Surprised that moving filter media to small tank is insufficient

[threnjen]

So I'm rather surprised, in a bad way. I had to purchase a 10g hospital tank to try to treat some sick cories. I bought one of the "all in one" sets by Aquaclear that came with a filter, hood, light etc because I was in a big hurry to get home and get this set up for them.

I tossed out the filter cartridge that came with the aquaclear and cut up some sponge from my sump filter trays to stuff in, and also wrapped and rubber banded some sponge around the intake, so I added as much sponge as I could!
However after 24 hours I have a .25 ammonia reading and no nitrites or nitrates, so apparently this sponge is insufficient??
There is only one cory in there (were 2, one died already). I put in a single sinking wafer hoping it would eat.

I don't understand how these sponges can't handle the bioload of one cory. And a food wafer. =|

I just realized I didn't ask a question. I guess I am just griping.

 

[henningc]

It sounds like your tap water may have been the issue. Sometimes the Water Dept. will add or change chemical make up of output based on things occuring within the system. That could be the case. I would think the sponge would have been fine.

If you don't mind me asking what is wrong with the corys?

 

[threnjen]

I don't think it's the tap, I test that with some regularity, although I suppose it's been a few days. Generally I'm blessed with tap water without any nitrites, nitrates or ammonia.

But that could be the case, because I can't imagine how the sponge wasn't enough. Unless it's that my filtration for my 90g is so amazing that the sponge just doesn't have very much bacteria on it. We have a 29g sump with a full 1/2 with biomedia and then above that half, three sterilite drawers with various sponges. Perhaps a cutting of one of those sponges just doesn't really have much bacteria. That would be inconvenient, since I specifically hope to be able to use all that media to seed other tanks down the line.

Although even if I had ammonia in my tap water, the filter should be able to take care of that!

As for the cories, thanks for asking. Here is my thread about them:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/sore-ich-or-something-else-288360.html
Although the title is wrong, it's obviously not ich.
Only one of the cories of the 2 I had quarantined is still alive. It's the original one from my very first post with the round white spot on his head. The spot on his head looks very bad now. It has gotten much larger and is a clear depression, like hole in the head. Also the eye it is near is bugging out a bit.
Frankly I can't believe he continues to hold on, but until he gives up, I won't.

 

[Usmarksman91]

Well only so much good bacteria grows in your filter. The bacteria grows from the amount of biological load it gets called on from the fish obviously, I would have taken some of the biomedia out of the sump not the sponges.

 

[threnjen]

The sponges lead into the sump and get the first passes of the water. The bio balls in the sump are hard to access, plus they would not fit in the little HOB that came with the hospital tank. so I had little choice in the matter
It's definitely insufficient, I had to do another huge WC on the hospital tank today because the ammonia was up to .50. I've realized I need to put less food in the hospital tank since the cory won't eat anyway.
I stuffed more stuff into the HOB filter and added a small bottle of SafeStart+ hoping it's better than nothing.
It's frustrating to need to do WCs when I'm adding medication! I've been told in the past to not even worry about a working filter with a hospital tank, but then how on earth would you be able to medicate??

As far as the cory... the white spot on its head has become fuzzy, and the eye on that side is really bugging out. My original initial diagnosis was Columnaris and I continue to think that might be the case.

The Tetra Lifeguard I was advised has done nothing and the fish's abscess on his head has only worsened. I'm starting gram-negative bacteria treatment on him. It may not work but he is going to die anyway if I don't try.

 

[Usmarksman91]

Do you have any porous rock in your main tank or substrate you can put into the hospital tank?

 

[Usmarksman91]

Although I do believe your bio balls have 95 percent of the good bacteria living on them... I'm pretty surprised you are facing this issue as well. We could be going from the absolute wrong angle as well you know if you have too much good Bacteria in that small tank and not enough bio load the good bacteria will die and cause the same type of spikes as starting fresh. I doubt that's what your problem is but I don't have enough of a picture painted on your whole set up to give you a solid diagnosis. Just take off the sponges from the intake and leave what you have in the filter and do a couple back to back 5-6 gallon water changes see what happens a day later. Let's keep this Cory alive!

 

[threnjen]

I feel like such an idiot. The insufficiency of the sponge has JUST dawned on me, just now. When I took the sponge cuttings, I cut the sponge off around the edges of the tray, instead of the center which is where 99% of the water passes through the trays. There is probably hardly any BB in the area of the sponge that I took from! I'm such an idiot!!! I know better.... I'm so angry at myself right now.

Ugh and I wasted money on that SafeStart+

I'll test the water again tomorrow, if it's not doing better (which I don't expect it would be), I'll take new cuttings from RELEVANT areas of my sponges, the ones that get all the water pass-through, and do 2 more large WCs. I'll also see if perhaps some of the bioballs will fit somewhere in the little HOB, although I can't really imagine where.
I would do the WCs now but I put in medication about 4 hours ago, so i need to wait until tomorrow.

I have a bag of gravel in my sump to move to the hospital tank, but it has only been there a few days, so I doubt it has grown much. But I have it deliberately impeding the intake of my sump return pump so that water is forced to flow through it. Hoping it has grown some bacteria as well.

I'm spending so much on this one cory but I have to do my best. I'm angry to realize I haven't been doing my best due to sheer stupidity. The poor thing...

 

[Usmarksman91]

The Cory is like "DUDE USE THE GOOD PART OF THE SPONGE WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!!" It's gonna be alright man once you use a good piece of that sponge everything will work itself out pretty quickly.

 

[threnjen]

Yep in fact right after I posted that I went over and cut out the best area of the sponge and put that in the HOB. I just dropped the other sponge to the bottom of the tank for now, as it probably has medication in it and I did pour on the SafeStart+. Can't be any worse than gravel sitting down there.

 

[threnjen]

Thank you by the way, something you said must have nudged my mind to realize my mistake!
Hoping for 0 ammonia tomorrow. I feel terrible the cory is not just ailing but getting ammonia.

 

[Usmarksman91]

Good luck man keep me posted, by the morning the water should be much healthier. (Just realized its 5 am in my area)

 

[threnjen]

Highly aggravating, this issue.

Around 1PM today I tested, and was at .5 ammonia. Interesting because I was ALSO at 5ppm NitrAtes. No NitrItes.

It had been over 12 hours since the medication went in, so I temporarily moved the cory to a HOB isolation unit on the back of the main tank, and did 2 full water changes on the hospital tank (letting it run for 15 minutes in between). Just trying to flush out all the ammonia.
I also added in the bag of gravel that has been sitting in my sump for a few days, although I am doubtful it had much time to build bacteria. It's better than nothing though, and at least provides more surfaces for any bacteria to colonize.

Hopefully with the addition of the "good" sponge part, this issue will rest. But we shall see. There is definitely no other filter media that I can fit into this HOB and there is no better sponge section that I can take from my main system. I've given it the best stuff available.

I also made a big parts order which includes some old-school sponge filters and powerheads to run them. I'll put these in my sump as soon as they arrive so that I have more suitable seed sponges if I need to do this again.

 

[Usmarksman91]

I'm really starting to think you put too much living bacteria in and since the bioload is so light with the one Cory that it is dying, I've seen that several times before man you really only need a small amount of living bacteria to handle the bioload of one fish. Whatever the case may be, several daily water changes is your only option right now and it will work itself out.

 

[threnjen]

Lucky for me changing a 10g is pretty easy!
I can't do it more than once a day though because of the meds, but we'll just have to keep on muddling through.
You're probably right that I overdid it. So determined to have the tank cycled but nothing to sustain it.

 

[Usmarksman91]

Yup, I once had a 180 with 8 7" oscars and 4-5 green terrors, got rid of all the oscars at once after the tank was well established (grew the oscars from when they were maybe 1") and went through a very whacky week of ammonia spikes from the dying bacteria.

 

[Usmarksman91]

Doesn't last as long as cycling the tank on its own though your tank is gonna be fine soon. How does the Cory look?

 

[threnjen]

The cory is actually looking a little better since I started the gram-negative anti-bacterial. I still don't think he is going to make it, though.

Let me get a picture. He's pretty heinous looking.

 

[threnjen]

Well no decent shots of him right now, I'm afraid. He is hiding in the corner under some sponge.
I attached a picture, but it's quite poor. Since he is underneath something he isn't well lit, and the angle is not very good.

That original white spot became more of an abscessed sore, and the eye on that side is visibly bugging out compared to his good eye.

I've actually seen him being a bit active today, though. Earlier today he was scavenging for food and moving around a bit.

The white dots in the picture are just air bubbles on the side of the tank.

 

[threnjen]

Well, I'll clearly need the DLSR to get a real picture of the cory. But you can at least see in that first one, from that angle, the way his right eye is bugging out.

Is he even saveable at this point?