Cwg14 Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Hello I went to my fishstore and bought a one spot foxface and put it in my 29 gallon quarantine I have been doing large water changes and keeping up on ammonia neutralizer and stress coat supplements . The first few days I've had it it was splotchy and pale but ate aggressively and was doing well now today is day 5 of having it in quarantine and although it's color seems to be coming back when it's happy (still pale but improved) I've found it a lot today sitting on bottom of tank darker than normal (when scared) and when I put food in aquarium it ate a lot slower and didn't eat half the food . I'm concerned cause my fishstore had it in their tank for 6 months and said it was their favorite fish and doing well and now it's in my tank and may actually be going downhill from day one? I've been looking at its body and see no signs of raw skin or ich spots so confused why it seems more stressed and less hungry . Thanks in advance to anyone who comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cwg14 Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 Also my salinity is 1.022 ammonia does come up to .25 but I've been doing almost 50% water changes and I've been using ammonia neutralizer and it's the only fish in the tank and has two fake decorations to hide in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 .25 is still too much ammonia. You should get it down to 0. How big is the fish? You may try feeding less, or sucking out the uneaten food. When I was QTing fish, if I saw any ammonia at all, I would do daily and sometimes 2x/day water changes until it was back to 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cwg14 Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 Yeah I don't feed him very much and I literally did two water changes the day it first showed and then once every day since then so I don't know why it's still their but atleast the ammonia neutralizer will neutralize what's in their until the level comes down ... The fish is probably about 4 inches he goes from looking great and having color look normal to not swimming barely eating and splotchy and it's so confusing why the best I've ever seen him look and the worst I've seen him can happen within an hour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 If you don't have a fully cycled QT tank, or a well seeded filter that's been in an established tank for a month or more, you're better off just putting them in the display. They go into camo mode when they're stressed. When mine would do it they would go from a normally swimming fish to looking like a dead leaf or something, so I think it's all part of the disguise. Personally, I would throw him in my display ASAP or return him at this point. Even if you can keep the ammonia down, you're going to hit the nitrite stage of the cycle which is still toxic. Most healthy fish wont survive the 30 days of a tank trying to cycle. The water changes reduce the ammonia and NO2 but they cause more stress. There's just no winning trying to QT a fish in a non established tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 What is in your QT tank besides the Fox Face? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cwg14 Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 Hey jestep I thought it was normal to not have a cycled quarantine cause the copper would kill the live bacteria if I had to treat it . It was dumb of me to buy it before having the seeded filter pad on hand but if I had one and used it but then the fish got sick and I treated it wouldn't that kill the bacteria anyway and therefore be an unicycled tank? I may be confused on that part I just thought most people don't spend 30 days cycling a quarantine and just keep up on the water changes but if you think he's in danger I will put him in display as no signs of ich in store (for weeks I've observed him ) or in my tank . What is the difference in a hospital tank set up in one day for fish that need to be treated than an uncycled Qt ? Thanks for responses and the foxface is my only fish in quarantine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornToHula Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 When I have to set up a quarantine or hospital tank in a hurry I just do a water change in the main tank and use the removed water for the quarantine tank I'm setting up. It helps if you have some live rock rubble or something else that is seeded, but its not necessarily required. If I need to do water changes in the quarantine I use half water from the main tank and half freshly mixed salt water. I'm not sure if this is the recommend way to do things, but it has prevented my tanks from having any detectable ammonia in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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