To medicate or not that is the question.

[asmodyus]

So I just dosed the QT tank with Copper today since it has some live rock I expect some die of. How long do guys think it will take for ammonia to start showing up in couple hours a day? I probably should check the tank every hours maybe. When I do my water change 25% to 30% and do I use Fresh Salt or water from the DT.

 

[anbosu]

Those ammonia alert badges are used pretty commonly on QTs. I think Seachem makes them and while I'm sure they aren't perfect, it beats having to test constantly.

 

[Sonicboom]

those ammonia alert badges are used pretty commonly on qts. I think seachem makes them and while i'm sure they aren't perfect, it beats having to test constantly.

+1

 

[asmodyus]

+1

Okay I have a badge and right now it not registering anything but I just did an a API Ammonia tester and it registering what looks like to be .25 on the ammonia chart. Do I do a water change now or wait till it gets to .5 and if I do a water change new Salt or DT salt?

 

[Sonicboom]

If you medicated you can add ammolock but follow the directions.

 

[asmodyus]

If you medicated you can add ammolock but follow the directions.

All I have is prime and read somewhere that I cannot mix copper and prime so I just go ahead and do 25% water change and should I use new water or Display Tank?

 

[Sonicboom]

You can use either, I usually use tank for qt then use fresh for tank.

 

[asmodyus]

You can use either, I usually use tank for qt then use fresh for tank.

So make sure I understand because my mind is tired you use Fresh for the display and use the display for the QT when doing water changes to lower the ammonia?

 

[Sonicboom]

Correct

 

[asmodyus]

Question so I just took 5 gallons of water from my Display tank to do a 25% water change on my 20 gallon QT that is registering between .25-.5 on API Ammonia chart. I did an Ammonia check on the 5 gallon water from my display tan k and read 0. I than put .25 OZ of copper power in the water for the dosage, than ran the ammonia tester just because and it was now registering almost .25 on the color chart is there a false positive on the API test with copper power?

 

[asmodyus]

Well he did not make it he still had ich on last night and did not make it today. Well there was a lot of things I learned from this ordeal. Seems like the answer to my original question is to medicate immediately when entering a qt from the LFS. I might not have lost all those fish. But now I will have 2 qt tanks 10 for smaller fish and a 20l for larger. Thanks for all the help and answers from everyone.

 

[Sonicboom]

Sorry to hear he didn't make it. Sad that lessons have to be learned at the expense of fish... I would dump and bleach the qt tanks and start fresh. Once they are reading 0 ammonia start with just one or two fish. Also have some ammo lock on hand. I am almost positive you can add ammo lock with other medications. It's almost a must, otherwise you will never get the dosage to stay from the water changes to keep ammonia down.