Amano not eating?

HI everyone,

I have 3 amanos in a 5.5 gal, cycled (0, 0, 5) filtered (sponge filter and an Aqueon Quietflow XS), heated tank (78F). Running for 6 weeks, cycled in 3.

I posted a thread about pH drop and what to do to stabilize it today. Kh is 3, gH is 8. Tap is the same. PH from tap is 7.6, but the tank goes down to 7.2, then 6.6 today. I have crushed coral in the filter.

I have 3 diff sized amanos: the biggest one named Chonk, med size Kibbie, and smallest one Zoomy. The med size amano, Kibbie, molted yesterday and everything was fine. He and Chonk are eating and zooming around well today, they both have dark lines in their digestive system.

Zoomy, however, his digestive tract is clear, even the one in his head area is a yellowish cream color which I think means there's no food in there. He was zooming around yesterday bothering Kibbie here. I offered him Shrimp King Complete and the other two ate just fine. I put in a blanched carrot and the other two ate it.

Zoomy just won't eat for some reason since last night. He's walking around and swimming around fine. I'm worried, I always see him eating algae on the plants or biofilm on the wood and substrate, sponge filter etc. Tank is planted.

His body looks clear, no white opaque color or anything, his whiskers, claws, eyes, tail are fine as well. He moves his claws but not to grab anything.

What's going on? I included pictures of Zoomy (first picture), and Chonk and Kibbie for comparison.

Thank you!

 

I assume he's a little upset about the pH swings. He'll probably be fine once that issue is resolved. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless he still doesn't eat after the pH is steady.

 

I assume he's a little upset about the pH swings. He'll probably be fine once that issue is resolved. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless he still doesn't eat after the pH is steady.

Thank you so much! I'm hoping pH will level out. I think I'll change the coral out for a fresh batch.

It's worrying and frustrating me that pH swings that much. I know kh is low, but dropping by 1? That's just crazy

Do you have any suggestions on how to stabilize it?

 

Yeah, that's quite a shocking drop. I'm not very knowledgeable about trying to raise/stabilize pH. I do know that adding baking soda will raise pH and kh. You just have to keep retesting the water until you find out how much you need to add to get it to a good level.

 

Yeah, that's quite a shocking drop. I'm not very knowledgeable about trying to raise/stabilize pH. I do know that adding baking soda will raise pH and kh. You just have to keep retesting the water until you find out how much you need to add to get it to a good level.

I did try that when I was fishless cycling, but I'm afraid of adding it in with the amanos in there.

Thanks for your help!

 

I'm pretty sure it's safe. You can do some Googling to make sure.
I wouldn't add it directly, but take a measured sample of water, test pH, add a measured amount, test again, repeat until you get a good reading, probably 7.6ish for you since that's the tap pH.
Then you'd record how much water & how much baking soda you needed to get there, do some math, and you'll know how much you need for your whole tank. To avoid another huge jump, I'd add a little bit at a time, pre-dissolved.

 

Understand that coral takes time to work on your water. The biggest mistake people make in my opinion is that we expect instant change and continue to do things to get the expected change. I would step back and let your tank settle in and see where your PH is at.

 

Understand that coral takes time to work on your water. The biggest mistake people make in my opinion is that we expect instant change and continue to do things to get the expected change. I would step back and let your tank settle in and see where your PH is at.

Thank you!

He resumed eating yesterday and been normal since.