help

[marlzz]

my tank crashed a while ago and i need to set up a quarantine tank immediately. would benificial bacteria be enough for my fish? They’re in one right now but the water quality isn’t great I did a waterchange about 45 minutes ago and tested the water and the nitrites still seemed to be high. Ph is ok Ammonia is 0. Everything else is ok. I’m newer to the hobby and i am not sure what to do. The fish are eating and they seem okay but they’re breathing a little heavy for my comfort and they seem to be twitching a bit. It’s definitely a bit overcrowded which is why i wanted to set up the new tank to separate some fish. Anything helps

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

If you add enough of the right bottle bacteria, then yes, it will be enough (see below).

Dr. Reef did a study on bottle-bac for insta-cycling a tank a while back. They found Fritz Turbo Start 900 was the best, and Biospira and Dr. Tim’s were runners up.

Dr. Reef said:
Few years ago I conducted a massive study here on r2r. It's called bacteria in bottle myth or fact.
We studied 9 or 10 different brands.
Fritz turbostart 900 wins in every way possible.
Bio Spira and Dr Tim one and only are runner ups.
Rest I found might be hetrotrophic ammonia sludge removers.
We use instant cycles in our qt tanks in between bleaching tanks.
Never had any issues. I use fritz turbstart 900.
Bleach the tank. Air dry for 24 hrs rinse and reset. Fill up the tank and use 2 to 3 times the amount recommended and release fish.
Algae is normal phase of every tank cycle that likely can't be avoided.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

The twitching and heavy breathing sounds like it may be indicative of problems, I don’t know for sure. So, to be safe, #fishmedic

 

[Sharkbait19]

My guess is that the twitching and heavy breathing is an ammonia issue - test again.
Dose bacteria and move media from the dt into the qt for more bacteria. Do water changes and dose prime as needed.

 

[vpierce3]

Water flow and air stone. Make sure water is Oxygenated. The bacteria can cause O2 levels to drop.

 

[DenverFox]

The fish may just be stressed because of their new environment. Make sure you have surface agitation and/or an air stone with air pump in case it’s oxygen deprivation. Are they still in the tank that crashed? Too much algae can strip the oxygen. Testing numbers would be helpful. To answer your question, yes bottle bacteria will kick start the cycle, but it won’t be stable if you don’t have porous rock in the tank or filter for the bacteria to colonize.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

my tank crashed a while ago and i need to set up a quarantine tank immediately. would benificial bacteria be enough for my fish? They’re in one right now but the water quality isn’t great I did a waterchange about 45 minutes ago and tested the water and the nitrites still seemed to be high. Ph is ok Ammonia is 0. Everything else is ok. I’m newer to the hobby and i am not sure what to do. The fish are eating and they seem okay but they’re breathing a little heavy for my comfort and they seem to be twitching a bit. It’s definitely a bit overcrowded which is why i wanted to set up the new tank to separate some fish. Anything helps

Can you post a short video of the fish?
What test kit are you using for ammonia? Some of them don't work very well.
Nitrite itself isn't an issue for marine fish, it is only toxic to freshwater fish.

Jay

 

[MaxM]

Prime will make nitrites safe for fish (ammonia too) and won't significantly delay your cycle. Nitrite will still be processed by bacteria.

 

[homer1475]

Prime will make nitrites safe for fish (ammonia too) and won't significantly delay your cycle. Nitrite will still be processed by bacteria.

Not even remotely true.

Prime has been shown many times over in these forums that it does nothing to ammonia, and nitrites are not toxic to marine fish. This is a fallacy carried over from FW where it is toxic.

 

[threebuoys]

While helpful, Bacteria in a Bottle products often take days to cycle a tank. During that period, ammonia levels can rise to deadly levels. Hence the need for accurate and frequent testing with a reliable test kit.

Are the fish in the new QT from an established tank or are they new additions? The QT protocol link below addresses procedures to deal with issues such as ammonia.