Green chromis rapid breathing

[Anthonyl]

Hello fellow reefers. I noticed yesterday that my 2 green chromis have started to have rapid breathing. I check water parameters and nh3 a bit high maybe 0.3 slight bit higher maybe and nitrates and nitrites hardly register. So I did a 20gal water change yesterday and the fish seemed to be doing a bit better. This morning kinda the same story noticed the fish rapid breathing again and this time it looked like they were eating but I don't think they did. After work I feed the fish as usual and noticed they zoomed around the tank but ate nothing. The yellow tang and clown seemed to be good.. I checked water nh3 at 0.3 nitrates and nitrites barely register. I did another 20 gal water change right away.. ill check the param. in half hour.. Should I maybe add some prime to get the NH3 down some more?

220 Gal DT
90 Gal sump
total water volume is about 250 gal
2 green chromis
1 yellow tang
1 clown


any help will be appreciated. thank you

 

[ndrwater]

I'd be more worried about ammonia. Start there and post up your results

 

[EmdeReef]

Have you dosed prime before testing?

If not, go ahead and do that and watch the fish. Presence of ammonia without nitrates would mean the tank has not been properly cycled. Consider adding bacteria.

If you already added prime before then it's possible you;'re getting a false positive and the issue could be caused by something else.

 

[Anthonyl]

The tank has been cycled and I have also added stability to help boost the bacteria.
Haven't added any prime yet. I will shortly.

 

[Anthonyl]

Is it possible with the alge bloom I had and the Yellow tang eating a bunch more and crapping more it possibly caused an ammonia spike? and possibly needing to wash the filter socks?

 

[Anthonyl]

I have dose some prime. And the ammonia seems to be down to 0.1. I have also removed the filter socks and will get them cleaned / get some more.. should I also dose more stability to help out?

 

[Anthonyl]

Should I be doing a fresh water dip on these guys?

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Should I be doing a fresh water dip on these guys?

A FW dip wouldn’t hurt and could help rule out flukes.

 

[Anthonyl]

Update this morning... ammonia is down off the cart and fish are eating a little, still not going after flake food so I decided to give them some frozen brine and they did eat..

 

[Anthonyl]

I have done a FW dip, which turned up nothing which is great. I have added a clip of video to show what the poor guy is doing.

 

[4FordFamily]

Any ammonia at all is deadly. Stability doesn’t do much, I’d recommend slowing down a bit and adding Biospira.

 

[Anthonyl]

I wont be moving forward for a while. I want to get the tank running smooth. Right now ammonia is still low enough no to register. I will keep monitoring and keep an eye on the fish. How ever I do need a CUC but that should help correct?

 

[Anthonyl]

I wont be moving forward for a while. I want to get the tank running smooth. Right now ammonia is still low enough no to register. I will keep monitoring and keep an eye on the fish. How ever I do need a CUC but that should help correct?

 

[Maritimer]

If there's any ammonia in the tank, the CUC and the fish are at risk.

Those diatoms can build up a bit ... they tend to fade away on their own, regardless.

~Bruce

 

[Anthonyl]

I have had the diatoms build and are fading away. Green alge has started to show its face now. Last ammonia I did show that there was none. I will check again soon. I noticed tonight at feeding time all the fish seemed to be breathing normal and very excited to eat.