Effects of hypo?

I put my fish in QT and hypo a week ago and today my watchman goby died. My tang's white spots have all gone but his eyes are clouded over, he is no longer eating, lethargic, and breathing fast. My scooter blenny is also lethargic and not eating much (a few morsels and that's it). PH is 8.0, salinity is 1.012, ammonia is 0.25, 0 nitrates and nitrites. I removed the fish from hypo and put them back in the main tank. The scooter has perked up quite a bit, seems to have better colour. The tang seems to have slowed down his breathing a bit. When I fed them tonight his activity in the tank seemed to pick up a bit but he still did not eat. I don't know if he couldn't see the food with his eyes being clouded over or just didn't want to eat. Could this all be side effects of the hypo or possibly just caused by the ich (still not sure if the tang had ich or lymphocystis)?
 

Originally posted by Canadiandude
I put my fish in QT and hypo a week ago and today my watchman goby died. My tang's white spots have all gone but his eyes are clouded over, he is no longer eating, lethargic, and breathing fast. My scooter blenny is also lethargic and not eating much (a few morsels and that's it). PH is 8.0, salinity is 1.012, ammonia is 0.25, 0 nitrates and nitrites.

your ammonia is causing this.
 

stacyt

Active Member
The ammonia could have come from the fish dying. Hard to say. What where your water params in the q-tank? How long had this tank been setup? Unfortunatly you never really did your fish any good by going down to 1.012 for a week. To perform hypo you really need to get down to 1.009 for 3 weeks from the time you last see any signs of ich. Also please tell me that you didn't take your fish from 1.012 back to your display in 1 day. This will most likely kill your fish. They cam go from high to low salinity in a short period of time, but going from low to high should be done over a week minimum, if your talking about going from 1.012 to say 1.024.
 
I checked with three lfs with regards to the ammonia and they didn't feel that such a small amount of ammonia would cause this. The goby was taken out of the QT tank about 30 minutes before he died. As for the QT tank, it was set up just over a week ago using water from my main tank as outlined in Beth's FAQ hypo article. As for the fish, yes I did take them from the QT tank to the main tank in 1 day but only because I didn't think the fish would survive much longer in the tank (yes they were getting that bad). I gradually brought the QT tank to 1.019 and then transferred to the main which is at 1.021
 
The fish seem a lot better today. The tangs eyes don't look to be as cloudy. So would you say that the effects of the ammonia are what is causing the fish to be this way. I had an ammonia spike (0.25) in my main tank about a month ago that I was unable to get rid of for almost a week and the fish were ok.
Should I wait until the fish are heathy again and try the hypo (once i get the ammonia down) again only this time drop the salinity to 1.009?
I also noticed today that my sailfin tang 2 side fins are rotting. They are frayed to about the midpoint. The anal fin looks to be just starting. What can I do?
My parameters are PH 8.2, temp, 24 C (about 76F), ammonia 0, trates and trites are 0, SG 1.022
 

stacyt

Active Member
It sounds as though the q-tank is not properly cycled. Thats more than likely where the ammonia is coming from. How long has your display tank been setup, and cycled? The ammonia, even in low amounts, are not good for your fish, especially your tang. When the fish where in the q-tank did you do water changes to prevent the tank from cycling? How much where you feeding? I would wait to see what TerryB, or Beth's responses are before doing anything else.
 
I was going to wait a week before doing a water change. Unfortunately the day I went to do the water change was when I noticed my goby was dying. When I did do a partial water change I noticed that there was alot of food still in the tank that I didn't notice. I think that's where the ammonia was coming from.
The display tank has been set up for about 9 weeks.
As for the fins they have a white line in the middle right where the fraying has started. Also the anal fin has one about 1/8 of an inch in but no fraying yet. I checked with my lfs and they think it's a fungus and not fin rot and are checking to see what type pf meds I need . I'm a little hesitant since they're the same one's that said the small amounts af ammonia ar ok.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
The QT was not cycled. Any amt of ammonia is toxic to marine animals. Your LFS is full of it!
I doubt if your problem is resolved. Be prepared to get your fish back in the QT for a real hypo treatment, not 1.012, but 1.009. Start conditioning your QT NOW so that it will be prepared when ich breaks out again.
Read the FAQ section at the top of this forum.
 
I put the tang back in QT but with a SG of 1.022 for now, ammonia is at 0 after a partial water change. I added some Myacin to treat the fins last night. The fins have now fallen off at the midpoint where the white line was. When I feed them he comes out and swims around as if he's looking for food but just can't find it, otherwise just hovers in one spot in the tank. When I put him in QT I put him in a bag to acclimate hime to the new tank and I added some food to the bag. He actually ate some of it. The breathing has slowed down a bit as well. I plan on doing a partial water change tomorrow before I add the antibiotics again, checking the levels daily, as well I've increased the temp to 80. I won't do the hypo again unless he breaks out in ich again
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
I think your stress over the problem with your fish is causing more problems to your fish.
Back and forth from tanks with major variances in SG, etc.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Good news, but unless you performed the hypo at the target SG, which is 1.009, don't expect the improvement to last.
 

gatorcsm

Member
From the advice of terry, i raised the sg of a Purple Tang that I had in hypo (he wasn't eating/extremely anorexic) and once he was on the way back up, he starting getting an appetite back. So that could have been one of the factors affecting the sailfin tang's appetite. Apparently terry's thoughts on the subject, if I understood correctly, was that due to where the fish were from (red sea, i believe), maybe there was some ill effect due to the low SG.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, I remember that. But did you put the fish back in your display?? The Red Sea fish not adjusting to hypo is a really a good guess, but its an unknown, as far as I know. Bottom line, if the fish still has ich, one way or the other, it would need to be treated, either with hypo or copper.
 
My tang was put back in QT on feb 26 but with a SG of 1.020 after a partial water change. He looks fine, is active and eating like a pig. I'm going to keep him there for at least a couple of weeks to ensure he is ok there are no other signs of sickness.
Thanks for all the help.
 

gatorcsm

Member
I haven't put the tang back in the main tank yet. Should be wed. i'll be back to 1.022ish and have matched S.G's Then i'll add back the rock and the tang.
 
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