My poor fish!

[AmberL]

When I got home, my fish seemed to be doing fine; they were swimming normally (at least for a clown fish) at a 45 degree angle. They ate fine as well.

I had my LFS do an ammonia test on the QT water and I did have 2.5 ppm.

I did a 25% water change last night and they were fine - swimming normally and actively. However, this morning, one of the fish was swimming on his side again. Both seemed a less active. Not sure what that means. I'll do another water change tonight and see what happens in the morning. Or should I space the water changes out to every other day?

 

[Virtuoso]

I may be wrong, but I think that is a lot of ammonia for fish to be swimming in. Did you let your tank cycle when you put the live rock in? How long did you wait before putting in fish?

 

[AmberL]

This is a QT tank, not a main tank. There is no live rock - it is a bare bottom tank. My main tank is still cycling.

 

[Virtuoso]

Ah, okay. I should have coffee before posting, sorry. Have you used an anti-ammonia formula like Amquel Plus? There are a couple out there that will help you reduce ammonia which I think work especially well in a QT setting. I would get some of that ASAP.

 

[AmberL]

That's okay.
No, I haven't heard of that. I'll see if I can find it. Thanks.

 

[DustinB]

One thing to note for future reference, if you ever happen to treat with copper, do not use ammonia reducing compounds. If it is just a standard QT go for it.

 

[AmberL]

One thing to note for future reference, if you ever happen to treat with copper, do not use ammonia reducing compounds. If it is just a standard QT go for it.

Thanks. I'm not treating with anything right now.

 

[Toddrtrex]

With an ammonia level that high, and how the fish looked better for a bit, and not looking worse again, I would either do 2 water changes per day (( Ideally )) or at least one that is twice as large.

 

[stewartms]

IME clowns will actually sleep on their side. If it when you first turn on the tank lights and at the fishes normal lights out time it is possible they are just not awake yet or are ready for bed. I do suggest keeping up with the water changes regularly to maintain water quality.

 

[NirvanaFan]

Keep doing water changes to keep the ammonia down. Every day wouldn't hurt.

When you see the clown swimming on it's side, is it right after you turn your lights on? How long before you leave do you see it swimming on it's side? Sometimes my clowns take a bit to wake up and start swimming normally.

 

[AmberL]

It's in the morning before work (6:45) that they have been swimming on their sides. When I got home after work yesterday, they were swimming normally. I didn't realize fish slept like that.

 

[goofball310]

I don't keep my QT running 24/7/365 and only set it up the day I buy a new fish or corals. The water I use for my QT comes from my display though. I have a 10 gallon QT that I fill with 8 gallons of water from my display and 2 gallons of freshly made salt water. I'll only keep my QT running as long as I keepfish or coral in there and break it down as soon as it's empty. I try not to keep it running because I would be too tempted to turn it into another full blown reef.

 

[AmberL]

I don't keep my QT running 24/7/365 and only set it up the day I buy a new fish or corals. The water I use for my QT comes from my display though. I have a 10 gallon QT that I fill with 8 gallons of water from my display and 2 gallons of freshly made salt water. I'll only keep my QT running as long as I keepfish or coral in there and break it down as soon as it's empty. I try not to keep it running because I would be too tempted to turn it into another full blown reef.

That's exactly what I plan to do once I get my display tank cycled. I'm glad there are other people doing the same thing.
My QT is a 10 gallon tank, and as soon as I brought it home, I started thinking about what a cool sea horse tank it would make. Haha.

 

[lacosta28]

You may want to watch your fish closely in that nano tank. I read a lot of stories of fish getting stuck in the back. They have a flaw in the design that allows fish to jump back there even when the lid is closed. I was at Pets Mart last night and they have them on sell for half off due to the model being discontinued. Perhaps they will fix this with the next version that comes out.

 

[AmberL]

You may want to watch your fish closely in that nano tank. I read a lot of stories of fish getting stuck in the back. They have a flaw in the design that allows fish to jump back there even when the lid is closed. I was at Pets Mart last night and they have them on sell for half off due to the model being discontinued. Perhaps they will fix this with the next version that comes out.

Maybe I have a different model - It seemed a bit dusty, so maybe it's an older model. There's no space for the fish to go from the tank to the back - although my juvenile clown was small enough to wedge himself into the return flow pipe. But there isn't a way they can get into the filter area.

 

[tnias]

Right now with my new 34G home tank and the start of my 75G tank for the office I plan to keep my QT up and running for the better part of this year until I am done stocking both tanks. After that I will tear it down until I need it.