Prime/Water Changes to manage ammonia in an uncycled Quarantine Tank

[sawellem]

So heres my situation:

I set up my first QT tank (20 gallons) about a week and a half ago and added a small Scopas Tang and a White tail pseudochromis to it yesterday. Needless to say it is uncycled and I am starting to see ammonia building up (about 0.5 ppm). I know that ideally, I should be doing 10 gallon (50%) water changes to it daily but I can't manage to do that. What I can do is 5 gallon (25%) water changes daily and add a full dosage of prime to it every night to manage the ammonia build up. Could this work or will my fish die if I dont do strict 10 gallon (50%) water changes to it every night? Could I possibly get to the point of having to do only 5 gallon (25%) water changes to it every other night and adding a full dosage of prime to it every night?

Unrelated: My tang gets into these fits were he will fight his reflection quite aggresively. Obviously this stresses him out. Could this be a problem?

Thanks again ReefCentral for ANY help.
-Sawellem

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Did they come out of the DT (for disease) or are they new fish? If new you could add LR (although not recommended) or a well seeded sponge. Can you get any BioSpira?
I would do everything I could do manage ammonia without adding chemicals.

 

[Dmorty217]

Get a ammonia badge so you know when ammonia becomes a problem

 

[julie180]

I have become a fan of Instant Ocean Bio-Spire, its the only one I have seen that is saltwater specific.

Any water changes are going to be better than none! Do what you can.

I use Prime when I do tank transfer and have had no problems. Just remember that only the seachem ammonia test will give you accurate results after dosing it. The ammonia badge has been a life saver for me.

 

[Mishri]

Is there a consensus on how high ammonia can be to start harming fish? I've seen as low as .25ppm can damage a fish's gills, if I see ammonia at all I usually start with 50% water changes.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Ammonia at any level can damage their gills.

 

[Mishri]

Well.. that's not what this article says: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-02/rhf/ (.1ppm)

But.. the question was intended to point out that the OP says he has .50 ammonia and he can't do any water changes. that is bad. .25 and above you need to be doing something to fix it.. putting them in 0 ammonia water basically.

What is holding you back from doing more water changes? Lack of RO/DI? pick some up at the LFS or most grocery stores have RO water available (It's good enough for your purpose here). -keep it below .25

my advice in the future is do the ammonia treatment to cycle a QT tank (using a hob or sponge filter) before getting fish.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Well....this article says any trace of ammonia can be toxic: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa031

 

[Mishri]

No it doesn't, it says anytime UIA is higher than .05 mg/l it can cause damage and 2.0 mg/l fish can die.

So, for our hobby test kits that means if you get a positive reading you are probably harming your fish and should be fixing it. (Different fish have different tolerances though)

 

[Newsmyrna80]

I'm not going to back and forth with this, however, this article states "Even trace amounts can be toxic to fish, and ammonia is colorless, and, in small amounts, odorless. Therefore, the only way for an aquarist or producer to know if ammonia is present is to test the water."
Therefore, if ammonia test is positive it needs to be addressed.
As to the OPs question continually dosing Prime to control ammonia can be problematic as there is not a test for it.