and was it cured? How long was it out of water when you purchased it? being wrapped in newspaper from the store to your tank is out of water. LR will have some die-off and water changes will help it.

- After placing the three triggers in your tank, some trace of ammonia may be present as you found out. Your fish and their feedings will produce some waste and that in turn will cause it to go up. Not knowing what your feeding habits are like, I'd slow it down and continue to monitor the ammonia.

HTH,

Marty

[nolofinwe]

howdy, welcome to the board

if i were you, i would seriously reconsider your stocking list.

miniature clown triggers have a pretty poor track record in home aquariums, perhaps think about going for a more adult clown?

queen triggers are unholy terrors, and keeping them with 2 1" fish, even if only for a month or 2, is asking for trouble. an adult will also outgrow even your 125... eventually.

im not familiar with the dragon triggers, do you have a snientific name, or another common name?

you're on the path for a massive bioload, and by not cycling your tank you are going to have to keep battling ammonia levels for a while. id return the fish, st up the 125, and cycle it. you can think of a good stock list while you wait for the cycle to finish

just curious, how long did you have your old fish for? how big were they?

good luck!

[MJC]

Is it a dragon or a durgen? A durgen is known also as a black niger trigger (as opposed to the blue niger triggers).

It's shape resembls a pink tail trigger. The durgen has a black body, tails and fins and where its dorsal and anal fins meets the body, they are white in color (sort of like caulking the fins to the body).

In any case, keeping small triggers along with a larger more aggresive queen is not recommended for the reasons explained already.

Have you measured the water quality of your 55? How are you planning to migrate your current tank into your new tank? How you do it will greatly affect your bio-load.

[Wrassman]

I agree with everything that has been said, wholeheartedly. One thing that hasn't been said that should be is this. FIND YOURSELF A NEW LFS! Any LFS that would sell you 3 triggers, one 5 inches larger than the other two, either doesn't know anything about fish, or is only after your money. Either way, he is not a good fish store owner. And I wouldn't give him another dime of my money...

Sorry. I get upset when I see LFSs taking advantage of people...

[Trent]

I would say I agree with the other posters.
First - Do lots of reading on filtration, like those bio balls or wheels. I'm sure you'll come to the same realization as most others --> Lose the bio balls and concentrate on more natural filtration like sand.
I know I'm being a bit vague. but the good info is out there.

Yes Wrassman, I agree.

Scammer LFS's. They get bad hear-say info and relay that you without any research and with the hopes of you emptying your wallet.

I go in and perposely ask beginner questions and wait for thier pathetic answers.

LFS's hire kids in highschool. Pay them 7.25$/hr (canadian) and expect them to care about their job. It's no wonder I've received the 'ya, whatever' attitute.
As a general rule. If I see puppies and birds in the pet store, I'll try to stay away.

That's exactly why I want to open my own reef store. To tell and show people the way to enjoying a tank without the constant problems and upgrades required due to bad LFS advice.
more on 'this' to come.

[MJC]

Dobiesaurus? Cheri? Cheriii....

How is your system doing? I just noticed ...Dobiesaurus has only one posting, not sure if Dobie frequents this forum.


If I see puppies and birds in the pet store, I'll try to stay away

Interesting you mentioned this ...there's been a few local pet store that, after more then ten years of selling fish, is eliminating their aquatic department citing lack of sales, and some of these are FW FO!. They're losing sales to the LFS or the larger chains e.g. Petco, which, IMO is just another local pet store.

[nolofinwe]

thought you guys would like to hear:

cheri emailed me a while after i posted. she told me she was perfectly aware of the tendencies of her fish, and had had no problems.

she said that she was not concerned with her bioload too much, but wanted to get ammonia and etc. taken care of.

i deleated the email, so im sure i misquoted of left something out.

ill see if i can track it down

[Alf]

No problems hummm.. I thought we were discussing a ammo. spike?? Sounds like a problem to me.;) Well iy's been a month now is the ammo fixed??

[Wrassman]

I would bet her ammo problem is pretty much under control. Now, as for her OTHER problems, they are just beginning...:SD