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Unread 03/05/2007, 10:31 PM   #1
fareforce
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Exclamation Sleeper Goby Breathing Hard. Help!

I bought a sleeper goby yesterday afternoon at my LFS. He was very active at the store, and when I got home, I did a slow acclimation to my QT tank, and put him in. He was freaked out for about an hour or so (that's normal), but then he started to act normally. Sucking up sand, ect. I put a little bit of brine shrimp in the tank, and he ate it right up! This morning and afternoon, everything was still good, until I got home from work. I tried feeding him a little bit again, and he ate a little, but not much. Now he is hiding under a rock (built his cave last night) breathing heavily. I can't see any spots on him, nothing that looks bad physically at all. He looks very healthy other than the breathing. I checked all of the parameters, and everything looks good. Nothing out of the normal.

My QT tank is a 10gal with about 4-5 lbs of well established live rock (from my other tank), and there is 10# of silica sand in the bottom, 1 hermit, and 2 snails.

S/G 1.025
PH 8.2
NH3 0ppm
Temp 79.2 (been 79-80.5)


Anyone have any ideas? Is this normal for them? What should I do? Please help!

The only thing that I can think of is to leave him only and check in the morning. I am hoping it is just him being himself..


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Unread 03/06/2007, 12:32 AM   #2
bertoni
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How much flow is present, and do you have an oxygen test kit, by any chance?


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Unread 03/06/2007, 01:15 AM   #3
fareforce
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There is a bit a flow, but not too much. I have two smaller HOB filters, and a small Aquaball power head.

I think I found the problem though.. I had just switched brands of salt, and was wondering if that had anything to do with it. So, I took some water to the LFS (friend owns it) and tested my water there. I guess my PH test kit was bad.. It tested at 7.6!!! So tested everything else, and alk was on the very low side..

I bought a new test kit, and they gave me a little bit of buffering stuff that they use, got home.. Mixed up the buffer, added it to the tank, and we will see what happens tomorrow. So far he is back out and about.. PH is now 8.2 Yes I know it was a really, really rapid change, but the fish has gone from 8.2-8.3 (at LFS) to 7.6 (my tank) best thing to do is get him back in water that wouldn't hurt to inhale....

I guess I should add that I dripped the buffer in, not all at once.. Keep your fingers crossed.

P.S. I mixed up just plain salt water with the "new brand", and it has to be a bad batch. It is only registering 7.7ph.. It was oceanic salt. I heard they were good, but I guess it is back to Red Sea, and Reef Crystals for me!! =)


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Unread 03/06/2007, 02:30 AM   #4
magdelan
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My first guess was low oxygen. Low PH = high Co2. Low Alk = High Co2 = low oxygen. Raising the Alk raises the PH which will raise the Oxygen.

You're doing all the right things... good luck!


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Unread 03/06/2007, 05:02 AM   #5
fareforce
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It now looks like his breathing has slowed a bit.. Now he is breathing about 2 times a second. What is considered normal for these guys? Is that normal now, or is he still breathing fast.

BTW he is about 2 1/2" long if that matters.


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Unread 03/06/2007, 12:56 PM   #6
fareforce
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Ok. So I check my levels again this morning, and my PH is back down to 7.8. What gives??

Calc 500
Alk 7

What is making my PH drop so quickly? Everything else is sitting just fine. I am just worried that if I keep buffering the PH, it will through my ALK way out of wack! Grrr I have never had this problem with any of my other salt tanks..


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Unread 03/06/2007, 01:16 PM   #7
Gordonious
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Is the room well ventilated? Closed up rooms or houses can have the gas in the room change as far as levels of CO2 and O2 which would slightly effect the parameters in your tank.

pH also changes nightly. If you check your ph at 3pm and 3am you will just about always find them different. Just make sure during the day it's as close to normal as possible and a slight change at night won't be that big of a deal.

Just my opinions, I'm not a chemist, just spend a lot of time reading, and way to much time on RC.

Jon


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Unread 03/06/2007, 01:19 PM   #8
fareforce
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The room is pretty well ventilated. I have 2 other tanks in the same room that do just fine.. Just this one that I am having a problem with..

I guess I need to go buy an o2 test kit..


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Unread 03/06/2007, 01:31 PM   #9
Gordonious
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Before you spend to much money find out what you will do based on the readings you get from a test kit. Just what I would do, but I'm broke, and I like understanding what is going on. Might try getting this posted into the reef chem forum.

Jon


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Unread 03/06/2007, 01:54 PM   #10
fareforce
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The only other thing I can think of, if the substrate I used.. It was silica sand.. Could it be sucking my ph to buffer itself? If so, I should just be able to raise my alk so it will work with the calc, and raise PH?


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It's not my fault!!! It was an I.D.ten.T. thing.. Gosh!!!! (ID10T)
---------------------------------------------
Click the red house to see my current build thread!

Current Tank Info: Current Project. 110 gallon starphire.
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Unread 03/06/2007, 02:01 PM   #11
Gordonious
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BUMP Anyone else care to comment?

The chem involved is to much for me to comment on, I took many basic chem courses and still don't understand half of the stuff. Did you post in Randy's forum?(the chem forum)

Just if you find what you think is a solution, don't change anything in your tank dramatically and never trust one source, check your information somewhere else and try to get a basic understanding.

Jon


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Unread 03/06/2007, 02:06 PM   #12
bertoni
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More flow might be useful. That'll help remove CO2 from and add oxygen to the tank, if the ambient air is good. A pH of 7.8 is fine for fish. That's not likely to be the problem. The animal might just be acclimating, or the oxygen might be low.


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Unread 03/06/2007, 02:47 PM   #13
fareforce
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For flow I already have 2 HOB fiolters, and a aquaball power head.. I think I might rip all of those out, and replace it with a single Aquaclear 30 HOB. The ones I have don;t seem to aggitate the surface much..

Everything sounds like to o2 levels are off.. I will go buy an o2 test kit, and see what it says.. What should the o2 levels be at?


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It's not my fault!!! It was an I.D.ten.T. thing.. Gosh!!!! (ID10T)
---------------------------------------------
Click the red house to see my current build thread!

Current Tank Info: Current Project. 110 gallon starphire.
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Unread 03/07/2007, 01:51 AM   #14
bertoni
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Mine seem to stay around 6ppm, but I have good flow and surface agitation. Some Maxi-Jets might solve your problem, if there's an aeration issue. Just point the outputs up a bit to get some rippling on the surface.


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