Quarantine Tank issue

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Mananhammer

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 15, 2005
Messages
51
Location
Illinois
Hello,

It has been a long time since i posted to this forum. I recently setup a 10 gallon quarantine tank to house some 3 new rainbows I bought. I however think I may have messed up. I used water from the display tank to fill the tank for the quarantine but I did not realize that I needed to cycle the quarantine tank and now fear that I may have fataly injured my new rainbows. They are not eating and they have been in the tank for 2 days now. I Saw that my ammonia was creeping between the .25 and 1.5 mg/l. (Tested with tetra laborett test kit) I freaked when i saw this and did a 25% water change. The ammonia was then tested 24 hours later and still at the same level. So I treated with API Ammo lock per instructions. Now the ammonia test is through the roof. I am very concerned with the health of my new fish and am wondering if I should bite the bullet and put them in the display or ride this out.
Please help. Sorry for the randomness of the post.
 
If you can steal some extra filter media for the qt then everything will be fine. Or you can go ahead and put them in your tank. I personally don't have a qt and haven't had problems. Its up to you. Id drip acclimate them into your display tank since the levels are different. It might not make a difference tho.
 
I dont think I have the ability to get media out of my display. It is a tetra wisper ex 70.

Also how do u "drip acclimate" fish. This is a new concept to me. I know how to acclimate if they are in a bag from the pet store.
 
Oh you just get a reasonably sized container and buy an air check valve and airline tubing and put the fish with the bag water in the bowl and start a siphon in the tube then use the valve to adjust the drip rate to about a drop or two a second then let it do that for an hour or two. Not always necessary but a nice slow way to let them adjust to temp and the chemical balance of your water as well
 
This might be a silly question but will any bag do?

Also do u think the fish will liven up and eat in the display? The two kamaka rainbows look skiny as all get up.
 
I used to have an EX 70. What I'd recommend is to pull out one of the filter cartridges, cut a slit all the way around it so it basically becomes 2 pieces, shake the carbon granules into the trash and use half of that filter pad as your established media to jam into the QT's filter. That way you're not losing too much established media from the main tank to where it causes a mini-cycle...but you're donating about 25% (not counting those rubbery type pads in there) to help cycle the QT.
 
Mananhammer said:
Thats a great idea! However I am concerned that I have used ammo lock already.

The API Ammo-lock won't hurt anything. It basically works like Seachem Prime (without the dechlor ability from what I know) where it temporarily detoxifies the ammonia for a period. Since you don't have a bio-filter established in the tank to consume the ammonia, it will become toxic again after a time. There's no harm in using it though...it won't effect the tank from cycling since it just converts the ammonia while still leaving it available for the beneficial bacteria to consume.

I'd suggest moving over the seeded media and doing water changes as needed to keep the toxins low (preferably at or below .25) until the tank is stable.
 
Are we talking Rainbows as in Boesmani Rainbow Fish? How big are they? The concern is that if the ammonia has jumped "through the roof" and it's only been 2 days...that's an issue. At that point it becomes a coin flip between adding them straight to the DT (watching out for toxin spikes there if they're already producing so much ammo), or keeping them in the QT and doing water changes daily if necessary to keep the ammonia level down. A piece of filter pad isn't going to instantly handle the fish if they're putting out that much waste.

IMO, maintaining a toxin level at or below .25-.5 at all times should be the goal. You'll need to base how large of water changes and how often to do them by testing often. Make sure you're also feeding very sparingly and not letting food sit in the tank as that will also contribute to ammonia.
 
i concur with eco23. i believe that even though you use the ammo lock it still shows up on the ammonia test. So the readings will still be high even when using ammo lock. you should still do the water changes though to try to keep the levels down and consider the ammo lock as a backup so the fish arent harmed.
 
The fish are about an inch a piece. Two are kamaka rainbows and one is a bosemani. The ammonia I would assume was from the display tank.
I know I screwed up I just dont want to kill these guys.
 
I did a 50% change before I put in the ammo lock. I knew the ammo lock would give a false positive because I basically makes nh3 into nh4+.
 
What are the parameters in the DT? Another possibility is that your tap water contains ammonia which is accounting for some degree. However, if it's creeping up that high it's obviously from the fish.

At this point let's just get the ammonia down. That can mean a 75% change or two back to back 50% changes. .25 should be the target. I've never used Ammo-lock, but I know Prime will detoxify up to 1ppm for 24-36 hours. As fisheggs said, use it as a safeguard...but not as a substitute for fresh water.

Once we've got the ammonia into safe ranges...then you can consider what the next steps are. I can't imaging three 1" fish producing off the charts ammonia in two days...so I have to wonder if it's an issue with the test. Or, it could potentially be from seriously overfeeding if you've been trying to get them to eat. Is it a liquid or a strip test kit?
 
I am right with u on the 3 1 inch fish putting out that much. I tested the tap and ammo was nonexistent. Same for display that has been running for over 5 years straight. Also on the feeding part. I tried 24 hrs after I got them. They didnt eat so I vacced up the food after an hour or so of it sitting there. I am at a loss where the ammo is coming from.
 
I'm a bit puzzled myself. I've never kept Rainbows so I don't know much about their bio-load, but a total of 3" of fish putting out off the chart levels in a 10 gallon within a couple days without overfeeding is a bit of a mystery to me

The plan of attack really is the same though. Make sure levels are down right now with pwc's, decide if you're gonna keep them in the QT...if so, donate that filter media we talked about, test every single day and perform water changes as needed to keep the toxins as low as possible until their time in QT is over.

If you can keep the toxin levels down, I wouldn't worry much about them not eating. They're still adjusting and fish can go quite some time without food before it's an issue.

Just btw (you may already know), but ignore those stupid time strip things on the EX70 cartridges. Keep them in there until they are literally falling apart. It really is just a money making scheme to get you to buy something every month. Replacing them throws out your beneficial bacteria and can cause serious mini-cycles. The article in my signature is about fishless cycling...but I've got some info in there about the type of mechanical filter media I recommend and how / when to change it. Check it out if you get a sec.

Let us know how it's going :)
 
Well figured I would update my thread. All three fish are eating and swimming. I am starting to feel confident that they will be ok. Thanks for the advice.
 
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