redeclipse6049 Posted May 22, 2010 Share Posted May 22, 2010 So i just brought home a pair of ocellaris clowns last night and i'm planning on keeping them in the quarantine tank (5 gallons) for 3-4 weeks. I noticed that after less than 24 hours my ammonia level seems to already be around .25. I'm using a seeded filter pad from my display tank in an in-tank whisper filter for filtration . Just kind of wondering if it seems necessary to do daily water changes, or if that's overkill... I can just see the cost of salt adding up in my head if i have to be changing the water that frequently... (i should mention, I just tested and nitrites/trates are both zero) here's the setup i'm using- Link to comment
Asureef Posted May 22, 2010 Share Posted May 22, 2010 It's a common problem with QT especially something as small as a 5g. I would suggest atleast upgrading the HOB filter to an aquaclear 20, it will provide better flow and has superior media for beneficial bacteria to grow than any other filter its size. Your quarantine will cycle and ammonia & nitrite will increase greatly, be prepared to do water changes daily, sometimes up to 80-90%. It's a good idea to have a bottle of Prime or AmQuel around to help while the tank is cycling to reduce stress for the fishes. Also, dosing daily with Seachem Stability can help the decrease the cycle time. I had to go through the whole quarantine thing while treating my fishes with ich and it was no fun. My 10g qt finally stabilized itself after 3weeks. I changed 80% of the water every two days, which was a must. Small water changes did little to nothing to lower the ammonia & nitrite. But, that's what you get when you have 4 fishes in a 10g. Anyways, good luck and don't stress yourself as I did. Link to comment
redeclipse6049 Posted May 22, 2010 Author Share Posted May 22, 2010 It's a common problem with QT especially something as small as a 5g. I would suggest atleast upgrading the HOB filter to an aquaclear 20, it will provide better flow and has superior media for beneficial bacteria to grow than any other filter its size. Your quarantine will cycle and ammonia & nitrite will increase greatly, be prepared to do water changes daily, sometimes up to 80-90%. It's a good idea to have a bottom of Prime or AmQuel around to help while the tank is cycling to reduce stress for the fishes. Also, dosing daily with Seachem Stability can help the decrease the cycle time. I had to go through the whole quarantine thing while treating my fishes with ich and it was no fun. My 10g qt finally stabilized itself after 3weeks. I changed 80% of the water every two days, which was a must. Small water changes did little to nothing to lower the ammonia & nitrite. But, that's what you get when you have 4 fishes in a 10g. Anyways, good luck and don't stress yourself as I did. whats there to cycle in this tank though? the filter pad is already seeded and there's no live rock or anything (so no potential dieoff) I guess I'm not quite understand why a cycle would happen unless it was a new filter pad. I am on a pretty tight budget right now because I'm a recent graduate unable to find a job, but hopefully sometime soon i'll be able to afford a bit better equipment for a QT (probably 10 gallon tank with a hang on back filter) I have been dosing the tank with Stability though. another question related to QTing fish... Someone on another forum suggested (well, actually pretty much told me i had to do this or he wasn't going to help me anymore, lol) that I bring the SG down to like 1.01 and do a hyposalinity treatment to kill any ich that might be present in my filter pad or on the fish (i had some fish die of either brook or ich about 3 weeks ago and stupidly forgot about that when I moved my seeded filter pad from my display tank into the quarantine. I kind of feel like if the fish are healthy enough already though, they might not get the ich anyway, and it might be better to just wait and see, rather than stress them out by doing hypo... thoughts? Link to comment
Asureef Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 whats there to cycle in this tank though? the filter pad is already seeded and there's no live rock or anything (so no potential dieoff) I guess I'm not quite understand why a cycle would happen unless it was a new filter pad. I am on a pretty tight budget right now because I'm a recent graduate unable to find a job, but hopefully sometime soon i'll be able to afford a bit better equipment for a QT (probably 10 gallon tank with a hang on back filter) I have been dosing the tank with Stability though. another question related to QTing fish... Someone on another forum suggested (well, actually pretty much told me i had to do this or he wasn't going to help me anymore, lol) that I bring the SG down to like 1.01 and do a hyposalinity treatment to kill any ich that might be present in my filter pad or on the fish (i had some fish die of either brook or ich about 3 weeks ago and stupidly forgot about that when I moved my seeded filter pad from my display tank into the quarantine. I kind of feel like if the fish are healthy enough already though, they might not get the ich anyway, and it might be better to just wait and see, rather than stress them out by doing hypo... thoughts? Test again in 3 days and see what your results are. It's possible that the seeded bacterial did not have enough time to begin the nitrification process, that or you do not have enough nitrifying bacteria to handle the bio-load. Seeding the filter with bacterial from your display tank will only help speed up the cycling process, you'll still have a mini-cycle. I can't offer any advice or suggestions with Hypo. as I've only treated with copper. I'm sure someone will chime in. Link to comment
redeclipse6049 Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 Test again in 3 days and see what your results are. It's possible that the seeded bacterial did not have enough time to begin the nitrification process, that or you do not have enough nitrifying bacteria to handle the bio-load. Seeding the filter with bacterial from your display tank will only help speed up the cycling process, you'll still have a mini-cycle. I can't offer any advice or suggestions with Hypo. as I've only treated with copper. I'm sure someone will chime in. alright, thanks for the advice! I think the plan right now is to just keep the water at a regular salinity and just treat anything if it happens, My last quarantine experience ended in both of my clowns dying so I dont really want to take any risks this time... Link to comment
fiction101 Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 QT tanks should be at least 10+ gallons. I'm not sure why you thought a 5g will just a filter pad would provide enough filtration for two fish? Link to comment
redeclipse6049 Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 QT tanks should be at least 10+ gallons. I'm not sure why you thought a 5g will just a filter pad would provide enough filtration for two fish? it all depends on who you ask I guess... a 5g was all I had besides a larger tank that i'm not sure still holds water anymore. I might try picking up a 10g this week, otherwise i'll just have to make do and do frequent water changes... but to answer your question about why I thought that it would provide enough filtration for 2 fish was becuase that's what i'd heard from an LFS owner, and this is the first time i've even set up a quarantine tank so i'm still trying to figure everything out... Link to comment
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