Flameback Angel Vertical

[Huff747]

I got this flameback angel from a LFS Sunday, I couldn't find a coral beauty and was ordering some clean up crew members for my invert QT from LiveAquaria so I added a coral beauty (arrived Wednesday) to the order to try to "add them at the same time to reduce aggression issues". My QT is a 10 Gallon bare bottom with HOB filter, heater, PVC, air stone. All had seemed normal and after they ate last night (wanted to see the CB eat) I dosed Prazi at 1/2 tsp for my 10 gallon. This morning everything seemed fine. I saw the Flambeback in one of the PVC pipes and occasionally he would go vertical. Now he is pretty much fully vertical. Breathing quickly. I don't see any obvious outward signs. I didn't see any real aggression, the flameback chased the CB a couple times after he was introduced but calmed down quickly.

Ammonia:

Nitrite:

Flameback

Salinity 1.025 (refractometer)
pH- Looks like 8 to my eye, looks like 8.2 in the photo:

Didn't test Nitrates/Phosphates/Ca/Alk/Mag as I thought that was more a concern for algae and corals but can if any would prove helpful. I did a water change in the last week and use some small rigid airline and tubing to do some vacuuming after meals to pick up some missed foods.

And as I typed this he righted himself and moved about a bit looking relatively normal before going vertical again.

The CB seems normal or as normal as a fish I've had for about a day can seem.

Thougts?

 

[Huff747]

PS - I also have the ammonia badge on the tank:

 

[4FordFamily]

It looks like there’s a bit of ammonia in the tank. If that’s the case, that’s your culprit. Centrpyge are very ammonia sensitive. Any other meds in the tank?

Unfortunately, the flameback is probably a goner

 

[Huff747]

I also have red sea kit, just took longer:

Is that Ammonia? I'm still pretty new but I thought with the amount of yellow I was seeing and the badge looking the way it looked I was good. Thanks.

Prazi is the only med used.

 

[Huff747]

Also, if it is ammonia should I do a big water change for the Coral Beauties sake? What about Prime and/or Bio Spira? I used Bio Spira when I originally set up the QT and keep some on hand. I also have Prime on hand.

Thanks again.

 

[Big G]

Two things to consider: do you have some egg crate material to separate the two fish? I have a watchman goby that did the same thing when it was placed into a 10 gal QT with a similar size starry blenny. The goby was terrified by the blenny. As I am typing they are both doing well and no more "nose up cornering" by the goby since I place the egg crate between the two. The other thought is have you done a freshwater dip? It may have disease parasites attacking its gills. Hope this helps. Cheers!

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Also, if it is ammonia should I do a big water change for the Coral Beauties sake? What about Prime and/or Bio Spira? I used Bio Spira when I originally set up the QT and keep some on hand. I also have Prime on hand.

Thanks again.

I'd say all of the above would be good.

 

[Big G]

Also, if it is ammonia should I do a big water change for the Coral Beauties sake? What about Prime and/or Bio Spira? I used Bio Spira when I originally set up the QT and keep some on hand. I also have Prime on hand.

Thanks again.

Remember freshly mixed saltwater, depending on the brand, can be pretty harsh on the fish.

 

[Huff747]

So did a 5 gallon water change (before I saw about freshly mixed saltwater). But salt (Instant Ocean) was added yesterday and mixed with a small pump since last night as I like to have one bucket on hand. I added Bio Spira as well. Haven't added Prime yet.

Well that certainly stinks if he's a goner but it certainly doesn't look good. How can you tell ammonia is truly 0? To me the badge looks good, the tests appear much more yellow than green so I thought I was doing things right. There's a piece of sponge filter in the HOB filter that I originally seeded with Bio Spira.

 

[Maritimer]

If there's any medication in the water, you'll get odd readings from the liquid tests and have to rely on the badge - if there's no meds (and _especially_ copper) in the water, those liquid tests do look to me like there's ammonia in the mix. Prime, Bio-Spira and water changes are all friends for you today. As Big-G pointed out, freshly mixed saltwater can be rough - but if it's been mixing overnight, that's going to be just fine.

~Bruce

 

[dealseer]

That alert badge looks yellow to me.

 

[Huff747]

Well he didn’t make it which blows. I haven’t added prime because I didn’t think I was suppose to use prime with meds and I had dosed Prazi less than 24hours before. I redid the ammonia tests this evening after the bio spira and water change and here’s how they look. This better?

I’ve got another bucket of saltwater mixing as well so I can do another change tomorrow if needed,

Since I did the big water change and added the Bio Spira less than 24hours after dosing Prazi, does that dose of Prazi count for the Coral Beauty? If it doesn’t count do I wait the 5-7 days before dosing again?

On a side note, what’s the point of the badge if it still looked yellow as yellow can be to me and the going thought is that there was enough ammonia to kill the fish?

 

[Maritimer]

Liquid tests do look better. The badge can be slow to respond sometimes, but if there's copper in the water, the liquid tests won't be useful at all.

Prazi can do its work in as little as a few hours, so I'd consider that a dose. Prime should _not_ be used with copper, but I'm less certain about Prazi-Pro. Good call there!

~Bruce, sorry to hear that the flameback didn't make it