bengaii cardinal in quarantine - not eating

[mnmsea]

I received two bengai cardinals 11 days ago. I put them in my quarantine tank, One never ate and died at 7 days. The other was eating and yesterday, she stopped eating. Her color looks good, her fins look good. there is a bit of ammonia, .25ppm. I have done water changes every other day ( 1 bucket on a 30 gallon tank) I am not so sure i really get the whole quarantine tank idea. It seems horrible to put them in a naked tank with pvc pipes for excitement.

should i do more water changes? should I stop feeding?

what am I doing wrong? I am afraid she will die also...

 

[stevem650]

Ammonia is deadly to fish. You need to quarantine fish in a tank that has been cycled. My bangaii will only eat mysis and never resists a piece. A quarantine tank is only for observation for the first month before putting the fish in the main tank. If ich or any problems arise in the 30 days or so, it is easy to treat. You dont want sand in the tank. Pvc is a place for the fish to hide. I would do water changes to get the ammonia out and would continue to feed.

 

[mnmsea]

The quarantine tank has been going for some time and had been cycled. So, how much of a water change and how often is safe? I will try mysis tomorrow to see if she goes for it. Are there diseases that don't show up as spots or anything? i'm guessing it is the ammonia and the stress that is doing them in. maybe i shoudl jus move her to the display tank?

 

[stevem650]

If your tank is cycled, you shoud have no ammonia. I would just wait it out, do a water change. The fish should be fine if healthy. I would not move the fish until you are sure it's healthy. I would do a 10% water change.

 

[nodoubt471]

I'm mnmsea's daughter, and I'd like to note that we have never had a reading of 0 with our ammonia test, and I personally beleive the test is inaccurate (its one of those cheapo red sea ones)