1st Week New Fish in QT

Meadowlark · #1 10/18/2007, 11:53 AM

I have had my clown pair for 4 days now here are some observations.

Ammonia- 0.25
Nitrites- 0.1
Specific Gravity- has remained at 1.021 for all 4 days so far.
Temperature- day 1 (76.1) day 2 (79.5) day 3 (78.3) day 4 (79.8)

today both fish seemed to be swimming rapidly. Not sure if this means anything. They are not eating much at all. I have tried Formula One Pellets so far. I also have the Formula One Flakes but have not tried them so far.

I'm not sure why the temperature is so erratic or if this matters much. Also, are my readings on Ammonia and Nitrites a problem? I plan on doing a small water change tomorrow. Otherwise the fish appear healthy.

Hobby Experience: 1 month

capn_hylinur · #2 10/18/2007, 11:56 AM

I am a little confused by your post--are the fish in a quarantine tank and these are the measurements for the quarantine tank?

Meadowlark · #3 10/18/2007, 11:57 AM

Yes they are in a quarantine tank.

nauticac4 · #4 10/18/2007, 12:47 PM

You need to do a small water change in the QT to keep the levels as close to zero as possible. how big is the QT. Any flow or filtration.

Try to feed some frozen brine, I don't have a fish in my tank that didn't take it first try, maybe I'm just lucky

danch · #5 10/18/2007, 12:51 PM

Yep, do a water change, pronto - any ammonia is going to be bothering them some. Do you have anything for them to hide behind? A couple of PVC fittings can help them get comfortable.

What kind of filter is on your QT?

One thing that helps me with flake is to let it soak in a small dish of tank water until it sinks, then put it in the tank. That way it doesn't float on the surface so much. If you've got a HOB filter, you can also put it in the outflow from the filter.

They might eat better on frozen stuff like zooplankton or mysis. If you can find live brine, they should eat that right up - I'd worry if they didn't.

Meadowlark · #6 10/18/2007, 01:34 PM

Thanks for all the help! I just did a 25% water change. I will probably do 20% daily water changes from now on as long as theyre in the qt tank. My LFS told me the water readings were all good, maybe they were wrong. I'll pick up some frozen mysis or brine shrimp this weekend. Someone suggested thawing it in garlic so I'll probably do that.

b.t.w. I have a 10 gallon qt tank, with a Marineland Biowheel 100, also a hydor Koralia powerfilter in there and 2 pvc pipe elbows for them to hide in.

I put some formula one flake food in there and they had no interest in it. They have been eating the formula one pellets though. Not too much though. Maybe they just don't eat a whole lot? They are pretty small (to medium) fish.

slitwin · #7 10/18/2007, 01:39 PM

How often do you guys recommend doing a water change in a quarantine tank?

danch · #8 10/18/2007, 02:13 PM

Meadowlark: Perhaps your LFS just has a less stringent definition of 'good.' Your filtration should get seeded and catch up soon - keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite as your key to change a bit of water.

kevin2000 · #9 10/18/2007, 02:37 PM

Your goal when running a QT is to keep ammonia levels at zero .. nitrite and nitrate don't count and you won't have any if you keep ammonia levels at zero.

Forget the "small water change" mantra you may hear concerning show tank water changes - in a QT you make whatever water change is necessary to keep ammonia levels at zero .. a single ammonia spike will burn the fish's gills.

Its a good idea when running a QT to make up a large batch of replacement water when you set up the tank. That way you will have a ready supply of mature saltwater handy.

Also a good idea to run a bare bottom tank and siphon out any uneaten food or fish debris on a frequent basis .. will significantly help with ammonia issues.

A $7 investment in a Seachem ammonia alert badge (sold at Petsmart I think) will save you from doing a zillion ammonia tests.

Hope this helps .. good luck.

Meadowlark · #10 10/19/2007, 12:07 AM

thanks Kevin for the helpful info... I have a ammonia alert badge in my qt tank and the color that shows up is "safe" but my test kit shows that I have a small amount of ammonia in there. Maybe the amount is not a cause for concern? Regardless of if its safe of not though I did a 25% pwc today and I will do another 25% tomorrow morning since ammonia is still showing up.

capn_hylinur · #11 10/19/2007, 07:45 AM

I keep a empty 10 gal ready. If I need to use it---I add 10 gal from the sump directly into it.

RyanBrucks · #12 10/19/2007, 09:44 AM

"I have a ammonia alert badge in my qt tank and the color that shows up is "safe" but my test kit shows that I have a small amount of ammonia in there"

I have found the same thing of the in-tank indicators. My ammonia indicator will always read 0, or safe, while test kits give me values of 0.1-0.25. Mine didn't really change color until test kits were reading 0.3-0.4.
I'd take the indicators with a giant grain of salt, and only use them as very-very rough ballparks.

How long did you say you had your tank up and running, before adding the clowns?

I started cycling a 20G about 2 weeks ago, and all harmful levels are almost down to 0 now

Like you, I'll likely quarantine some clownfish soon!

I think I have the same filter, marine biowheels. Is that the one that has 2 filter inserts... one for carbon, and one simple plastic grid, so bacteria can stay put if you need to remove the carbon for medicating?

Meadowlark · #13 10/20/2007, 12:52 AM

Since I have found the small increases in ammonia and nitrites I have been doing water changes every day. I did a 25% water change right after getting the readings and then a 30% water change the next day. However I am still getting the same readings for both ammonia and nitrites. Is this a big deal? My readings are 0.25 for ammonia and 0.1 for nitrites. Should I keep with the 20-25% water changes on a daily basis? Or change more at a time?

Also, my clownfish weren't eating much at all when I fed them Formula One pellets and flakes. Today, I soaked some mysis shrimp (frozen) in garlic today and gave it to them. They were very interested in this and ate almost all of it.

Any other suggestions?

capn_hylinur · #14 10/20/2007, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Meadowlark
Since I have found the small increases in ammonia and nitrites I have been doing water changes every day. I did a 25% water change right after getting the readings and then a 30% water change the next day. However I am still getting the same readings for both ammonia and nitrites. Is this a big deal? My readings are 0.25 for ammonia and 0.1 for nitrites. Should I keep with the 20-25% water changes on a daily basis? Or change more at a time?

Also, my clownfish weren't eating much at all when I fed them Formula One pellets and flakes. Today, I soaked some mysis shrimp (frozen) in garlic today and gave it to them. They were very interested in this and ate almost all of it.

Any other suggestions?

beause it is a small tank and "weak" on filtration I would advise that you pre-rinse the frozen mysis--they pick up alot of phosphates and nitrates etc from their holding tanks.
I use a brine shrimp net and rinse through with r/o water.

ThomasinKind · #15 10/20/2007, 09:17 PM

I'd continue with the daily water changes. Also, you may want to check the accuracy of your test kit(s) on another source of water to make sure you're not getting inaccurate results.

Roger928 · #16 10/20/2007, 11:15 PM

Congratulations on the quarantine, as it's one of the essentials (IMO) and usually the most neglected. You'll benefit greatly from getting into the habit.

Good luck!

rkelman · #17 10/21/2007, 05:37 AM

Keep up the water changes. It sounds like you have everything under control. Don't feed those fish every day though. I'd do every 2nd day at most to help with the ammonia...

internexus · #18 10/21/2007, 09:07 AM

How long should fish typically be in quarantine, since there is no substrate and only pvc fittings for example how does one keep a goby or other sand dweller?

capn_hylinur · #19 10/21/2007, 09:36 AM

typically 4-6 weeks to rule out ich.

internexus · #20 10/21/2007, 10:35 AM

Creatures that live in the sand will be okay being in a bare bottom tank as well?

capn_hylinur · #21 10/21/2007, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by internexus
Creatures that live in the sand will be okay being in a bare bottom tank as well?

agreed providing there are no natural predators for them in the same qt tank with no protection.

capn_hylinur · #22 10/21/2007, 01:53 PM

---------but then a couple of pvc pieces of different sizes will do for protection--you don't need substrate.

spike78 · #23 10/21/2007, 02:08 PM

It seems your specific gravity is high. You should be running a sg of around .12ppt for the quarantine period to kill off ich. If you run full strength seawater, the ich is still completing it's lifecycle and you aren't making any headway in eliminating it.

Roger928 · #24 10/21/2007, 02:37 PM

Don't agree with lowered s.g. in the quarantine tank. IMO the QT should, as closely as possible, match the water params of the display. In fact, many use water from the display for the water changes to to QT. If treatment is required, only then use the appropriate remedy. The purposes of quarantine is to provide isolation from the display, so as to avoid any possible contamination and to allow the livestock a peaceful environment to adjust to your water conditions. Why treat for something if you don't know it exists? Why add stress to the fish by subjecting them to water conditions that are less than opitmal? Why shock the fish further by readjusting them back to "normal" water chemistry?

spike78 · #25 10/21/2007, 05:41 PM

Ich and other parasites are tough to diagnose at all with some fish. Why quarantine at all, especially for 4-6 weeks, if you are not going to try and intercept the problem? A quarantine is is to protect the display from contamination from diseases brought in with new livestock, not simply for acclimation purposes.

Some argue that reduced salinity actually reduces the stress and allows fish to recover from shipping better. For some interesting reading regarding hyposalinity, check out http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/fish

Personally, I'm running my QT as 12ppt salinity at 83 degrees for 6 weeks to intercept and kill off any ich infections carried in by my fish from the LFS.