Going away, remove fish from QT after 3 weeks or risk loosing them?

[CBehr]

I'm in a bit of a bind. Three weeks ago I got three female lyretail anthias and added them to a 20g QT tank I had up a running for a couple week prior. Fish are eating mysis two-three times a day but I am having a hard time controlling ammonia. I'm using Amquel plus which I have always had luck with in QT setups but I'm still struggling.

I'm going out of town Thursday evening through Sunday evening and am not sure what to do with these fish. I can either risk adding them to my display after only 3 weeks in QT"¦.or leave them in the QT and try to instruct a neighbor how to carefully feed them once a day and how to add the Amquel plus. I'm concerned about overfeeding the ammonia spiking while I'm gone.

What would you folks do?

 

[rachenbrazil]

If in 3 weeks they did not show any problem, I would not risk to use the help of your neighbour... ammonia kills too fast to risk ... So I would put them in DT today and got at least one day to observe them in DT.
I would put at least one in plastic bag and carefully inspect against light source to be sure that it is clean (at least from external parasites)...

If you have any doubt on their health ...them your neighbour will be ok ... for just one or two days ... I would not tell him to feed every day ...reducing the risks...


my 2 cents

 

[melanotaenia]

you could also put them in a specimen type "breeder" cage that floats in the main display, that way they are in the main tank but if any aggression starts up in the main display the breeder box will keep them from getting attacked.

Leaving fish in a QT when on vacation is a very bad idea, unless you have a seasoned hobbyist around who can anticipate and respond to issues that may come up when you are away.

 

[lostintheocean]

i would give a ph adjusted freshwater dip and add them to display. i always make sure not to buy fish if I am going out of town soon for this very reason. no signs of anything after 3 weeks they should be good.

 

[sivert55]

did you QT with copper?

 

[Chris27]

did you QT with copper?

Good question, also what are you using for a filter in your QT?

 

[prickles]

I find that "sacrificing" a few pieces of live rock to a QT tank will greatly help with ammonia and make your life much less stressful. Probably too late for this trip, but something you could do for next time. I have only a 10g QT but I probably have 5-10lb of live rock in it and I never have Ammonia problems. I dose copper in there, so remember that you are sacrificing the live rock and can't use it for your tank later.

 

[AquaKnight]

I think my decision would boil down to what is at risk of being lost in the display in a worst case scenario vs. losing a trio of lyretails. If the display is nearly finished being stocked, couple of high dollar fish, etc, no way, keep them in the QT. If there's just an ocellaris clown and a yellow tang, add 'em in.

My experience has been no matter how thoroughly you describe the maximum amount to feed the tank to someone who doesn't keep fish, they don't listen. Nothing like that warm fuzzy feeling breaking out the test kits after your weekend trip that your formerly full NLS container is now half gone....