What is wrong with my quarantine tank??!

[MarkW19]

Frequent water changes are the best way - just make sure you do them in a manner not to totally stress the (already stressed!) fish too much.

Can you use 2 sponges? If so, keep on with the waterchanges as you are doing, and seed a 2nd sponge in your main tank, then put them BOTH in the QT in a week (minimum).

 

[dralarms]

Maybe I'm missing something, but you said your ammonia was .1? If it's no higher than that I would not be concerned. .5 to 1 in a QT but not .1. You will have to do daily water changes of course but no need to panic at a .1 reading.

 

[BlueDolphin]

Thanks, Mark. I will get another sponge and start seeding it in my main tank.

My current ammonia reading (before the 20% water change I just did) is about 0.4 - I am using a FasTest test kit. It was a lot higher than that yesterday, but it's still showing up as a green color instead of the normal zero reading and yellow color.

 

[MarkW19]

I'd have done a 50% waterchange if your ammonia was that high.

You want as much bacteria in the QT as possible. I'd seed the 2nd sponge for at least 10 days, then combine the 2 together.

In the meantime, keep up with your daily waterchanges and be very conscientious with feeding.

Remember, underfeed rather than overfeed - a lot of marine fish go for days (sometimes even weeks!) without food in the wild, so maybe even cut down on feeding (to a degree) to help you.

Bit of an ar*e, but it'll be well worth it in the long run!

 

[BlueDolphin]

I had previously performed two 50% water changes (one yesterday and one the day before). That is why I was so confused at why my ammonia was still high. I am also going to take a water sample to my lfs just to see if the readings match up. I didn't think I was over-feeding her. I fed her this morning and she ate quite well, but I don't think I had fed her for the two days before that. :?