QT problems

[avandss]

Hey guys! yesterday i noticed .25 in both my qt tanks, i did a 25% wc and today the test is the same, what should i do??

here is the info

20 gallon qt-
2 clown fish
water has a yellow hue to it, and i noticed a little film on everything
fish added june 8th, prazi june 11th wc 25% yesterday


40 gallon qt-
7 little anthias
fish added june 8th, prazi june 11th wc 25% yesterday


Saltwater is over 30days old, 24 mixing with pump
rodi water 000tds
both are running aquaclear filters with 2 sponges each and not other media
little korilla pumps
temp 79

(dt is not cycled yet so i started with fresh SW)
both tanks where setup at least 1 month before adding fish
(did a little ghost feeding on both tanks. for the first few days)

starting to panic!

 

[jrozzi]

the tanks look bare. Odds are the food and fish waste is creating ammonia. It doesn't matter how long the tank sits prior to adding fish if the tank didn't cycle its going to when you add live stock, and if you tried to cycle with no sand or rock the bacteria doesn't have anything to live on so it was pointless.

 

[avandss]

what should i do?

 

[kenman345]

sounds like the yellow tint is the fact that carbon is not in the tank.

The levels would probably be because of the sheer amount of fish you have in each tank, or the inaccuracy in your test kit. Try testing your freshwater and see what it returns

 

[jrozzi]

QT's aren't really suppose to keep fish alive for more 7-10 days its not an established aquarium. You just put them for a few days to make sure the fish is healthy and disease free and then put it in DT.

 

[Fishmommy]

as stated the tank is probably not cycled well enough to support the load. I made the same msitake when I started up my QT - cycled for 6 weeks but it wasn't quite enough and I ended up with ammonia.

you can add prime or amquel to neutralize the ammonia, as long as you are NOT dosing copper at the same time.

 

[kenman345]

what should i do?

What to do? Keep up with the water changes daily to get the tanks maintainable for the fish. Thats usually how most people run the QT's anyways as you are potentially taking things out of the water at the same time which you anyways dont want near your fish (Ich even).

Maybe you might wanna throw in a sponge filter to the DT while it's cycling to build up bacteria so you may eventually stop with the daily water changes and do them every 2-3 days or even less than that.

 

[avandss]

prazi dosing is done, next step is copper ....

 

[jrozzi]

add something to help neutralize the ammonia, ammo-lock or prime, and doing water changes daily will help keep it down. If you can add some bacteria in a bottle to your DT to help speed up the cycle. Its going to get annoying trying to keep the ammonia down in your QTs

 

[kenman345]

prazi dosing is done, next step is copper ....

Copper will likely kill off any bacteria you actually do have built up, say hello to frequent water changes to keep the levels in check.

 

[Fishmommy]

then don't use prime.
I'd wait until your paramters are under control before stressing the fish with copper.

 

[avandss]

i guess 20% daily changes until it stabilizes? i could add some carbon for now?

also if copper kills everything, i guess i have no choice but to do 20% daily changes for 2-3 weeks of copper treatment?

 

[jrozzi]

do your fish have ich or are you just doing it as a precaution

 

[avandss]

as a precaution

i heard enough horror stories to be scared...

 

[lagatbezan]

I would suggest doing tt instead of copper. Easier on the fish and you don't really have to worry about ammonia.

 

[PCygni]

QT's aren't really suppose to keep fish alive for more 7-10 days its not an established aquarium. You just put them for a few days to make sure the fish is healthy and disease free and then put it in DT.

^That doesn't make any sense to me. I routinely QT fish 8 weeks+ (once you've dealt with a serious ich outbreak you'll know why) and keep my parameters in line with 20% water changes every other day. A working QT is a lot of work, there's no way around it; but in the end you provide your livestock with their best chance for a long and happy life.

 

[Fishmommy]

I run a fully cycled QT and fish stay in it 12 weeks or more. I do 20% water changes once a week or once every other week and it's just fine.

Cupramine, when I have used it, did not kill my filter.

 

[Nina51]

You just put them for a few days to make sure the fish is healthy and disease free and then put it in DT.

7-10 days is not enough time to determine the health of a fish.

 

[avandss]

Thanks guys, everything is stabalizing in the 40g, however the 20g is very yellowish. Still trying to figure that out

Will start doing 20% every other day

 

[Cymonous]

Did you add a bag of carbon to the 20g filter?