Please help!!! Freaking out!!

What do you think the cause of the ammonia could be?

 

Something is dead.....somewhere. Anybody unaccounted for? You been messing with the sand bed?

 

My Lemonpeel Angelfish died this morning. So, that would be the cause?

 

Could be....I'd guess that it was something else that's been decomposing a little longer. The ammonia could have also killed the fish if his gills burnt. When your done adding ammonia fixing chemicals and have a water change done start doing a careful search of your tank for anything dead. If you don't find anything just keep the ammonia levels tolerable with prime or something similar for the short term until the tank balances itself out again. Oh...also keep in mind that adding the ammonia chemicals to the water will not remove any ammonia from the water, just bind it in a safe form. If you test your water the ammonia will appear to still be present. Water changes will remove it from the water column.

 

I'll search the tank after the water change. So just add Prime right after?

 

Okay, I tested my water at my LFS. There are 4very big problems:

-Nitrates are at 160!
-pH is at 7.4!
-Phosphates are at 0.5 (Probably unrelated to the fish death)
-Salinity is at 1.029! (I need to invest in a refractometer instead of using a hydrometer)

So I bought some Prime and pH+. I then added them to a mix of freshwater and saltwater. I did an approximately 7 gallon water change and am planning on doing a 3 gallon water change with the rest of the 10 gallons of saltwater I have left over tomorrow. My LFS said to do a 10 gallon water change 1-2 times a week and to dose Prime and pH+ every day for a week, so I'll do that.

 

Been having big issues, last night decided to remove all the green/black algae from the back of the tank, was so pleased with the results.
Imagine my horror this morning when my ammonia is +5 and probably darker, my nitrate and nitrite are through the roof ! ! ! So for the 2nd timlin 5 days I am dropping another 100 litres of water and replacing with nice new RoDi
I also decided today that I was going to clean out my canister filter as well, OMG never seen such a mess, I has removed and trashed it, it's about time is stuck with my sump and rock anyway.
Ammonia is almost fixed now, so keep your fingers crossed, have you stired the sand up ? Cleaned algae off ? Removed any dead snails and unbeaten food ? What about inbetween the rocks ? And as someone else mentioned, are all the inmates accounted for ? What about star fish ?

 

Most LFS's and larger chain petstores that have saltwater products carry IO... For Nirtrate once you get your ammonia in check give this a shot for a temporary fix. It works wonders. Brought my 150 ppm back from a crash to 75ppm in a day, and down to 10 by the end of the week. Between cleaning up and water changes.

 

What is IO for nitrate?

 

Skuba Ken: Everything's accounted for except for a few snails. I didn't stir the sandbed up at all. No Starfish.

RedGambit: What do you mean by IO? Instant Ocean?