QT Spike Please help

[Irishman360]

QT Residence; 2 Black Ice Ocellairs Clowns, 1 Royal Gramma

Was out of town in the morning and wife said that my Royal Gramma isn't looking to good. Came home and he is laying in the corner but still alive and breathing heavily. Wont move that much with the fish net near him. QT Parameters (Red Sea Kit) Ammonia: .02-.04 hard to tell, Nitrates: 20, Nitrites: .5. I think what happened is that I didn't do a water change when I was supposed to and now I have this. Had a SW bucket for my ATO on my DT tank to help raise salinity and now I have a heater, air stone and the Royal in there now since he isn't doing to well. The clowns are doing okay for the most part.

I have a 5 Gallon of SW mixing now. How long does it have to mix for to swap out water? Is there minimum time frame? How much water should I change out?

Should I also put my clowns in the bucket with the Royal?

I also have prime and put a dose in the QT tank. Is that enough or should I put more? Or should I wait to do a water change?

Did I take the right steps for this so far?

 

[Irishman360]

Well the Royal didn't end up making it. At least I did what I could for him in the end I guess. Answers to my questions would be helpful for next time this happens if anyone has the chance to knock them out.

 

[Marchillo]

I think you need to provide more info.

How did you acclimate, how big is your qt. Where did you get the fish? Lfs? Shipped? What was source salinity and what was your qt set at? Always have extra saltwater prepared during qt. Use an ammonia badge on qt tank. Keep prime on hand (sounds like you had that).

Answer some of those questions and easier to give suggestions.

 

[Marchillo]

I personally run a powerhead in qt. Most will say air stone is fine though.

How often was your wc plan. With an uncycled qt you could be changing water daily or every other day. Depends on tank size. You did have 3 fish in qt which is a tad on the high side. I had 2 fish in a 20g filled to about 15-17g and was doing 30% changes every other day. I ran a sponge filter and a powerhead.

 

[Irishman360]

Acclimation was 15 min temp acclimate. QT is 20 gallons. Fish were from LFS. QT salinity 1.021 same as LFS, tested when I got there to be sure. Also ammonia badge was on tank, didn't change color or anything. How long do I have to let SW mix for before adding it or doing a WC

 

[Irishman360]

I personally run a powerhead in qt. Most will say air stone is fine though.

How often was your wc plan. With an uncycled qt you could be changing water daily or every other day. Depends on tank size. You did have 3 fish in qt which is a tad on the high side. I had 2 fish in a 20g filled to about 15-17g and was doing 30% changes every other day. I ran a sponge filter and a powerhead.

WC was going to be once a week. Looking back on it now it would of been not enough. I have a HOB filter now and running a power head. First QT with first batch of fish was with an air stone

 

[gone fishin]

In a pinch I have mixed my water for an hour or two and did a WC. Also be aware that if you use prime you may not get an accurate ammonia reading from your test. Seachems ammonia test is made for testing with prime added.

 

[Marchillo]

WC was going to be once a week. Looking back on it now it would of been not enough. I have a HOB filter now and running a power head. First QT with first batch of fish was with an air stone

I'll be honest with you I had trouble with some of the colors on the badge so I aired on the side of caution when it came to wc's.

As Tony pointed out once you use prime most ammonia tests won't give proper readings. SeaChem is the test to get. On a 20G QT Id have at least 5G of saltwater already mixed with a ph ready to go and another 10G of RODI water waiting. I don't have a good station setup so it's all Home Depot buckets for me.

I kept decent notes on my qt. I'll copy/paste it. Not saying this is the way to do it, but I ended up with two heathy pj cardinals at the end.

 

[Marchillo]

I didn't start Tank Transfer method right away, but wish I had. Would have saved me one transfer. I got lax with my notes near the end and as I said before I may have done too many wc's but more is better than not enough

QT - PJ Cardinals
Sun May 31 - fish in
Wed 30% wc
Thu prime
Fri 30% wc
Sat 30% wc
Sun Jun 7 30% wc
Mon prime
Wed 30% wc w/prime
Sun June 14- new tank
Tue - added prime
Wed - new tank T1 (day 3)
Thu - added prime
Sat - new tank T2 (day 6)
Sun June 21
Mon - added prime
Tue- new tank T3 (day 9)
Thu - added prime
Fri - new tank T4 (day 12)
Sat - added prime
Sun - June 28
Tue - added prime (1/2 dose)
Tue - 35% wc
Wed - added prime
Fri - 35% wc w/prime
Sat - added prime
Sun July 5 - 15% wc with DT water
Tue - 30% wc
Wed - added prime (1/2 dose)
Thu - added prime (1/2 dose)
Fri July 10 - added prime (1/2 dose)
Put into display tank

42 total days

I would have liked to keep them in qt about 1-2 more weeks but vacation cut it short.

I also did not treat with Prazi

 

[Irishman360]

In a pinch I have mixed my water for an hour or two and did a WC. Also be aware that if you use prime you may not get an accurate ammonia reading from your test. Seachems ammonia test is made for testing with prime added.

I do have the Seachem ammonia test as well. When I set up my QT for this batch of fish I didn't add any prime to it so I knew my Red Sea would be accurate. I know once you add prime you have to use the free ammonia test.

I have about 30 gallons of RO available at all time, just not SW

 

[Irishman360]

I didn't start Tank Transfer method right away, but wish I had. Would have saved me one transfer. I got lax with my notes near the end and as I said before I may have done too many wc's but more is better than not enough

QT - PJ Cardinals
Sun May 31 - fish in
Wed 30% wc
Thu prime
Fri 30% wc
Sat 30% wc
Sun Jun 7 30% wc
Mon prime
Wed 30% wc w/prime
Sun June 14- new tank
Tue - added prime
Wed - new tank T1 (day 3)
Thu - added prime
Sat - new tank T2 (day 6)
Sun June 21
Mon - added prime
Tue- new tank T3 (day 9)
Thu - added prime
Fri - new tank T4 (day 12)
Sat - added prime
Sun - June 28
Tue - added prime (1/2 dose)
Tue - 35% wc
Wed - added prime
Fri - 35% wc w/prime
Sat - added prime
Sun July 5 - 15% wc with DT water
Tue - 30% wc
Wed - added prime (1/2 dose)
Thu - added prime (1/2 dose)
Fri July 10 - added prime (1/2 dose)
Put into display tank

42 total days

I would have liked to keep them in qt about 1-2 more weeks but vacation cut it short.

I also did not treat with Prazi

Thanks for the advice. I did do a WC last night and plan on doing another one when I get home for work and test the water again. Will Red Sea kits work for Nitrite and Nitrate?

 

[Marchillo]

I think those test kits should be fine.

 

[Sk8r]

How soon to use water? As soon as it's clear and not cloudy. Stronger mixing pump means it will go faster. A Mag 5 in a 5 gallon bucket mixes a lot faster than a MJ1200. In an absolute emergency, using a power drill with a paint stirrer isn't beyond the pale.