Fish in Jeopardy?

[putt_77]

OK. I have a 55g with only a Bangaii Cardinal. For the past year I have had little trouble with my tank--always perfect readings. For V-Day my wife bought me a Honeycomb puffer. After he was in the tank for a few days my Ammonia is approximately .25 (I use the Red Sea Marine Lab kit). Other readings seem normal. I did a water change of about 15gal so far, the color reading has become more faint, so I assume the ammonia level is receding. But, the puffer frequently lounges on my live rock and is often discolored (he displays blotchy white spots that come and go throughout the day). My questions are:
1) Is this lethargy normal (I am used to the twitchy, flittery Cardinal behavior)?
2) What else can I do to stabilize the ammonia level?
3) Is the discolorization normal?
I am scared for the health of my fish and uninformed b/c the present was a bit of a shock. I was happy with my little, healthy Cardinal in his big old space. Any help would be fantastic!

 

[acez28]

dont know too much about honeycomb puffers.....but my porcupine puffer use to sit on the rocks most of the time. The color changin didnt happen tho. But i wouldnt be that worried ...most of the time when ammonia is bothering a fish the fish starts to swim back and forth very rapidly. They do this for awhile. I would just keep a close watch on it. Did you QT it at all?

 

[gatorcsm]

An option that has worked well for me in my qt/ht tank to control ammonia in conjunction with water changes, is bacter vital. If I see even a hint of ammonia, I'll add 1/2 to 1 tspn, and it is gone with an hour or two...
With regards to the puffer's behavior, I'm not familiar with them, but I seem to always think my new fish are more lethargic than they should be, then they seem to get into a normal 'routine' and they seem fine.. But again, I don't know much about puffers, and I'm not too experienced with marine tanks yet, so I can't give to much insight. Hope everything turns out ok.
Good luck!
Gator