Quarantine tank Nitrite,

[Brandon20]

So I have a 180 gallon tank that had 2 1" clown fish and a emporer angel, I recently ordered a sohal tang and powder blue tang and had them shipped in when they arrived they were at 54 degrees and the powder blue was barely alive I acclimated them very slowly and they survived. But within a day the powder blue had ich, so I put him into a 30 gallon tank with cupramine then realized I should qt all the fish to be safe in Doing that left it in the 30 gallon because both the tangs are under 3". I set up a skimmer, powdered a couple pvc ends for them to hide in and a heater I am now into day 6 of treatment but the tank has huge nitrite problems the nitrite Is around 1.0 with 0 ammonia I have been doing 30% water changes off my main tank everyday and it has perfectly fine parameters any suggestions to my nitrite problem?

 

[melosu58]

Sounds like to me that the 30 gallon tank is cycling. If you don't have enough beneficial bacteria then it will take awhile.

 

[Brandon20]

It could be that because I had to set it up on the fly as I do not run a qt normally but now I'm going to. I read many things online that lower amounts of nitrite in salt water aren't as big of worry as in fresh water? Is this true? I'm still doing daily water changes to be safe.

 

[melosu58]

Nitrites are lethal. Nitrates are not as bad. If you have no ammonia and 1 for nitrites I would think you should be OK. The tangs getting ich could be because of the small tank.

 

[Brandon20]

Nitrites are lethal, I work at a freshwater fish store I know what nitrite and nitrates are. That's why I was so worried, but I have read probably 30 different posts across multiple forums saying nitrites aren't nearly as bad as they are in fresh they can be lethal but in a fish only saltwater tank you do not need to worry as much especially having 0 ammonia? This sounds crazy to me but I read so many posts about it I'm kinda thinking it should be okay? The fish are all under 3 inches and they went into a 180 gallon tank first where I first noticed the ich and I'm sure that for a little baby 3" fish 180 gallons will be fine for at least a year or more without stressing them at all. I'm almost sure the stress was from being in a shipping box for 16 hours but it's day 7 and they are still doing okay so only 7 more days and I can put them back in there tank

 

[54seaweed]

My QT is several years old the BB will build in the hob filter , as there is nothing in the tank
once you add a fish and start your treatment any bb in the tank or filter will die off, once your ready to reintroduce to your main tank ween the fish of the treated water buy doing 50% water change once a day for 4 days ,

once your qt tank is fish less drain clean filter replace media , clean tank , add saltwater from main tank , and just let it run , so it's ready for your next fish

 

[Sniperhank]

Any copper treatment will prevent beneficial bacteria growth in the system. Water changes are the only option to keep the lethal parameters in check when it comes to a hospital tank and copper based medication.

 

[Brandon20]

Thanks hank