getting QT ready quickly?

[dynamixone]

hello all!

I have a ich breakout in my DT.

I have setup a 55g qt/hospital tank for my fish so that I can leave the DT fallow for a month.

how do I get the qt up and running quickly before its too late for my fish.

the qt is a 55 aga RR with a sump. I had a sump with bioballs in it. I do not use biobals in my DT. I was hoping the bioballs would help seed the bacteria quicker.

I have been doing water chanhes on the qt with water from my DT.

I am going to use cupramine to treat the fish... will the cupramine kill the new forming bacteria and work against me?

I am not sure if I will have time to run a full cycle for this tank to get my sick fish out of the DT.

any suggestions?

 

[kevin2000]

My 02

If the 55 gallon is empty then run it barebottom and use some PVC pipes for fish shelter. Any mature bio filter media (bio balls etc) will help mitigate ammonia issues. Of course you will need a heater and a powerhead will also help.

Cupramine will retard your bio filter a bit ... Seachem say it won't harm it much but you should be prepared to make water changes to maintain water quality.

If your 55 has a substrate or LR then it might interfere with the copper treatment - once again Seachem says otherwise and not having used Cupramine with a calcium carbonate substrate I can't tell you whether they are correct (but would be suspicious).

Once the QT is setup .. don't use any water from the ST .. quarantine means isolation.

I have found that running hyposalinity is easier than using Copper -arguably easier on the fish and definitely easier to administer if your making water changes.

 

[dynamixone]

i added the first dose of cupramine and did a seachem copper test.

is it normal to not have any readings?

 

[kevin2000]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12118795#post12118795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dynamixone
is it normal to not have any readings?

That does not sound right - I would try another test and if you don't get a result you should consider contacting Seachem - they are pretty good at responding to emails on the same day - perhaps your test kit is "out of date" and I recall that they had some problems with a batch of copper test kits (not absolutely sure) .. suspect they will send you another test kit free of charge.

 

[davew0670]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12118795#post12118795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dynamixone
i added the first dose of cupramine and did a seachem copper test.

is it normal to not have any readings?

might want to take a small cup of water and overload it with cupramine and then do a test. some sort of reading should show.

 

[dynamixone]

i just took water to my lfs and the copper was at on the money. test comes up nil. I even ran the ref test with no response.

 

[dynamixone]

as per seachem its an old kit.

they state any seachem copper kit with lot #'s on them is old and they have had issues with them. they are replacing it. thanks!

 

[kevin2000]

Your welcome.