FLUKES NOT GOING AWAY

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sorry - just seeing this thread now, that happens sometimes, I'm not sure why/how.

The whole tank video didn't show anything alarming except the mopey acting puffer. Is it eating?

Jay

 

[sal16cal1]

Sorry - just seeing this thread now, that happens sometimes, I'm not sure why/how.

The whole tank video didn't show anything alarming except the mopey acting puffer. Is it eating?

Jay

Yup there all eating just scratching I’m starting to see improvement from the puffer he’s moving much more.

One issue the “mini cycle” is occurring ammonia read at .26 I did a 30% water change.

 

[sal16cal1]

Yup there all eating just scratching I’m starting to see improvement from the puffer he’s moving much more.

One issue the “mini cycle” is occurring ammonia read at .26 I did a 30% water change.

Sorry - just seeing this thread now, that happens sometimes, I'm not sure why/how.

The whole tank video didn't show anything alarming except the mopey acting puffer. Is it eating?

Jay

Should I keep going with the water changes even if it’s a 50% water change. Or will the ammonia at this point go through the cycle itself now. If I do that that means I would of changed all the water in the tank from when I started hypo to now.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Should I keep going with the water changes even if it’s a 50% water change. Or will the ammonia at this point go through the cycle itself now. If I do that that means I would of changed all the water in the tank from when I started hypo to now.

So - one thing to be aware of - some salt brands (Instant Ocean and others) contain trace amounts of ammonia in them.
That makes it very difficult to deal with lower ammonia levels....if you are testing ammonia in the tank at 0.25 ppm. and you do a 50% water change with Instant Ocean, you'd expect the ammonia to drop to 0.125. However, the IO has 0.15 ppm ammonia in it. You may then only see a drop in ammonia to 0.20. If the ammonia is still building up from the fish, it will be even higher.

Copper medications also raise the ammonia readings.

I normally tell folks to ignore ammonia readings lower than 0.25 and only do water changes if the readings go higher than that.

Jay

 

[sal16cal1]

So - one thing to be aware of - some salt brands (Instant Ocean and others) contain trace amounts of ammonia in them.
That makes it very difficult to deal with lower ammonia levels....if you are testing ammonia in the tank at 0.25 ppm. and you do a 50% water change with Instant Ocean, you'd expect the ammonia to drop to 0.125. However, the IO has 0.15 ppm ammonia in it. You may then only see a drop in ammonia to 0.20. If the ammonia is still building up from the fish, it will be even higher.

Copper medications also raise the ammonia readings.

I normally tell folks to ignore ammonia readings lower than 0.25 and only do water changes if the readings go higher than that.

Jay

That’s why the ammonia wasn’t going down as fast as I expected. Thank you again. I don’t want to be a pain.

 

[sal16cal1]

That’s why the ammonia wasn’t going down as fast as I expected. Thank you again. I don’t want to be a pain.

Thank all of you. The kindness in this forum has been unbelievable.

 

[sal16cal1]

At .35 ammonia today. Did another water change sigh. For good news the puffer has been more way more active.

 

[fodsod]

Hang in there. You're in it now, so just keep following the protocol and keeping watching your puffer. Once it's healed you'll feel great that you helped it recover.

 

[sal16cal1]

Hang in there. You're in it now, so just keep following the protocol and keeping watching your puffer. Once it's healed you'll feel great that you helped it recover.

He looks a 100% today! No laying down no scratching. Just need to keep on top of the water changes!

My dad had to do hypo as well and lost two fish. The fish were juveniles. I researched everywhere and didn’t see that it would be a problem. Hypo couldn’t have caused death right? I did it over 72 hours.

 

[fodsod]

He looks a 100% today! No laying down no scratching. Just need to keep on top of the water changes!

My dad had to do hypo as well and lost two fish. The fish were juveniles. I researched everywhere and didn’t see that it would be a problem. Hypo couldn’t have caused death right? I did it over 72 hours.

I'd say there's too many variables to say for sure what happened in your Dad's case. Everything from the fish themselves to equipment to anything that got put into the water could have contributed to the deaths. May have been a combination of things also.

Glad to hear the puffer is on the recovery road.

 

[sal16cal1]

I'd say there's too many variables to say for sure what happened in your Dad's case. Everything from the fish themselves to equipment to anything that got put into the water could have contributed to the deaths. May have been a combination of things also.

Glad to hear the puffer is on the recovery road.

 

[sal16cal1]

I'd say there's too many variables to say for sure what happened in your Dad's case. Everything from the fish themselves to equipment to anything that got put into the water could have contributed to the deaths. May have been a combination of things also.

Glad to hear the puffer is on the recovery road.

Is feeding necessary during this time. Will it hurt the fish immune system. I’m just trying to manage the ammonia.

So - one thing to be aware of - some salt brands (Instant Ocean and others) contain trace amounts of ammonia in them.
That makes it very difficult to deal with lower ammonia levels....if you are testing ammonia in the tank at 0.25 ppm. and you do a 50% water change with Instant Ocean, you'd expect the ammonia to drop to 0.125. However, the IO has 0.15 ppm ammonia in it. You may then only see a drop in ammonia to 0.20. If the ammonia is still building up from the fish, it will be even higher.

Copper medications also raise the ammonia readings.

I normally tell folks to ignore ammonia readings lower than 0.25 and only do water changes if the readings go higher than that.

Jay

I just read a bunch of threads on hypo and ammonia I’m depressing myself. It sounds like I’m going to have to do water changes every day. Did I just kill off all the bacteria. Anyone with experience how bad will this get I.e water changes everyday until salinity is up? I keep reading hypo is very dangerous in a display. Someone please cheer me up

 

[Weeb]

Is feeding necessary during this time. Will it hurt the fish immune system. I’m just trying to manage the ammonia.

I just read a bunch of threads on hypo and ammonia I’m depressing myself. It sounds like I’m going to have to do water changes every day. Did I just kill off all the bacteria. Anyone with experience how bad will this get I.e water changes everyday until salinity is up? I keep reading hypo is very dangerous in a display. Someone please cheer me up

Don't panic!

If you have a properly established biological filter and you reduce the salinity, the bio filter may do a small (1-2 days) adjustment, but will still be working.

My concern is understanding how/why your ammonia level now is not being handled by the bio filter. Are you sure you have:
1) enough circulation,
2) the proper filtering,
3) the proper/sufficient bio media for the tank, and
4) RODI for making up the saltwater (the RODI should have a 0.0 to 2 ppm total dissolved solids).

Before you perform a water change, check the ammonia level of the salt water you are using for the exchange. Is the water aged?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Is feeding necessary during this time. Will it hurt the fish immune system. I’m just trying to manage the ammonia.

I just read a bunch of threads on hypo and ammonia I’m depressing myself. It sounds like I’m going to have to do water changes every day. Did I just kill off all the bacteria. Anyone with experience how bad will this get I.e water changes everyday until salinity is up? I keep reading hypo is very dangerous in a display. Someone please cheer me up

Generally, hyposalinity does not greatly harm the nitrifying bacteria, and a well-established tank always has more bacteria than it really needs.. In instances where the nitrifiers are not in good shape to begin with, hyposalinity can be more of an issue.

Are you still around 0.35 ppm ammonia?
Do you know the pH of the tank?

Jay

 

[sal16cal1]

Generally, hyposalinity does not greatly harm the nitrifying bacteria, and a well-established tank always has more bacteria than it really needs.. In instances where the nitrifiers are not in good shape to begin with, hyposalinity can be more of an issue.

Are you still around 0.35 ppm ammonia?
Do you know the pH of the tank?

Jay

I bought doctor times bacteria I don’t know if snake oil. I think my problem is flow/circulation.I need more water movement. I never knew this could cause higher ammonia.my ph is 8.2

I don’t want to remove this bacteria I think if it reads .33 again I’m gonna leave it tomorrow and randomly check. I checked 2 hours ago it was .22.

 

[Weeb]

I need more water movement.

A tank that size would benefit having a wave maker.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I bought doctor times bacteria I don’t know if snake oil. I think my problem is flow/circulation.I need more water movement. I never knew this could cause higher ammonia.my ph is 8.2

I don’t want to remove this bacteria I think if it reads .33 again I’m gonna leave it tomorrow and randomly check. I checked 2 hours ago it was .22.

Dr. Tim's product is one of the best. Tim Hovanec (Dr. Tim) actually is a primary researcher on nitrifying bacteria.

Jay

 

[sal16cal1]

Dr. Tim's product is one of the best. Tim Hovanec (Dr. Tim) actually is a primary researcher on nitrifying bacteria.

Jay

At .33 today should I do another water change or hold off I’ve done 48 gallons over two days.

 

[sal16cal1]

At .33 today should I do another water change or hold off I’ve done 48 gallons over two days.

Lol my obsessive behavior made me do a water change before I could even post. I did another 24 gallon water change. Fish look good overall.

I noticed my dogface changed colors and turned darker more brown. I read that could be from stress. Would you feed with these ammonia levels? I haven’t been

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Lol my obsessive behavior made me do a water change before I could even post. I did another 24 gallon water change. Fish look good overall.

I noticed my dogface changed colors and turned darker more brown. I read that could be from stress.

My dads tank is struggling since hypo he’s lost a
Blenny
Hawkfish
Blue spotted puffer. Would you add GC and do hypo at the same time.

What is the ammonia reading now?

Color changes in fish sometimes indicate stress, but that could go either way (light to dark, dark to light) and the water change itself could be enough stress to cause a change. As you probably know, fish can change color night to day. I usually don't read too much into that unless there is another symptom at the same time.

I'm not sure about your dad's tank - hypo is not completely risk-free, but generally, when you lose fish during it that means it was either done incorrectly (started too late for example) or the fish have a disease like Amyloodinium (velvet) that does not respond to hypo.

Jay