QT? Ammonia pads really work, any hazzords?

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

HI all,
I am finding it impossible to keep ammonia below .25 in my QT tank, have all the fish from a 37 in a 10 for Ich treatment. 30 % daily PWC still wont keep up, wondered if I could toss in an ammonia pad ( into power filter) nightly with the PWC to help out. Any concerns with using one?

Thanks,

[roka64]

PWCs will work wonders. I like to use purigen.

[Justin_Toronto]

Just curious on the type of filter you're running... (possibly the source of the ammonia...)

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

I am using a HOB power filter in this QT tank, thought the sponge in the main tank was in long enough to be useful for QT, guess not. I am using floss and replacing daily just to remove floating detrus. I rinse the sponge daily in salt water to remove loose detrus as well. There is no REAL filtration on this tank, as the SG is now at 1.010 , and I'm not gonna let it start a cycle. Just want to control the ammonia best I can, I'll do a 50% PWC on a 2 hour drip tonight and test tomorrow. I have been feeding every other day prior to doing PWC and sucking up any left over food in the syphon. I just bought a cheap ammoia monitor to put in so I can take a look at frequently. I will assume if I can keep at .25 or less the fish will deal with it ok.Lets hope.

Thanks,

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

Hey, Got ammonia down to .05 , I found some ammonia absorbing media and some act carbon for my whisper 20 in my fish stuff closet YEA !, Didn't even remember buying it, must have pre planned an emergency- too forgetful to remember I had it though:p.

Now things are looking better , PH is low but buffered, ammonia acceptable after PWC, and fish show no signs of Ich, so if I have this right its 4 weeks from today if no signs pop up !

One side note- I spent 6 days lowering SG from 1.023 to 1.009, figure I will increase just the same, over about the last week.

Joey

[roka64]

Joey, check this out:
Aquarium Chemical Filter Media: Seachem Purigen
If Kurt sees this, he may be able to explain a little better.
I run a fluvial 304 on my 55 and an FX5 on my 125.

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

Scott,
Thanks for the link. I bought the small bag of Purigan today ( found a invert/coral only LFS at the same time) , put the bag into my power filter and we'll see how it does. Ammonia jumps pretty high by evening, still doing 40-50% PWC nightly. I sure wish I could get to 10% PWC nightly.

Using ammonia tests are VERY difficult at this SG, tried ading a few crystals of salt to water in the test vile to get a shade I can recognize.

Q: 2 days no sign of Ich, when can I start bringing SG back up .( I am aware of 30 days QT after Ich is gone.) Just want to get SG in a range I can test accurately at.

[Innovator]

Hyposalinity is normally a 3 week treatment, but I always extend to a 30 day treatment. You should be performing 50% water changes every other day.

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

Originally Posted by Innovator

. You should be performing 50% water changes every other day.

I would be happy with that, right now 50% daily, what a pain ! Hopefully the Purigan and Whisper ammonia absorber media will help with this.

I think I will start at day 25 bringing SG up .001 per day, so at day 30 i am at 1.014, then might jump .002 per day for the next several days until I reach normal SG. Overall that makes 35 days in QT before back in the main.

Thanks,