Help PH Shock & Ammonia spike

kenchen77 · 12/21/2009, 11:23 AM

Hi! Experts,

I recently put a lipstick angel in my QT and found him lying on his side at the bottom of the tank. I suspected fowl play and tested the water the ammonia was rather high and the Ph was very low. I do not see any ammonia burns on him and am sure it is the ph shock and the ammonia burn.

Can you guys help me out on what should be done to revive the little fellow. I have changed the water in the QT and replaced it with my display tank water and put melafix so that he does not catch anymore bacterial infections. He was good when I put him in

Please pleae please help

Regards

Kenneth

dwd5813 · 12/21/2009, 01:16 PM

best thing i can think of is to keep a very close eye on all of your water parameters and change water any time anything is out of whack. you'll want to make sure the water is as pristine as possible, meaning that making new saltwater for the qt is a good idea, imo. make sure the temp and salinity are proper, there is no copper, etc. and the cycle parameters are in check.

how are you filtering the qt? did you cycle a filter for it beforehand? if not, running a hob filter on your dt for a week or two is a good idea to get a biofilter active for that qt. in the meantime, close monitoring and frequent water changes are in order to keep ammonia and nitrite out of the tank to allow your fish to recover. also make sure the qt is aerated fully and that the fish has a place to hide.

Sisterlimonpot · 12/21/2009, 01:20 PM

Were you changing water on a regular basis? Water alone doesn't count for a cycle. The water doesn't house the bacteria to continue a cycle, it's actually the substrate (mech. filter, rock, sand etc. So if you put the water from the display and thought that things would go smoothly then you thought wrong. Eventually the ammonia would have raised and without proper water changes or biological bacteria to dilute/convert the toxins then the fish was inevitably going to die.

What was your practice for keeping the amm down?

the PH was probably due to lack of oxygen.

wooden_reefer · 12/21/2009, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenchen77

Hi! Experts,

I recently put a lipstick angel in my QT and found him lying on his side at the bottom of the tank. I suspected fowl play and tested the water the ammonia was rather high and the Ph was very low. I do not see any ammonia burns on him and am sure it is the ph shock and the ammonia burn.

Can you guys help me out on what should be done to revive the little fellow. I have changed the water in the QT and replaced it with my display tank water and put melafix so that he does not catch anymore bacterial infections. He was good when I put him in

Please pleae please help

Regards

Kenneth

Effects of low sub-lethal ammonia are hidden. Some fish may die much later from internal diseases.

In general, a QT should have a medium of filtration that has been cycled very well in advance. In advance, that is you should cycle the medium intended for QT in advance of getting any fish.

The effects of a drug on nitrification bacteria is always the first consideration of an aquarist. Some drugs like copper has little effect. Antibiotics (in QT water to treat external bacterial infections) as a class of drugs has varying effects on nitrification. Kanamycin, neomycin or erythromycin in general only affects nitrification mildly and reversibly. I will get significant nitrite, but time and time again I have not tested significant ammonia with these drugs. Chloromycetin is very deadly on nitrification.

It is always good to have a setup where you can remove the medium of biological filtration from the filter easily when you have to use a drug that affects nitrification gravely.

I always use UV preventively against bacteria infection (not so much ich) in QT when I am not also using a drug that UV degrades, which means most drugs except copper. Most drugs are complex organic compounds that are degraded by UV.

kenchen77 · 12/23/2009, 01:21 PM

Hey guys,

After i changed the water and put in a live rock in the qt i switched off the lights and aerated it well. Today the guy seems to be swimming about happily, thank you guys for your help

I really dont know what i would have done without you guys.

Regards

Kenneth

12/21/2009, 11:23 AM	#1
kenchen77 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Bangalore, India Posts: 105	Help PH Shock & Ammonia spike Hi! Experts, I recently put a lipstick angel in my QT and found him lying on his side at the bottom of the tank. I suspected fowl play and tested the water the ammonia was rather high and the Ph was very low. I do not see any ammonia burns on him and am sure it is the ph shock and the ammonia burn. Can you guys help me out on what should be done to revive the little fellow. I have changed the water in the QT and replaced it with my display tank water and put melafix so that he does not catch anymore bacterial infections. He was good when I put him in Please pleae please help Regards Kenneth

12/21/2009, 01:16 PM	#2
dwd5813 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: 813 Posts: 2,827	best thing i can think of is to keep a very close eye on all of your water parameters and change water any time anything is out of whack. you'll want to make sure the water is as pristine as possible, meaning that making new saltwater for the qt is a good idea, imo. make sure the temp and salinity are proper, there is no copper, etc. and the cycle parameters are in check. how are you filtering the qt? did you cycle a filter for it beforehand? if not, running a hob filter on your dt for a week or two is a good idea to get a biofilter active for that qt. in the meantime, close monitoring and frequent water changes are in order to keep ammonia and nitrite out of the tank to allow your fish to recover. also make sure the qt is aerated fully and that the fish has a place to hide. __________________ order some golf shoes, otherwise we'll never get out of this place alive. what can i say? in dog beers, i have only had one. - dublo8 Current Tank Info: 40B aiptasia farm

12/21/2009, 01:20 PM	#3
Sisterlimonpot R.C. Fraternity President Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Litchfeild Park AZ Posts: 11,490 Blog Entries: 2	Were you changing water on a regular basis? Water alone doesn't count for a cycle. The water doesn't house the bacteria to continue a cycle, it's actually the substrate (mech. filter, rock, sand etc. So if you put the water from the display and thought that things would go smoothly then you thought wrong. Eventually the ammonia would have raised and without proper water changes or biological bacteria to dilute/convert the toxins then the fish was inevitably going to die. What was your practice for keeping the amm down? the PH was probably due to lack of oxygen. __________________ Jimmy MASVC President Dishes are done man! Current Tank Info: 300 in progress

12/23/2009, 01:21 PM	#5
kenchen77 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Bangalore, India Posts: 105	Thanks he is recovering Hey guys, After i changed the water and put in a live rock in the qt i switched off the lights and aerated it well. Today the guy seems to be swimming about happily, thank you guys for your help I really dont know what i would have done without you guys. Regards Kenneth