Catch 22, what's least destructive?

[Newguy33190]

My 46 bowfront finished cycling 2 days ago. I acquired 2 clowns, pajama Cardinal, and a blue damsel that has been in a 26 gallon qt. a few days ago I noticed the ammonia was creeping up quick in the qt and put the damsel in the dt yesterday morning and the cardinal last night. At the same time I took a piece of live rock and stuck it in the qt to help with the ammonia along with a filter pad from my dt. Dt didn't have any swings or anything after adding the fish (cycle had extremely high ammonia and nitrite so I figured the bacteria should be strong) however now my nitrites are high in the qt. so the liverock was able to convert the ammonia but I don't want my 2 clowns to die with high nitrites. I change the water and it's still high. Is it safer just the add the clowns in the dt now that it's had fish for a couple days and didn't have any spikes? Or do I leave them in qt until the nitrites convert to nitrates?

[ajmckay]

I suppose it depends on your reasoning for QT... If they've only been in QT for 2 days that's not really that much.

 

Then again you have the QT and these are the only fish so far so adding them to the display may be a reasonable solution since you could remove them back to the QT if necessary.

 

Alternatively if you're not completely confident that they're free of nasties you could dose prime or similar water conditioner which neutralizes ammonia and high nitrite. This would be pretty easy but a temp fix. Water change to the QT would also be a help. Putting some LR rubble from the DT in an HOB filter should help the QT.

 

Good luck !

[Newguy33190]

I suppose it depends on your reasoning for QT... If they've only been in QT for 2 days that's not really that much.

 

Then again you have the QT and these are the only fish so far so adding them to the display may be a reasonable solution since you could remove them back to the QT if necessary.

 

Alternatively if you're not completely confident that they're free of nasties you could dose prime or similar water conditioner which neutralizes ammonia and high nitrite. This would be pretty easy but a temp fix. Water change to the QT would also be a help. Putting some LR rubble from the DT in an HOB filter should help the QT.

 

Good luck !

They are only in a qt tank Bc my display was cycling. The damsel was in for 3 weeks. The other 3 for about a week maybe now. All came from established tanks and didn't show signs of ich or anything when I picked them up or after they went through the move in the qt. only reason they are still in there is Bc I didn't want to add to many fish to my display and have a mini cycle.

[ajmckay]

They are only in a qt tank Bc my display was cycling. The damsel was in for 3 weeks. The other 3 for about a week maybe now. All came from established tanks and didn't show signs of ich or anything when I picked them up or after they went through the move in the qt. only reason they are still in there is Bc I didn't want to add to many fish to my display and have a mini cycle.

Ohhhh - figured you got them since the tank cycled.

 

If they came from established systems there's no guarantee they're free of disease/parasites - but the chances they're clean could be much higher.

 

So I would just move them to the display if you're reading no ammonia. If the 46 has been cycling for the three weeks and there is a decent amount of live rock then I think it should be okay - certainly better than in the QT where ammonia is probably building up.

 

On a side note it's still not a bad idea to leave the QT set up until you're finished stocking the tank so future additions can be QT'd. Also not a bad idea to have some prime on hand for such issues.

[brandon429]

Also it may help to know that nitrite is no longer a concern, I realize it used to be, but no longer is, cycling knowledge evolved such that nitrite doesn't have to be factored ever

 

If you have some nitrite, same impact on life in the tank as not having some, so don't base actions on having it or not, only concern on the ammonia part

 

Source

Nitrite in the reef aquarium, Randy Holmes Farley goog it

[Newguy33190]

Also it may help to know that nitrite is no longer a concern, I realize it used to be, but no longer is, cycling knowledge evolved such that nitrite doesn't have to be factored ever

 

If you have some nitrite, same impact on life in the tank as not having some, so don't base actions on having it or not, only concern on the ammonia part

 

Source

Nitrite in the reef aquarium, Randy Holmes Farley goog it

Okay that could change the game. Since I put the church liverock in there it took care of the ammonia and converted what ammonia was in there to nitrites. I'm still getting 0 readings on ammonia and nitrites in the display so is it day to put the clowns in. That would be 4 fish in 3 days...however it's not like they are big fish

Ohhhh - figured you got them since the tank cycled.

 

If they came from established systems there's no guarantee they're free of disease/parasites - but the chances they're clean could be much higher.

 

So I would just move them to the display if you're reading no ammonia. If the 46 has been cycling for the three weeks and there is a decent amount of live rock then I think it should be okay - certainly better than in the QT where ammonia is probably building up.

 

On a side note it's still not a bad idea to leave the QT set up until you're finished stocking the tank so future additions can be QT'd. Also not a bad idea to have some prime on hand for such issues.

I'm hoping if their was a problem it would of showed after the transfer from where they were living to my qt tank. The fish were stressed pretty bad so if there was a issue I think it would of came then