Does this look to be ammonia burn?

[mattshell81]

My new reef tank is currently being built and in preparation of that I have been looking for fish for the fist time in a long time. I've been watching for specific fish for a while and just picked up a gold rim tang (after months of waiting for one to pop up) and a yellow coris wrasse. They arrived today faster than anything I have ever gotten overnight, the water was still warm, and they seemed to be packaged well. Immediately out of the box both were floating around and laying on their sides before acclimation even started and there was some burns around the gold rims gills and on his body that i noticed as soon as i got him out of the bag. After acclimation the yellow wrasse seems to have eventually burrowed which seems like a good sign and the gold rim just rested against things and swam poorly even with all flow off and lights out. After about 5 hours of this the gold rim passed away. The only thing I can think of is the bags were not clamped or sealed like I see a lot of people do now. They were just banded. Does this sound and look like ammonia burn to you? I did acclimate faster than normal but only because they really seemed to be struggling for air in the bags.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My new reef tank is currently being built and in preparation of that I have been looking for fish for the fist time in a long time. I've been watching for specific fish for a while and just picked up a gold rim tang (after months of waiting for one to pop up) and a yellow coris wrasse. They arrived today faster than anything I have ever gotten overnight, the water was still warm, and they seemed to be packaged well. Immediately out of the box both were floating around and laying on their sides before acclimation even started and there was some burns around the gold rims gills and on his body that i noticed as soon as i got him out of the bag. After acclimation the yellow wrasse seems to have eventually burrowed which seems like a good sign and the gold rim just rested against things and swam poorly even with all flow off and lights out. After about 5 hours of this the gold rim passed away. The only thing I can think of is the bags were not clamped or sealed like I see a lot of people do now. They were just banded. Does this sound and look like ammonia burn to you? I did acclimate faster than normal but only because they really seemed to be struggling for air in the bags.

Tangs usually get that blotchy color after death, so it isn't really a sign of anything.

Two things frequently go wrong with acclimation from overnight shipments:

1) Some shippers send the fish at a low specific gravity, 1.019 or so. People then try to acclimate the fish up to full salinity, say 1,.026. and that is difficult to do and very stressful to the fish. Did you measure the specific gravity of the shipping water, compared to your tank?

2) Fish in shipped bags produce carbon dioxide and ammonia. The carbon dioxide lowers the pH of the water in the bag, That in turn makes the ammonia non-toxic to the fish. When you acclimate them, if not done just right, you drive off the carbon dioxide faster than you are diluting the ammonia. That raises the pH of the water in the bag, and that in turn, makes the residual ammonia very toxic to the fish. Sometimes, the fish will die right in the bag. Other times, they day a few hours to a day later.

One trick to fix this is to measure the Ph, salinity and temperature of the bag water when the fish arrives. Then, make up some water in a container that has exactly the same measurements and just move the fish right over. That gets the fish out of the ammonia. Then you can take your time and acclimate for pH and salinity.

Jay

 

[mattshell81]

Tangs usually get that blotchy color after death, so it isn't really a sign of anything.

Two things frequently go wrong with acclimation from overnight shipments:

1) Some shippers send the fish at a low specific gravity, 1.019 or so. People then try to acclimate the fish up to full salinity, say 1,.026. and that is difficult to do and very stressful to the fish. Did you measure the specific gravity of the shipping water, compared to your tank?

2) Fish in shipped bags produce carbon dioxide and ammonia. The carbon dioxide lowers the pH of the water in the bag, That in turn makes the ammonia non-toxic to the fish. When you acclimate them, if not done just right, you drive off the carbon dioxide faster than you are diluting the ammonia. That raises the pH of the water in the bag, and that in turn, makes the residual ammonia very toxic to the fish. Sometimes, the fish will die right in the bag. Other times, they day a few hours to a day later.

One trick to fix this is to measure the Ph, salinity and temperature of the bag water when the fish arrives. Then, make up some water in a container that has exactly the same measurements and just move the fish right over. That gets the fish out of the ammonia. Then you can take your time and acclimate for pH and salinity.

Jay

He was already straight up and down floating in the bag though with labored breathing and marks around his gills so I guess acclimating long and acclimating quicker than normal both gad risks.