Quarantine Tank Failure

[Crystalyst]

Lost my first fish and i'm pretty heartbroken.

Here's my conundrum - I set up the tank ask per instructions:
10g 100% RODI water 1.025 salinity
Took 50% from my cycled display tank and 50% new to kick it off
Did Water changes every 2-3 days
Have hang on filter with a sponge as well
powerhead (40GPH)
PVC fittings for shelter
Temparature is around 76-78

Added 2 juvie clowns. 1 refused to eat and 1 was doing great. The one refusing to eat eventually died.

Now, I made the terrible decision that when one day after I had done a 50% water change just 10 or so hours earlier, when I tested there was 2ppm of ammonia and 1ppm nitrite. My non-eater was having trouble breathing. Well, I panicked and just threw them in the DT (They both started breathing better by the AM since my DT is cycled and have diatoms and a happy and healthy CUC and shrimp)

Well, the other once in the DT developed some white dots causing me to freak out. I put them back in the QT after I had done 2 more 50% water changes over a few days. Once back in QT, the one who wasn't eating really took a turn for the worse and ultimately died. (once back in QT the white spots were completely gone) They both have some discoloration on their front white band.

Well, now the QT is back to 2ppm and 1PPM and I just gave up. I threw the other back in the DT where he is hiding in the corner not eating with some discoloration on his front white band, but overall looks fine. (Tank 1.025 salinity, 0 ammonia and nitrite and <5 Nitrate

TL;DR - Really frustrated. I want to QT and do what I have to. I have a 30g biocube so I just want a temporary QT. Is that just impossible despite following the guides on doing so? Will there be inevitable ammonia and nitrite despite water changes every other day?

I ordered new sponges and filters for QT and going to let soak in my DT to get all nice and gross. Hopefully then I can control the ammonia spikes - leave the QT up until I get all my fish in, then just take it down and use only temporarily. (And leave my tank fishless for 2+ months in case I do have ich or something)

Suggestions? Help? :uhoh3:

 

[MondoBongo]

sorry for your loss.

an ammonia locker like AmQuel or SeaChem Prime is a very valuable thing to have for uncycled QT tanks. additionally, 2 - 3 days between water changes is likely far too long.

the water doesn't contain any real amount of the nitrifying bacteria, they're all benthic, meaning they live on surfaces, and are not free floating.

i usually use Tank Transfer Method (aka TTM) for my primary QT regimen, followed by a 5+ week stay in my grow out system. setting aside space and complexity concerns, one of the reasons i like TTM is that it helps keep the fish in clean water. since i'm changing them to a new tank every other day, and usually doing about a 50% water change on the days i am not transferring. the water change is typically done while siphoning out all the uneaten food from the tank.

that coupled with one of the previously mentioned ammonia locker products usually does the trick to keep the water nice and clean.

it does seem a little strange to me that two small clownfish produced that much ammonia that quickly. what size tank are you using? are you feeding very heavily?

is it possible that your ammonia reading is incorrect, false positive, and that the stress displayed by the fish was something to do with them being infected?

 

[ca1ore]

Better to have a fish die in QT than in the DT. NEVER 'short circuit' QT. Some fish just won't eat. Patience is important, as many will begin to eat once they have settled in; but some never do.

 

[jnw240reef]

Unless you are really overfeeding them 10g tank should handle them for 2 days without water change. Even with tank transfer it's every days.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[Crystalyst]

I think I overfed the first time. (Definitely did since I was trying to get the 2nd to eat after 5 days so was trying every food product)

The second time after a complete 100% water change and fresh QT start I didn't feed at all just to avoid any ammonia. Still spiked to same point.

 

[Marchillo]

Get an ammonia alert badge to monitor the ammonia. Get SeaChem prime to bind the ammonia. If trying multiple foods put the tiniest of amounts in and if possible fish out what isn't eaten. Also probably better to do smaller more frequent water changes instead of huge water changes every 2-3 days. You'd be much better off with 20% daily than 50% every 3 days.

 

[Crystalyst]

Yah I already ordered the SeaChem Prime, ammonia alert new filters etc. Will do daily small changes going forward. Im ashamed i never considered that earlier as I used in DT (Yet still let cycled 2 months)

 

[Crystalyst]

Thanks all for the responses, I think I can better get QT under control!

 

[Bent]

Fwiw I don't think I've ever had a fish start eating until at least 4 days in.

 

[gone fishin]

I would also add try not to panic. Doing hastily thrown together large water changes or other attempted quick remedies usually does not help the situation.

 

[Brieninsac]

You should use a product like Bio-spira in your QT after you set it up. It really helps with combating the ammonia spike.

I find the high ammonia puzzling and don't know what that could be.

How were the clowns acclimated when added to the tank? Did you pour the LFS water into the QT too?

 

[PAXpress]

I would also add try not to panic. Doing hastily thrown together large water changes or other attempted quick remedies usually does not help the situation.

I have to agree with this. I'm the same way at times OMG OMG MUST FIX THE PROBLEM NOW! mentality only causes you to make other hasty mistakes. Another thing I would get is some ammonia and do a fishless cycle, Even taking seeded media or rocks from your DT can cause a bit of a spike, that plus food and fish waste you have a real problem. Get some ammonia and test test test until you dose 2ppm (normally a drop per gallon so 10 drops) and 24 hours later nitrite and ammonia are undetectable. For me it took quite a while. probably because of the lack of rocks etc. I only had two sponge filters to grow the BB so it took probably 2 months. Sorry to hear about your losses, I went through the same with some beautiful Occelarus clowns (too lazy to google spelling) and still haven't forgiven myself.

 

[Pigpen17]

It's the hardest thing to do when your QTing a fish. The second you see your fish having problems your first instinct is to throw it in your DT to try to save it, but that's exactly the time not to do it.

I also use Biospira and have had very few water quality problems. And I stopped trying to get my fish to eat in the first few days by feeding it more. It will eat when it's ready.

 

[Crystalyst]

Yah, man. I researched for months and still learning new stuff every day. Guess that's the beauty and curse of reef keeping.

Great quote and the reason I killed my fish. Stress. I'll do better next time. It's a shame it happened to my dream fish.