A few more QT questions

[Mike Mann]

i know there is another QT thread going on right now but i have a couple of questions that i didnt see in there.

 

1. Do you need to run a skimmer on the QT tank?

2. Other than water changes how do i keep the Ammonia down on a daily basis, i couldnt possibly do a WC everyday!

3. Im am not medicating if i do not need to so i need a salinty level to keep it at where the PH will also be stable.

 

My QT is already up and running its a 40g breeder

[smallreef]

no skimmer....

water changes as close to every day as possible...

yes....? whats your question here?

[Jan]

IMO it's good to have a skimmer. You'll have the same waste you do in your DT in your QT. fish can produce a lot of waste in 3 weeks.

You shold only have ammonia while your QT tank is cycling and you should allow it to run it's course. If your tank is cycled and you have ammonia you're feeding too much, or you have too many fish producing waste or somethings dead. Once you've finished cycling do water changes once a week. Feed your QT tank once a day with a few pieces of flake food to keep the bio load going when there is no livestock in it or when you're trying to cycle it. Unless you're treating with hyposalinity your salinity and PH and all other params should match your DT.

 

QT should start out to be an observation tank. The only difference will be that you will have NO LS or LR. You will need some biology in your QT and so keeing a sponge in your sump to use to cycle your QT is what was recomended to me and what I use. You will only treat with medication once something manifestes in your livestock. If you choose hyposalinity all you have to do is dilute the existing water. when you treat with medication make sure to have activated charcoal on hand when you've finished treating so you can filter out meds with charcoal and water changes.

 

I used two Qt tanks. One for all fish and inverts and one for treating fish with copper. I say this because copper wont wash out of plastic and silicone. The other meds will. You'd be taking a chance by adding inverts to a tank that has been used for copper treatment. You can't treat inverts with copper and other meds. Most other meds antibiotics, prazi, formalin, etc.) will wash away with soap and water. So if you purchase inverts and fish and place them in QT and see the fish developing spots a few days, weeks later you can transfer the fish to the medication treatment QT and let the inverts stay in the non medicated QT for however long it takes for the lifecycle of the didease to run it's course while you treat your fish with meds in the other tank. If you have to use copper meds the fish are already in a tank that they're comfortable in and is dedicated to copper treatment. Does this make sense?

Edited May 10, 2012 by Jan

[Coral Hind]

Everyone does it differently so here is what I do. Not saying it is the best or only way.

 

1. Do you need to run a skimmer on the QT tank? I run a skimmer to help remove fish wastes and more importantly to help the O2 exchange. Some meds will say turn the skimmer off during dosage but others are fine with the skimmer on. Some meds can lower the O2 levels so I just remove the collection cup and let the skimmer overflow into the sump.

 

2. Other than water changes how do i keep the Ammonia down on a daily basis, i couldnt possibly do a WC everyday! Use a product like Prime which has an ammonia and nitrite binder so it doesn't become harmful to fish. Try not to over feed and vacuum the tank bottom when doing water changes. My current QT cycle has been up for three weeks now with no water change and a high bio load.

 

3. Im am not medicating if i do not need to so i need a salinty level to keep it at where the PH will also be stable. I would drop the SG down to save on salt and to reduce osmotic stress on the fish. The fish spends a good deal of energy on keeping salt out of the body. When wounds or parasites affect the slime coat or skin it becomes more work to keep the salt content reduced. I normally run my QT at 1.020 unless doing hypo which it then runs at 1.008 -1.010. Hypo treatment is not easy as pH is not stable and bacteria stop processing ammonia and go dormant. If doing hypo check pH and ammonia daily.

[Coral Hind]

QT should start out to be an observation tank.

I think this is very important! Let the fish settle down and just observe it first. Ensure it is eating very well before putting any medications in that might stress it out.

[Mike Mann]

IMO it's good to have a skimmer. You'll have the same waste you do in your DT in your QT. fish can produce a lot of waste in 3 weeks.

You shold only have ammonia while your QT tank is cycling and you should allow it to run it's course. If your tank is cycled and you have ammonia you're feeding too much, or you have too many fish producing waste or somethings dead. Once you've finished cycling do water changes once a week. Feed your QT tank once a day with a few pieces of flake food to keep the bio load going when there is no livestock in it or when you're trying to cycle it. Unless you're treating with hyposalinity your salinity and PH and all other params should match your DT.

 

QT should start out to be an observation tank. The only difference will be that you will have NO LS or LR. You will need some biology in your QT and so keeing a sponge in your sump to use to cycle your QT is what was recomended to me and what I use. You will only treat with medication once something manifestes in your livestock. If you choose hyposalinity all you have to do is dilute the existing water. when you treat with medication make sure to have activated charcoal on hand when you've finished treating so you can filter out meds with charcoal and water changes.

 

I used two Qt tanks. One for all fish and inverts and one for treating fish with copper. I say this because copper wont wash out of plastic and silicone. The other meds will. You'd be taking a chance by adding inverts to a tank that has been used for copper treatment. You can't treat inverts with copper and other meds. Most other meds antibiotics, prazi, formalin, etc.) will wash away with soap and water. So if you purchase inverts and fish and place them in QT and see the fish developing spots a few days, weeks later you can transfer the fish to the medication treatment QT and let the inverts stay in the non medicated QT for however long it takes for the lifecycle of the didease to run it's course while you treat your fish with meds in the other tank. If you have to use copper meds the fish are already in a tank that they're comfortable in and is dedicated to copper treatment. Does this make sense?

 

well might of been a rookie mistake, but i only let my tank run for two days before putting the fish in! i mean there is no LR or Sand so i figured it would of been no problem just being saltwater. my DT has ich didnt want to risk a sponge out of there! and i do have an air stone with 2 small powerheads and a HOB filter way over sized. I just bought a couple of fish from another member i got a great deal and didnt want to pass it up. so i plan to keep the fish in my QT for longer than 3 weeks. actually untill june 12th. i really want to buy your bigger tangs just dont want to put them into that small of a tank untill i can put them in my DT. so i will buy if your still have them closer to the day my DT is ready to go.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Mike Mann

[Mike Mann]

Everyone does it differently so here is what I do. Not saying it is the best or only way.

 

1. Do you need to run a skimmer on the QT tank? I run a skimmer to help remove fish wastes and more importantly to help the O2 exchange. Some meds will say turn the skimmer off during dosage but others are fine with the skimmer on. Some meds can lower the O2 levels so I just remove the collection cup and let the skimmer overflow into the sump.

 

2. Other than water changes how do i keep the Ammonia down on a daily basis, i couldnt possibly do a WC everyday! Use a product like Prime which has an ammonia and nitrite binder so it doesn't become harmful to fish. Try not to over feed and vacuum the tank bottom when doing water changes. My current QT cycle has been up for three weeks now with no water change and a high bio load.

 

3. Im am not medicating if i do not need to so i need a salinty level to keep it at where the PH will also be stable. I would drop the SG down to save on salt and to reduce osmotic stress on the fish. The fish spends a good deal of energy on keeping salt out of the body. When wounds or parasites affect the slime coat or skin it becomes more work to keep the salt content reduced. I normally run my QT at 1.020 unless doing hypo which it then runs at 1.008 -1.010. Hypo treatment is not easy as pH is not stable and bacteria stop processing ammonia and go dormant. If doing hypo check pH and ammonia daily.

 

Thanks for your input you always comment and help answer questions i post! where can i buy prime? and currently i have the salinty at 1.018 this is ok?

[treesprite]

Thanks for your input you always comment and help answer questions i post! where can i buy prime? and currently i have the salinty at 1.018 this is ok?

 

Remember if you are using lower salinity, that you need to acclimate the fish slowly back up before returning the fish to the DT, hopefully over a few days.

[Jan]

Oh I didn''t realize you had ick in your display and that this Qt was only 2 days new when you added your new fish. Whe I cam back to the hobby I would set up my Qt tank for new fish with disease free water from my DT. I learned when my fish got sick that I had to move quickly and that I should have had an already established QT up and running. I got great information from John Copps and Dave Lin about establishing the biology and from Sean about medicating throught the entire horrific process. Of course you don't want to take a sponge out of an infected tank, or water for that matter. A sponge and water should come from a a clean disease free established DT.

 

So your QT sounds like it's cycling and in that case, yes, you need Amquel or Prime or something along those lines to protect the fish and unfortunately you will need to do a lot of water changes, probably every day until the ammonia is very low and or gone. But remember with a cycle comes the nitrites which are worse than ammonia on your fish. So you should check your ammonia and nitrites often since you have fish in there. If you didn't have fish then I'd say maybe check the cycle once a week until the nitrogen cycle is complete. Right now your Qt is unstable. the ammonia will stress your new fish so watch for signs of disease in them as well. It's like a brand new tank with no established biology. The waste from your new fish will break down and start a full cycle.

 

I had to pass up a few nice fish too when my tank was infected and my QT was not established. I didn't want to lose anymore livestock or waste money. Good luck.

 

You may want to read this http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/44695-update-on-my-fish-new-qt-set-up-medications/page__hl__copps%20+QT%20+Jan

 

well might of been a rookie mistake, but i only let my tank run for two days before putting the fish in! i mean there is no LR or Sand so i figured it would of been no problem just being saltwater. my DT has ich didnt want to risk a sponge out of there! and i do have an air stone with 2 small powerheads and a HOB filter way over sized. I just bought a couple of fish from another member i got a great deal and didnt want to pass it up. so i plan to keep the fish in my QT for longer than 3 weeks. actually untill june 12th. i really want to buy your bigger tangs just dont want to put them into that small of a tank untill i can put them in my DT. so i will buy if your still have them closer to the day my DT is ready to go.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Jan

[Mike Mann]

yes i have been checking my prams everyday and some twice. my ammonia is good now only got up to .25 but back at zero or close now i used amqul in half doses for the fish. my nitrate was at 2.5/5.0 when i got home today and i did a 10% WC, i will check again before i go to bed. how long do you think before my levels will stablize. I thought that the cycle process was only because the LR/LS. so this was my mistake. the fish are doing great and are very active and eating.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Mike Mann

[Jan]

I don't think anyone can predict how long it will take to cycle. After the ammonia stage of the cycle comes the nitrites stage. Amquel should help but it's stressful for the fish.

Read this http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yes i have been checking my prams everyday and some twice. my ammonia is good now only got up to .25 but back at zero or close now i used amqul in half doses for the fish. my nitrate was at 2.5/5.0 when i got home today and i did a 10% WC, i will check again before i go to bed. how long do you think before my levels will stablize. I thought that the cycle process was only because the LR/LS. so this was my mistake. the fish are doing great and are very active and eating.

[Mike Mann]

WOW great read. i want the fish out my tank now!!! i wish i had someone i could pay to house my fish for like 3 weeks now.

[Coral Hind]

I filled my QT and put the fish in there at the same time, no waiting. Just add Prime or Amquel+, you should be able to pick it up at a LFS or a Petco or Petsmart type of a store. Just look for a product that binds with ammonia and nitrite to make it safe for fish. When using these products it will still show up as a reading on the test kit but the ammonia is not in a state that is harmful to the fish.

[Mike Mann]

ok lol like an episode of tanked i guess ha. but i have amquel+ and have been using it slow and in doses to not hurt my fish.