Getting first fish advice

[canadianeh]

Ok. I found a pair of mocha storm clownfish pair that I want to adopt my main DT is at 13 days cycling. Check out my build thread. The ammonia has been under 1 ppm since day one. I used Caribsea purple liferock, live sand, whole bottle of dr Tim’s bacteria, marine pure balls. Some says I am cycled already.

Can I get the water from the DT with a couple of marine pure balls and set it up in QT tank 20 gallons? Fish pics are below. See anything concerning?

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Clownfish are pretty hardy so I think it should be fine but waiting longer wouldn't hurt either. You should be fine to just add some of the cycled media to the QT tank (thats all I did for mine mind you the media was cycling longer). I would recommend getting some prime water conditioner and a seachem ammonia alert badge for the QT- both of these things will help you keep track of and address any potential build up of ammonia. The badge tells you wether or not there is ammonia in the water and is un affected by medication, the prime can be dosed if you notice ammonia to temporarily detoxify it giving you time to do larger water change etc

 

[canadianeh]

Do you see anything concerning with the fish?

 

[Idoc]

The clowns look healthy so far. If you have ammonia in the DT still, I wouldn't use that water in the quarantine tank...might want to test to make sure first. But, if you have some more bottle bacteria, just add a little each day into the QT and it will help to control any ammonia occurring. I always setup my fish quarantine tanks a day or two before planning to get a new fish...just add bottled bacteria daily for the first week while using a Seachem ammonia alert badge and have never had any issues so far. If you use any biomedia from your DT, it won't be able to go back into your DT if you plan on treating the fish with copper, though. I'd recommend treating the clowns for Brooklynella anyhow in quarantine since they are very susceptible to this disease...and its a killer that is hard to clear out of your DT if they develop it in there later!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

They look good to me but animals of all types are literally made to hide their illness from others so they don't look like easy prey. Thats why close observation is such an important part of quarantine!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

The clowns look healthy so far. If you have ammonia in the DT still, I wouldn't use that water in the quarantine tank...might want to test to make sure first. But, if you have some more bottle bacteria, just add a little each day into the QT and it will help to control any ammonia occurring. I always setup my fish quarantine tanks a day or two before planning to get a new fish...just add bottled bacteria daily for the first week while using a Seachem ammonia alert badge and have never had any issues so far. If you use any biomedia from your DT, it won't be able to go back into your DT if you plan on treating the fish with copper, though. I'd recommend treating the clowns for Brooklynella anyhow in quarantine since they are very susceptible to this disease...and its a killer that is hard to clear out of your DT if they develop it in there later!

Prophylactic Treatment is really hard to do in Canada since pretty much all fish meds are now illegal here. I think most Canadian's are going to need to turn to things like TTM, focusing on maintaining healthy immune systems etc. It's not impossible to get the meds but you need to convince an exotics vet why you need it and pay whatever for the appointment and then the meds. I'd be kind of surprised if a vet would give it to you just because you wanted to be cautious.

 

[canadianeh]

The clowns look healthy so far. If you have ammonia in the DT still, I wouldn't use that water in the quarantine tank...might want to test to make sure first. But, if you have some more bottle bacteria, just add a little each day into the QT and it will help to control any ammonia occurring. I always setup my fish quarantine tanks a day or two before planning to get a new fish...just add bottled bacteria daily for the first week while using a Seachem ammonia alert badge and have never had any issues so far. If you use any biomedia from your DT, it won't be able to go back into your DT if you plan on treating the fish with copper, though. I'd recommend treating the clowns for Brooklynella anyhow in quarantine since they are very susceptible to this disease...and its a killer that is hard to clear out of your DT if they develop it in there later!

See the problem is I don’t know if there is really ammonia or not as most people say ammonia test kit is not always accurate. It is day 13 today and I still see 0.5 ppm of ammonia. See the test results below. Something is off. Would you not agree? Like I said I used Caribsea purple liferock, live sand, whole bottle of dr Tim’s bacteria, marine pure balls in my tank. Test kit I am using is Salifert

Day 1
Dose 60 drops of ammonia

Day 2
Ammonia <0.15
Nitrate 25

Day 3
Ammonia <0.15
Nitrate 2.5
Then after added more ammonia drops

Day 4
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2.5

Day 5
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2

Day 6
Added more ammonia
15 minutes later ammonia test shows 0.5

Day 7
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 5

Day 8
Didn’t test. No ammonia added

Day 9
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 25

Day 10
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 25
Added 65 drops of ammonia after the test

Day 11
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 50

Day 12
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 50

Day 13
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 50

 

[Idoc]

See the problem is I don’t know if there is really ammonia or not as most people say ammonia test kit is not always accurate. It is day 13 today and I still see 0.5 ppm of ammonia. See the test results below. Something is off. Would you not agree? Like I said I used Caribsea purple liferock, live sand, whole bottle of dr Tim’s bacteria, marine pure balls in my tank. Test kit I am using is Salifert

Day 1
Dose 60 drops of ammonia

Day 2
Ammonia <0.15
Nitrate 25

Day 3
Ammonia <0.15
Nitrate 2.5
Then after added more ammonia drops

Day 4
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2.5

Day 5
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2

Day 6
Added more ammonia
15 minutes later ammonia test shows 0.5

Day 7
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 5

Day 8
Didn’t test. No ammonia added

Day 9
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 25

Day 10
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 25
Added 65 drops of ammonia after the test

Day 11
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 50

Day 12
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 50

Day 13
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 50

Yes, your numbers seem odd....can't go from 25ppm NO3 to 5ppm NO3 while adding more ammonia all the time and not doing water changes! But, you added bottled bacteria and started with live sand, etc... I would be really surprised if you were not already cycled. I'm not familiar with the Salifert ammonia test...I typically use the Red Sea Ammonia test...but I do use the Salifert NO3 test. I'd say you're cycled...