qt questions

BDeVaney · Mar 4, 2014

Okay, so I have 2 fish and they have ich/velvet. Garlic feeding and focus/metro hasnt worked and I have used that stuff for a few weeks now. I have set up a small qt 5.5 gallons and put the fish in. I did this yesterday and started with instant ocean lifegaurd because thats all i could find. I will be picking up copper meds today. I have a heater and a hob filter running with no carbon or filtration, just as a water mover/oxidizer. I feel comfortable copper dosing and testing but my question mainly is about ammonia build up. I am thinking of doing a 50% water change everyday for the qt to prevent ammonia levels getting high. I am concerned however that there will still be some ammonia present. Is this ok for the fish if there is a small amount of ammonia? Also does anyone have any suggestions on how to best keep down the ammonia besides daily 50% water changes?

Deinonych · Mar 4, 2014

It's going to be tough with such a small water volume. What I do to manage NH3 in an uncycled QT is place some ceramic media (like Seachem Matrix) in a media bag in my HOB filter. I then seed the tank with Bio-spira. I've never had an ammonia problem using this method, but I use 20g tanks for my QTs, so the larger water volume helps a lot. You didn't mention what fish you have in QT, and that can make a big difference in your ability to manage NH3.

Be sure to check the Cu concentration daily, preferably each evening before lights out. You want to make sure the levels are correct before nighttime since that's when the free-swimming stage of the parasite is released.

BDeVaney · Mar 4, 2014

Yeah I have to have this size pretty much cuz I'm in an apartment and my girlfriend isn't too happy to see another tank in the first place. I will check up on that ceramic stuff an the bio spira. Does that interfere with the copper dosing? I will definitely be checking cu levels when I put copper in today. I have 2 fish. A small coral beauty and a juvenile midnight clown

Deinonych · Mar 4, 2014

The ceramic media will not interfere with the copper treatment.

BDeVaney · Mar 4, 2014

Ok cool I will try to pick that up then

BDeVaney · Mar 4, 2014

Has anyone heard of "fish keeper" supplement? http://reefbuilders.com/2010/03/25/fishkeeper-additive-marine-reef/ my LFS recommended it. He has cupramine and Seachem products as well but he said this was what he uses and he said that he would use it for fish that have a light case of marine velvet over the copper

Deinonych · Mar 4, 2014

BDeVaney said:
Has anyone heard of "fish keeper" supplement? FishKeeper Additive for marine and reef my LFS recommended it. He has cupramine and Seachem products as well but he said this was what he uses and he said that he would use it for fish that have a light case of marine velvet over the copper

Sounds like snake oil to me. "Reef safe" or "natural herbal" supplements rarely do anything, and they certainly won't eradicate the parasite.

BTW, it's unlikely your fish have velvet. Mortalities from velvet are very rapid and typically wipe out the entire aquarium population. If you've observed symptoms for a couple weeks now, you are more than likely dealing with ich.

BDeVaney · Mar 4, 2014

A couple weeks ago I had 7 fish. So whatever it is they are getting wiped out. The spots are small and dust like

Deinonych · Mar 4, 2014

Velvet looks like a dull brown or golden sheen on the fish, especially when observed head-on. If you have what looks like salt sprinkles, then you're dealing with ich. Regardless, both can be treated successfully with copper.

BDeVaney · Mar 4, 2014

Alright sounds good. My biggest concerns at the moment, as stated before, are the possible levels of ammonia going up. I could not find the ceramic stuff today or the bio spira

Deinonych · Mar 4, 2014

Do you have a Petsmart or Petco in your area? Both carry Bio-spira. If you can't find Seachem Matrix, Fluval makes ceramic rings that work just as well.