Ammonia in QT

[squealy]

I have now set up a 20 gal QT three times, always with a HOB that had been in my DT for at least 5 days. Three times I spotted ich on my fish and started hypo. Three times, and now the worst, I have had ammonia spikes up to 1 after being in hypo for about a week. Obviously I have been feeding a new fish for that same amount of time. I do 25% water changes and use Ammo-lock, but this time, with my blue chin trigger, the ammonia does not seem to be going down and he is looking bad. This is the same trigger that arrived via FedEx with barely any water and with no oxygen, although he was doing OK for about 3 days.

Question - is it inevitable that ammonia will spike after going to hypo when QT'ing and feeding a fish, or am I doing something wrong? I am contemplating using copper from now on because it may not be as bad on the biological filter, which I seem to have problems with. My trigger does not look good - he is very quiet at the bottom of the tank and barely eating. I am contemplating not feeding him to help the ammonia go down. pH is good. If it was the ammonia spike (that occurred in one day), is there anything I can do to help him? Should I do multiple water changes a day?

Thanks.

[reefergeorge]

While my trigger was in QT I was constantly battling ammonia. I was doing daily 50% wcs to keep it below 1. I ended up using prime, and excepting 1 as the highest I wanted to go. Everything turned out fine.

[squealy]

That makes me feel better, although he still doesn't look so good. Maybe there's something about triggers that generates more ammonia. He doesn't appear to have flukes and his ich is not apparent. I will continue to do twice daily 25% changes. Thanks.

[otrlynn]

Originally posted by squealy
That makes me feel better, although he still doesn't look so good. Maybe there's something about triggers that generates more ammonia. He doesn't appear to have flukes and his ich is not apparent. I will continue to do twice daily 25% changes. Thanks.

I had major problems with ammonia when I put 4 fish in a 29 gallon hospital tank to do hypo, because one fish had ich. I wasn't vigilant enough and had a big ammonia spike and bloom (milky looking water). I actually did a 50% water change a couple of times, because I figured the ammonia (I think the reading was 2.5) was going to kill the fish and I'd take my chances on the water change. I could see the fish perk up almost immediately after the water changes, so I believe I did the right thing. There was a week that I did a water change every day. I used Ammo-Lock when the readings were really high, but I stopped using it in favor of getting the ammonia under control with the water changes. I also had the feeling that maybe the Ammo-Lock was somehow screwing up accurate measurement of the ammonia levels and I wanted to get a better handle on the actual ammonia level. However, the ich disappeared after a week of hypo, no other fish came down with ich, and I'm slowly raising the salinity up at week 5.

[squealy]

I'm glad things turned out for you. My little guy doesn't look so good, and it's hard to believe it's the ammonia. I have been doing daily 25% water changes for ammonias of perhaps .25, so I was shocked when it came back about 1 today and he started looking bad. He had a rough trip to my house, with very little water and oxygen, and I think his organs are shutting down and he's in kidney failure (at least that's what happens to humans under those circumstances). The one good thing about all these 5 gallon water changes is that I'm building up some muscles from all the carrying and hoisting!

[spmedi]

when you are doing the water changes are you siphoning via air line tubing the bottom of the tank...

assuming it is bare bottom, that is where the poo goes...

[squealy]

Half the time I use a 3/4 inch vinyl tube and just drain the water, and half the time I use a siphon tube to clean the bottom.

[otrlynn]

squealy, hang in there. You are doing all you can. It sounds like your fish may really be suffering from damage done in transit to your house. I would try to avoid putting food in there at the moment. If he is looking very poorly, he probably isn't going to eat anyway. If he starts looking better and takes a nibble of food you may be out of the woods. Just keep changing that water and testing ammonia every day or so.

[Aquarist007]

If you are only hyposalinating you can add a couple of pieces of live rock from the display tank. That will help take care of the ammonia.
Not to worry about the live rock--after hyposalinating the bacteria will cycle back quickly

[spmedi]

i know that a 5 gallon water change on a 20 is only going to reduce the ammonia level by about 25%. So if it is at 1, then a 25% change would drop it to .75

then if you immediate did another one, it would drop to about .59, etc....

the larger the one time change the larger the difference.

the % you change out usually directly relates to the % in drop

that doesn't account for what the ammolock would do

on the next change, i would use air line tubing... the 1/4 stuff to clean the bottom really good...

check the HOB filter to make sure nothing is in there, like food...


add a piece of LR if you need to...

[squealy]

I will try your suggestions - larger water changes, cleaning the bottom better, some live rock, and hanging in there. About the LR - wouldn't there be immediate die off when going into hypo so wouldn't that exacerbate the problem temporarily?

[spmedi]

if their are inverts on the LR....otherwise no

[squealy]

OK. I'll get to it right away.

Thanks again.