Small ammonia spike

[jdthomas24]

Thsi woudl be my first spike since the tnak was put up 4 months ago. Have coral and fish in it. It measures 1.0.... Should i worry? i feed 2 cubes of mysis shrimp per day. 2 clowns, med gobie, and 3 tangs that are about 5 inches each. 2 cleaners shrimp, 30 snails, 20 hermit crabs in 150G DT.

[bertoni]

I would worry a lot. I'd dose some Amquel, but get a second opinion on the test kit. It might have failed. I'd also stop feeding until the situation became more clear. If any animals are having trouble, some large water changes are in order.

[lougotzz]

2 cubes sounds like a lot of food per day.

[jdthomas24]

i would worry a lot. I'd dose some amquel, but get a second opinion on the test kit. It might have failed. I'd also stop feeding until the situation became more clear. If any animals are having trouble, some large water changes are in order.

would?????

[bertoni]

Yep, 1 ppm of ammonia can cause some fish a fair amount of trouble. The problem might be the test kit, though. That's unfortunately common.

[jdthomas24]

i just restested. .25 that makes me feel better.... soon as i read your post i went back and tested again. Still more than 0 but way better than 1.0. I also only feed 1 cube tonight... Is two cubes to much? it seems like the fish eat most of it and the crabs and shrimp get the bottom stuff. Doesnt last but maybe 10 minutes and its pretty much gone as far as i can tell.

[bertoni]

Two cubes might be too much. Some time will tell, but that's a fairly heavy feeding rate, depending on the cube size.

[jdthomas24]

i went from 1.5 to 2 so maybe i will go back to 1.5 and see what happens. It is the normal small cubes you get in the packages.