Which to believe, I think I know?

[mwood]

Hi,

A few things, noticed tonight my 4 fish (damsel, clown, 2 cardinal fish) were acting lethargic in my 55 gallon QT tank. The Sechem Alert badge (about 5 weeks old) seems to indicate "safe" (picture 1).

I decided to test Ammonia with the Red Sea test, and to my surprise Ammonia seems to be elevated at 0.8 (picture 2). With this I decided to do a 40% water change, then tested ammonia again after the water change, and you can see ammonia dropped as expected (picture 3).

A couple of questions.
Question, has anyone had issue with relatively new Alert badge not reading correctly?

Since it seems my QT may not have enough biological filter for the four fish, so is it ok to control ammonia as needed over the next several weeks chemically (AmQuel as example)?

Thanks,

 

[Crabs McJones]

Are you running meds?

 

[bluprntguy]

I'd add the recommended amount of amquel daily until your biological filter gets established. You may also want to buy some bottled bacteria like biospira or turbostart 900 to help speed things along. As long as you aren't treating with copper, amquel should be fine.

Ammonia alert badges have always been good for me, but obviously, everything can fail.

 

[mwood]

Thanks Crabs McJones, and bleprntguy

Oh, I should have mentioned, yes I am running copper. I had just reached 0.35 ppm today, per Hanna checker.

To this point about a week ago, I removed the last live rock from the tank to start the copper treatment. This left a well established sponge in the HOB, and some bio media in a canister filter. To be honest I figured this would have been enough to keep ammonia in check, but I have been feeding pretty heavy to keep them strong.

So, I take it that it may not be ok to use amquel at same time as copper? If not, should I do another heavy water change, add more bio filter/biospria and wait for things to stabilize again then start copper treatment again?

 

[Crabs McJones]

One thing to note, ammonia testers never read correctly with copper in the system. In my experience and in @HotRocks and @4FordFamily 's testing the ammonia alert badge has been the only ammonia test to not be effected by copper present in the system. How much surface agitation does the qt tank have and what temperature are you running it at? Copper and other meds can lower the o2 level in your qt water making fish seem lethargic and gasping for air. Its best to have a powerhead right at the surface agitating as much as possible, along with an air pump with an air stone. And lower the qt temp to 75° as colder water holds oxygen better

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Not sure about amquel but do not use seache, prime and copper. It will turn it toxic. Also usually it will only bind ammonia for about 48 hours also

 

[mwood]

Not sure about amquel but do not use seache, prime and copper. It will turn it toxic. Also usually it will only bind ammonia for about 48 hours also

Thanks for the warning on seache, prime and copper.

 

[Paul Sands]

No amquel with copper and I’d trust that ammonia alert badge with copper more than I’d trust the liquid reagent test.

 

[mwood]

One thing to note, ammonia testers never read correctly with copper in the system. In my experience and in @HotRocks and @4FordFamily 's testing the ammonia alert badge has been the only ammonia test to not be effected by copper present in the system. How much surface agitation does the qt tank have and what temperature are you running it at? Copper and other meds can lower the o2 level in your qt water making fish seem lethargic and gasping for air. Its best to have a powerhead right at the surface agitating as much as possible, along with an air pump with an air stone. And lower the qt temp to 75° as colder water holds oxygen better

I do think I recall seeing that before on the forum now that you bring it up, ammonia test results other than badge can be off with copper in system. This may make sense then, and by doing the water change and diluting the copper the ammonia test showed improvement. Let me give it a few days then, if all is going well, I will test ammonia again, then dose copper and check right after to see if ammonia is elevated.

I am running 77 degrees, have an air stone with a power head blasting the water surface and distributing the micro bubbles throughout the tank. But thanks for checking this with me.

 

[mwood]

No amquel with copper and I’d trust that ammonia alert badge with copper more than I’d trust the liquid reagent test.

Thank you! This forum is excellent, keeps newer reefers from compounding mistakes.

 

[Katrina71]

Imo if in doubt, drop in an air stone.

 

[MrsBugmaster]

When copper is in my system I use Bio-Spira to keep ammonia in check. It works well. If badge starts showing ammonia then I add more Bio-Spira as needed.

 

[mwood]

When copper is in my system I use Bio-Spira to keep ammonia in check. It works well. If badge starts showing ammonia then I add more Bio-Spira as needed.

Hi, thanks for the tip, will order some to have on hand in case.