I have a gsp that appears to have black chin. My water parameters are:
SG - 1.008
Ph - 8.4
Nitrate - 20 ppm
Nitrite - 4.0 ppm
Ammonia - 1.5 ppm, and I know this is WAY high, but I have been treating with Amquel+ and it doesn't seem to be working
I have treated the tank 3 different times and neither time it it take the ammonia levels down to acceptable levels. It helped with the nitrate and nitrite levels, but not with the ammonia. In light of that, I've been performing water changes more frequently (every 3 days / performed a 50% change last night and the ammonia is still high) and treating each water change with Stress Zyme(beneficial bacteria) along with Aquasafe of course. Would a bacterial bloom cause the ammonia levels to spike like that? Essentially, am I adding too much strees zyme when it's not needed or am I adding not enough? Also, I recently returned 6 fish that seemed to have put a big bioload on my tank (20 gal), would their residual still cause high levels? PLease help on this issue. I can't seem to get my ammonia levels under control. Some history: My tank has been set-up for around 4 months and was originally cycled with zebra danios. They seem to be doing fine as does my F8 under the current conditions. While my GSP has seemed to improved since the other fish are gone now, he still has what appears to be as black chin. Sometimes it spreads to his sides but never really on his belly. Both puffers developed Ick when I first got them, and both were treated succesfully. Follow-up was also performed with Maracyn and Maracyn-two.
Overall, he's also never really had great color all around. While he does have color on the very top of his back, he doesnt look bright green all around like other photos I've seen on this site. He even changes colors. I understand the camoflouging thing but he never gets really green. I thought brackish conditions would improve this? Also, he's never really had a big round belly like my F8 has. He swims and eats normally. I feed them freeze dried shrimp, krill, brine shrimp, forzen bloodworms, and live snails. One other thing I've noticed lately is that he appears to be burping almost. He opens and closes his mouth rapidly as his stomach moves. Doesn't look normal to me.
Overall, should my GSP still have black chin with the nitrate levels around 20ppm? I'm trying help bring him back to health. PLease help.
*I'll try to get a picture posted soon so everyone has a better idea of what I'm talking about*
Although in these pics he's looking better then he has been the last few weeks due to the frequent water changes.