How can I tell if my fish in QT are starving or doing okay?

djryan2000

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I have a pink-streaked wrasse and a yellow coris wrasse in a QT tank. They came in from LA about a week ago. I noticed when I add frozen food they seem to ignore it. I also am adding live baby brine shrimp but I don't think they're eating it either, but I can't tell for sure. I only see the pink-streaked wrasse when I pick up the rock he hides at to check on him and the yellow wrasse comes out for a couple of hours a day. I've been changing out 5 gallons a day of water with matching salinity and such to make sure ammonia stays down. I believe dropping the salinity to 1.019 may have killed a lot of beneficial bacteria, as I'm consistently finding traces of ammonia in the tank. I am adding a capful of Prime to the 5g bucket before each water change. I did add copepods to the tank when I first got them to try and provide a food source as well.

Here's a video of him I just took -

Could anyone provide any input as to if he looks like he's starving or is okay? I'm not too sure what a wrasse is supposed to look like.
 

mattzang

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what kind of frozen are u feeding?

all you can really do for fish is feed stuff they should take to and keep doing it and hopefully they'll figure it out. i can't imagine they aren't eating live baby brine shrimp.. wrasses are suckers for worms too, california blackworms seem to be the best but apparently the supplier of that stuff burned down recently, so no blackworms for awhile. the frozen bloodworms seem to work too, i'd try those.

i've never kept a pink streak, but afaik they're pretty tiny so small foods might be best. pe calanus and the hikari mysis is smaller than pe mysis. don't be afraid to try some pellets too, wrasses love them some pellets

as for the ammonia, did u use a bacteria in a bottle? i've used biospira and i've never gotten an ammonia reading after using it. the 1.019 won't kill beneficial bacteria, that's what the wholesale places keep their fish at
 
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djryan2000

djryan2000

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Thanks. I should have clarified, the tank was at 1.026 and I just pulled salt water out and then added RODI until it was 1.019. I suspected the rapid swing in salinity would have hurt the populations but maybe I’m wrong. I’ll try bottled bacteria. I cycled the tank over the summer with the shrimp method and have added fish a few different times.
 

moz71

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I think I you are ok with the bacteria load. As far as eating. No need to panic. And don’t think they are starving. They take awhile to adapt. They also could be eating when not around. . My leapord wrasse actually hid in sand for 15 days (NEVER seen him out) before he came out and started eating. Curious what test kit using for ammonia.?
 

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Picking up and moving rocks is only going to stress them out more. Even the daily water changing can do that. It's best for them starting out to not even know you exist so they can get comfortable.
 
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djryan2000

djryan2000

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I think I you are ok with the bacteria load. As far as eating. No need to panic. And don’t think they are starving. They take awhile to adapt. They also could be eating when not around. . My leapord wrasse actually hid in sand for 15 days (NEVER seen him out) before he came out and started eating. Curious what test kit using for ammonia.?
I'm using the API kit for ammonia.
 

moz71

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API Test kit often gives false positive for ammonia. I personally experienced this often. I would suggest the ammonia badge by Seachem. Love it for quarantine tank. Easy to read and dependable.
 
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djryan2000

djryan2000

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API Test kit often gives false positive for ammonia. I personally experienced this often. I would suggest the ammonia badge by Seachem. Love it for quarantine tank. Easy to read and dependable.
I have the ammonia badge and I found its not accurate. I use the API on my reef tank so I do know what 0 looks like for ammonia.
 

JumboShrimp

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(Interestingly, I have never had an API ammonia test kit register zero, EVER, in any tank tested, under any circumstances, has anyone else? I just have come to accept .25 as an API zero.)

Love the ammonia badges, though. I guess preferences and opinions differ.
 
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djryan2000

djryan2000

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(Interestingly, I have never had an API ammonia test kit register zero, EVER, in any tank tested, under any circumstances, has anyone else? I just have come to accept .25 as an API zero.)

Love the ammonia badges, though. I guess preferences and opinions differ.
Guess so! My assumption was the badges were terrible as mine read "safe" when API said something like .75ppm. I may have just got a bad ammonia badge. My API ammonia test reads 0 whenever I test my reef tank. Its just not bright yellow
 

JumboShrimp

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You can research the badges further, because I am far from a chemist and don’t want to give out wrong information, but I seem to recall that there can be ammonia existing in two forms, and the badge is just testing for the harmful (toxic) form (?) Someone can correct me if I have that wrong.
 

mattzang

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i stopped using api quite awhile ago since they're not accurate if you use copper while the seachem badge does continue to be accurate

you just have to be careful with the seachem badge to not let it dry out or it becomes worthless

i'd trust the seachem badge alone and over an api kit, but that's up to you
 

moz71

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I know this was not meant to be a debate on test kits. All personal preferences! Now back to your fish I hope all is well and I do believe they will be fine and will see them eating soon. Good luck
 
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