Yellow Wrasse & ammonia

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euro_Boy_To

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
69
Hi Everyone,

yesterday my yellow wrasse failed to show up. I expected something is wrong so I tested the water and I had ammonia reading of 0.5
I swifted through the sand and found him.. he came out and hid behind a rock and stopped moving completely. He swam a tiny bit and wouldn't come out from hiding then disappeared again.... (Usually if I disturb him he will come out and rocket around the tank and dive straight down again..)

I changed 25% water and put one "Ammonia Clear" pill and the ammonia tests at 0 now. Nitrate/Nitrite are all ok.
Is there anything I can do ?
I've had him for 1.5 years now..

I have two other clowns in the tank and they're perfectly happy. That's everything that's in the tank.. it's a 30G, no corals, no inverts/snails any more.. all died within 2 years. I use RO water and Instant Ocean salt. Fluval 304 filter, no skimmer.

Also recently my Actinic bulb burnt out and I didn't replace for about 5 days :( Maybe that's what caused the ammonia spike right after I put in the new bulb?

I also haven't put anything in the tank for a long time.

Thanks a lot!
 
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To have an established tank with a sudden ammonia spike tells me that something has died in your tank. A bulb going out and replacing it will not change your ammonia levels.

Do you have LR in the tank? How often do you change your carbon and clean the sponges in your filter?
 
I found two dead snails.. but I'm not sure when they died...

Is there anything I can do for my wrasse or should I just leave it and hope it will come out?
 
I would keep checking the water levels and have some extra water for a PWC. I agree, the lighting won't cause an ammonia spike.
 
Well I just tested the water again, everything is at 0...
I tried to get him to come out again, he came out and dove right back in less than a second...

He didn't eat anything since Monday.. I dont think he has much time left.
I have a 10G empty tank that I could turn into a QT and try antibiotics but I don't know if its worth the effort at this stage?
 
Try soaking his frozen in garlic guard for 20-30 minutes.
 
Don't stress it anymore by moving it to a QT tank at this point. Try another 25% PWC. Pristine water conditions help fish recover on their own better than any treatment. After all, they don't get any antibiotics in the wild.

Soak the food in Garlic Xtreme like Scott suggested. Something died or the tank was overfed to cause the ammonia spike. Lighting changes would not do that. Did anyone do any cleaning around the tank? Use Windex or other glass cleaner? That too could be a source.
 
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