Urgent help needed...

[closershave]

Hi all,

I am writing on behalf of a friend.

She has had a lot of experience with freshwater aquariums with no problems. She has recently added a saltwater tank with sea horses to her menagerie, but is experiencing a lot of hassles with establishing the water quality.

The nitrates are consistently high and the amonium level is also very high. These levels have been consistently going since she set up the tank and the sea horses are alive and well. However, the two starfish in the tank are not doing too well at all...

In her tropical tank, the chemicals that are used to adjust the levels of ammonia and nitrates can sometimes affect the test results. Is this also the case with the saltwater tanks?

My friend has made numerous water changes, as suggested by the local pet shop. The water changes have been 8 litre changes from her 38 litre tank.

Is there anything you can suggest that can be done to sort out the problem nitrate and ammonia levels?

Any advice you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Lucifer]

If she is getting content nitrate and ammonia, then there is something that is producing them. This could be the seahorse, dead animals (snails, starfish, etc), filter, etc.....

You need to find what it is that is making that nitrate and ammonia.....

Does she have live rocks? Any corals? or anything else in the tank?

How long has the tank been running? SW tank takes 3 time longer to cycle then FW tanks.

[closershave]

have live rock in tank ,one star fish and a coral oniment ,tank been running for 6 weeks.was told to do water change everyday if needed to bring down amonia and nitrites is this causing the problem [too many water changes]

[Lucifer]

Take out the fake coral for now.

I don't think doing many water change will bring in ammonia or nitrate.
Doing lots of water change should bring down both, but you saying it is not.
Try testing the water she is using to do water change.
Where is she getting the water from? If mixing her own, then she has to look out for tap water. If she collecting the water she need to have collected clean water at top of the tide. If she getting her water from LFS, test the water.

Has she brought any fish/corals/any other animals that has gone missing? If they have gone missing then they may be dead and that might be the cause.

What else has she got in the tank?

[closershave]

Thanks for all of your advice so far.

All of the water used in the tank is local tap water. She is testing the water as she makes it up. The tank was originally running for two months prior to the introduction of the first fish.

Her last starfish died overnight.

Are starfish more susceptible to poor quality water/fluctuations in the water than the sea horses? Or could they have already been ill and causing the high nitrate and ammonia levels?

The local pet store has given her a second type of salt to use in the tank.

Is this likely to help?

I will mention to her the need to remove the fake coral and also to stop the regular water changes as suggested here.

Thanks again.

[closershave]

Also, there are no dead animals in the tank. However, she did have two rather sickly looking star fish in there.

Could that be elevating the ammonia and nitrate levels?

[Lucifer]

Try not to use tape water to mix salt. Try using filtered water like RO/DI water.

Keep doing small water changes. Test the water every day to see if the ammonia and nitrate goes down.

If all else fails then empty all the water, take all the fish out, take all the rocks out and rise them in old water. Mix up new water with filted water and start all over again....

[closershave]

Thanks for all your advice.

My friend has changed all of the water again. She removed all of the accessories and has left nothing but the live rock and real plant.

Since the change, she has tested the water again. The nitrates are only slightly elevated but the ammonia is still high.

She has decided to leave the water for a week and retest it then.

We will see how it goes now...


Thanks.

[closershave]

Thank you for all your adivce, Lucifer.

I have just spoken to my friend and she tells me that the sea horses are much more active and looking a lot brighter.

Also, all of the ammonia and nitrate levels are almost at their required levels!

My friend followed your advice and did another change and removed all of the fake coral and this has solved all of her problems!

Again, thank you Lucifer for helping us out.

[Lucifer]

Good to hear things are in order.

Remember to get her to keep doing her water changes every week.