Quick Acclimation Question

Tiki God

Tiki God

New member
Hey RC!

I just picked up a damsel for my 40 breeder (I have a plan to get him out, and what to do with him if I can ;) ) and I know it's normal for them to hide, but mine is breathing quickly. He is hiding under an overhang, as most fish will. There are also a margarita snail, nassarius, and astarea snail in the tank. They have been in there for about 1 and 1/2 weeks totally fine. But I wanted to calm my nerves and make sure it's not anything more serious for the little guy ;)

Salinity and specific gravity were almost identical (on bag and tank water), and temperature was too. He was only in the bag for about 20 min (from store to my tank), so I'm not too worried about ammonia poisoning (from the bag). My parameters as of May 28th were as follows (I am not testing for calcium, alkalinity, magnesium or phosphate yet. I know I should, but I will be picking up tests for those soon):

-Salinity: 35ppt

-Specific Gravity: 1.026

-pH: 8.0

-Ammonia: 0.25 (Testing day is today, I'll post current test results after posting. Should be up in a few min.)

-Nitrate: 5

-Nitrite: 0

--

As I write this I am watching the little dude, he is now poking his head out from under the rock, so I think he's in an ok mood. Just a bit freaked out, what do you all think?
 
Give it a couple of days. If you would like him to calm down some shut the lights off.
 
Cool, thanks for the response! I will try shutting the lights off. But as I type he has already come out and done a lap or two of the tank. So I think I'm just freaking out haha

Btw, todays tests are in!

-Ammonia: 0.25

-Salinity: 35ppt

-Specific Gravity: 1.026

-Nitrite: 0

-Nitrate: Just under 5

--

Like I said, I think I'm freaking out :hmm3:
 
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One other thing, it's a Bowtie Damselfish (Neoglyphidodon melas) and LiveAquaria said they eat soft corals? Is that true, because LA is the only place I could find that says they do. If they do, he's going back to the store haha
 
Same, the little guy is out swimming and perfectly fine (or so it appears). But the ammonia is bothering me. I added Seachem Prime, even though it's just a temporary fix. I'm currently out of salt (I know I know :facepalm: ) but I have 50 gallons of reef crystals coming in on Monday. I am going to keep dosing Prime until I can do a water change. Fingers crossed until then!
 
Yeah the ammonia is a concern for me, and just about every fish I have qt has usually hidden itself and will breath a little heavy for a few hours from the stress. Just give it a few hours and it should relax, and make sure you get that ammonia to 0! But you knew that already! Lol :)
 
Haha, thank you for the response! :) He has already calmed down, and he is already stealing food from my nassarius snails! lol (I spot feed them because I put them in before I fed the fish)

I haven't noticed an ammonia change, even after dosing double the normal amount. How long does it take to start detoxifying ammonia?
 
And I would stop adding prime. If it is not helping the issue, I would stop adding. I am not a chemist and could not even began to tell you the chemicals that are in it, but I am sure if you overdose that could be bad.
 
It's my display, I've been watching these fish for a few weeks at my LFS, the tank has been very healthy for the time I've been watching. I know I should QT, but I have no ability to do it right now.

As for the prime, I only added it once. I think it might work "instantly" rather than over a period of time. Luckily it has lowered ammonia slightly. I'm going to wait until tomorrow morning, and if it's not lower by then, I think I'll try one more time.
 
Honestly I hate to say this, but it sounds like your tank has not cycled all of the way. If it was fully cycled you should not see a spike in ammonia. How long did you cycle it for, and have you been "feeding" the tank since it cycled?
 
Prime is reaaaaaally hard to OD, BTW. It is even advertised as safe to use a 5x dose in emergencies. If it were me id be uaing Prime daily with small water changes till that amm gets to 0

Prime will not have lowered your ammonia. It detoxifies it for 24 hours to give you time to do a water change and figure things out. It WILL give you false ammonia readings for that full 24 hours though
 
tallball158 said:
Honestly I hate to say this, but it sounds like your tank has not cycled all of the way. If it was fully cycled you should not see a spike in ammonia. How long did you cycle it for, and have you been "feeding" the tank since it cycled?
Click to expand...

It was cycling for around 2 months, and I was ghost feeding flakes :) This is my first real tank (had a failed 10 gallon nano), so how long would the ammonia take to flatline?

MickeyDime53 said:
Prime is reaaaaaally hard to OD, BTW. It is even advertised as safe to use a 5x dose in emergencies. If it were me id be uaing Prime daily with small water changes till that amm gets to 0

Prime will not have lowered your ammonia. It detoxifies it for 24 hours to give you time to do a water change and figure things out. It WILL give you false ammonia readings for that full 24 hours though
Click to expand...

That's what I meant haha Ammonia was barely detectable this morning, and the little guy is happy and swimming around. But I should have known better and not gotten a fish yet :hammer:
 
I dosed a bit more prime this morning, but I am currently in church, so I can't do anything right now.

He acted normal when I left, but I think that is just the hardiness of damsels at work.
 
What test kit are you using? The ammonia reading may or may not be real.

If you have ammonia adding a detoxifier we'll help and won't affect the biological filter. Make sure your water is well aerated as some ammonia detoxifiers lower dissolved O2. If your nitrites and nitrates don't rise in the next few days I'd bet the ammonia is fictitious/testing error. Hope the little guy does well.
 
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc ;) (API obviously haha) I'd like to start using Red Sea, because API is notorious for false readings.

I have a powerhead straight at the surface, so I think oxygen is ok. Especially with 40 gallons of saltwater and a single fish :)

Nitrate and Nitrite are at 0 right now, (Nitrate is actually barely detectable) so I think you may be right that it could be a false reading.
 
Yeah the API is not very accurate. I would do a water change just as soon as your salt gets there, just to be certain and play it safe! And yes, Red Sea is awesome! I use their kits and they are great! They are a little pricey but the refills are cheap and it is fairly easy to do the tests, I highly recommend them.
 
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