fish behaving odd, 2 weeks into hypo treatment

[silentshaw]

my flame angel has been swimming only near the top of the tank and mainly facing up. this is the first day that the fishes behavior has changed.
tank peramitors.
ph 8.2
amonia .25
nitrates and nitrites 0
salinity 1.008
i also have a royal gamma in the tank and its behavior has not changed, it eats fine and swims around its hiding place.
the flame angel did not at today when i put food in the tank.
any help or solutions to help the angel are greatly appreciated.
the qt is a 10 gal, and has pvc sections and cc as substrait.

 

[beth]

Any ammonia can be lethal to fish. Get that ammonia down to NONE.
What are you using to measure salinity?

 

[silentshaw]

i am using a swing arm i measure it about 6 times and take the average.
i started to do water changes and raising the salinity slowly. to rid the tank of amonia.
i have noticed some small white blotches on the flame angel not ick, but possable HLLE.
three small blotches two on the lateral line and one around the head.
has anyone seen similar beavor in their fish?
it is almost like its feeding but there is no food and it has not eaten in two days now.

 

[silentshaw]

the flame angel now appears to be losing its color and looks bloated. i'm scared that i may lose the fish. any advice or help is greatly appreciated

 

[beth]

Swing arms are totally worthless. Totally inaccurate. It could be that the salinity is too low. Get a glass hydrometer and take the reading. Don't raise the salinity except to adjust for accuracy once you have the glass hydrometer.
Use hyposaline water to do the water changes.
What is your pH? Have you been buffering?

 

[silentshaw]

ph is 8.2. and no i have not used buffer in the qt.
what about the loss of color and bloating what are these symptomatic of?

 

[beth]

ammonia poisoning. SW fish shock exposure to water that is to low in saline.