Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

[MyWetdream]

Ok,so into 3rd day of dosing Cupramine and noticed Ammonia is at 05 ppm.Using Ammonia alert badge.
I picked up some AmGuard and added approx. 2 ml. to 20g tank.I think that's almost 2x recommended dose.
It states that it works in minutes but I haven't seen the badge reflect.
Does the badge need time to change indication?
A water change will throw off treatment.
Any recommendations as to what to do at this point?

 

[Dr. Reef]

never mix ammonia reducer with copper. not a good combination. do water changes and re dose accordingly. also r u measuring ammonia off the badge or via kit? kit can be off due to copper and amquel.

 

[fio1022]

Having similiar problem.
Rising ammonia with copper treatment.

 

[MyWetdream]

Reading taken from badge.
Didn't see any warnings on labels.What are negative effects from combination?
This is a fully cycled tank, so how do I maintain steady copper levels if WCs are needed to keep in check?
Also how much of a WC at this point to get back on track?

 

[Dr. Reef]

guys.... fio1022 and mywetdream how much ammonia are u all reading?
those are just false reading as cupramine contains amine that can show up on ammonia tests kits but the badge does not fall in the same.

u can take some some saltwater from dt or freshly made bin and check for ammonia then dose correct amount of cupramine in it and re test. u will see the difference in ammonia results,

also it is possible after using cupramine some but a small amount of bacteria die and cause a minor spike in ammonia and left bacteria struggle to keep up with bio load.

 

[Dr. Reef]

best possible solution in either cases described above is to do water changes. only if badge is showing ammonia. ignore the kits.
how to re dose and how much water to change?
its simple math if u take out 30% water then redose with 30% of the original cupramine dose u used in the beginning. but always use a good copper kit to make sure ur copper level are 0.5.

 

[Dr. Reef]

here is a response from Seachem (manufacturer of cupramine)

Q: I'm using Cupramine™ and my ammonia test kit is showing ammonia off the scale. What is going on?

A: Ammonia test kits can not distinguish ammonia from the amine based complex present in Cupramine™ and will therefore give a false high reading for ammonia while using Cupramine™. Our Ammonia Alert™ and MultiTest: Free & Total Ammonia™ test kit do not suffer from this problem as they utilize a gas exchange technology that can distinguish ammonia from amines.

 

[tassod]

if there is no ammonia then u should be good for now as long as u dont break the cycle somehow. keep prazi in there for 7 days. if for any reason ammonia show up u do water change and redose prazi in same ratio.
say u had ammonia and changes 30% water then dose 30% of the original amount of prazipro back in.
but i very seriously doubt u u will run into ammonia issue any more.

I'm on day 3 now of Prazi and i show no ammonia but i do see rising levels of nitrite. My last test tonight showing around 5ppm. I added almost a cap full of Prime. Is that ok? Powder brown seems to be doing ok as well as the cardinal fish. Seems to be eating ok, but not interested in sea weed on clip though...

 

[Dr. Reef]

I'm on day 3 now of Prazi and i show no ammonia but i do see rising levels of nitrite. My last test tonight showing around 5ppm. I added almost a cap full of Prime. Is that ok? Powder brown seems to be doing ok as well as the cardinal fish. Seems to be eating ok, but not interested in sea weed on clip though...

good no ammonia.. nitrites are not that dangerous but keep using prime or do a few water changes.. fish should be ok.
good luck and safe reefing.

 

[tassod]

good no ammonia.. nitrites are not that dangerous but keep using prime or do a few water changes.. fish should be ok.
good luck and safe reefing.

For some reason, last night i showed 0.25 ammonia on a salifert test. I don't think Prime is helping much so I did a 45% water change. I re-dosed 45% of Prazi pro.

I noticed today for the first time the powder brown tang was trying to scratch himself on the bare bottom of the tank. I dont see though any visible signs of ick. Is it just a side effect of the prazi pro?

 

[Dr. Reef]

sometimes products like prime and amquel will still show ammonia even though its bonded. water change should take care of the ammonia issue. i am not sure if the ammonia reading if fake as ur tank has been up for a little while with the same bio load. did u feed too much by accident?
anyways scratching is not a good sign... keep an eye on it and see if it breaks out with any parasites. prazi pro does not have any side effects. people have dosed it in large quantities before with no ill effects.
for now keep an eye on ammonia and do water changes if required and keep an eye on the tang for parasites.
good luck and safe reefing.

 

[tassod]

sometimes products like prime and amquel will still show ammonia even though its bonded. water change should take care of the ammonia issue. i am not sure if the ammonia reading if fake as ur tank has been up for a little while with the same bio load. did u feed too much by accident?
anyways scratching is not a good sign... keep an eye on it and see if it breaks out with any parasites. prazi pro does not have any side effects. people have dosed it in large quantities before with no ill effects.
for now keep an eye on ammonia and do water changes if required and keep an eye on the tang for parasites.
good luck and safe reefing.

Yes, I did overfeed, food was collecting in PVC fittings...i cleaned it out now and will be careful with the feeding. Would it help if I added 1 piece of live rock from my DT sump? Obviously, i know that if i do that, that piece of rock is never going back to DT. Also what effect would Hypo have on live rock?

BTW, my blue hippo tang did not make it, it died last friday before i had a chance to catch him to transfer to QT. All other fish though look healthy and eating well. It did not act right from the begining, did not eat well from day one. Should have known better not to put him in DT. Lesson learned i gues.

 

[Dr. Reef]

i dont recommend using live rock in qt. ur tank's ammonia situation is not bad it should go away in 24-48 hrs. its just due to over feeding.
sorry to hear about the hippo... well qt every fish and dont take a chance next time.
how is ur powder brown acting?

 

[tassod]

Besides the scratching that i mentioned i noticed today, he's doing fine. It's day 4 of Prazi pro treatment. Now, on day seven do I do a 50% water change and then start running carbon again and after that start Hypo treatment?

 

[Dr. Reef]

yes after prazipro treatment u can do water change and run carbon then slowly progress towards hypo.

 

[tassod]

Bnumair, water seems really cloudy sometimes i can barely see the fish...is this because i am not running carbon? Is it bad for the fish?

 

[Dr. Reef]

bacterial blooms are common in such conditions. u can do water changes or leave it as it and it should pass over few days to a week. running carbon will take the meds out.

 

[tassod]

ok thanks. Also regarding the meds, i wanna make sure i did this right...its one initial dose that lasts 5-7 days and NOT daily doses for 7 days correct?

 

[Dr. Reef]

yes 1 dose last 7 days. if u do water change in between then re dose the ratio of the dose taken out.

 

[tassod]

yes 1 dose last 7 days. if u do water change in between then re dose the ratio of the dose taken out.

That's what i did, thanks.