Water Change Issue

[sangria]

I just changed the water in my 10 gallon tank where I have 2 clarkii clowns. I know that is small for them, but they are small right now and they were doing great.
After the water change, they are doing awful. They are breathing really fast and just floundering on the bottom. They will not eat. I checked for Nitrite poisoning, and that is not the problem, showed 0.0. I checked PH, which is at 8.3. I checked ammonia, and it was ridiculously high, at 0.5 ppm. The inverts (snails, crabs, anenome) in the tank are not at all affected by the ammonia, which surprises me.
I feel like changing the water is killing my clownfish, and I don't know what to do. I could put them in the fuge of my 35 gallon tank until I can bring the ammonia levels down, but I am afraid the stress from the move will kill them. I am torn though because the water quality of that tank is really good, so it may ease them to be in better water, but a new environment could devastate them. Has anyone dealt with this issue successfully?

 

[prime311]

Test the water you used to change the water for Ammonia. Get a 2nd opinion on the tests, maybe a good LFS can test your water as well. If the tank is showing Ammonia a temporary move would probably be best, just make sure to acclimate them first. If they're obviously sick in the water they're in now you're taking a risk any way you go.

 

[sangria]

Thank you, I will most definitely do that. It's just odd to me though because I have done water changes with the same salt (out of the same bucket) and same RO water and this is the first time it hasn't worked out well. Every other time the fish responded positively and the water improved. I let the salt mix for 24 hours this time though, and normally I let it go for like 72 hours.
Another thing to note is that the pump I used to mix the water seriously heated up for some reason, bringing water temperature into the mid 90s. I got the temperature down to 78 before putting it in the tank, but could that temperature spike have done something to the water?

 

[prime311]

I don't think so. The RO membrane could be going though which would reduce the quality of your RO water. Or your tests might just be off and its something else bothering your fish.