QT.. adding fish after 6 months

[ramasezz]

Hi everyone... compliments of the new Year... am posting coz I need some advice.. I have a 225 gallon mixed reef tank and I am about to introduce fishes into it after about 6 months. I have a 55 gallon that I intended to use as a QT. My fish stock will be arriving today and the list is:
Pyjama cardinal 4
Green chromis 7
Orange shoulder tang 1
Coral beauty angel 1
Blue eye Royal dotty back 1
I just happened to recheck the water parameter with an API reef master yest kit I have abs there's NH4 at .25 and NO2 at .25 and NO3 at 10. All ppm...
Is this safe now to use? I don't suppose the nitrogen cycle is complete but I had used water from my DT for this purpose. I have a top filter and a skimmer working overtime on the QT to try remedy but my question is " would I be better off releasing the new stock into my DT given the scenario at hand?"

My current fish stock in my DT are
Maroon clown 1
Regal tang 1
Green chromis 1
Lunare wrasse 1
Yellow and purple wrasse 1
Electric blue damsel 1
Yellow foxface 2
Pearly dartfish 2

These have been with me for about 6 months.

Tks in advance and sorry to make it this verbose but wanted to provide as much info as possible.

 

[Maritimer]

Hi, Ramasezz - and welcome to Reef2Reef!

There's a terrific community here, some of whom are real pros at this sort of thing, and could bang out a definitive answer right quick. I'm not that guy, really, but until that guy (or gal, there are some amazing woman reefers here!) comes along, I'll share what I can that I think might help!

I'm assuming that the parameters you measured are in your 55 gallon QT - is that correct? If I were to find myself in that situation, I'd probably add some of the "bottled bacteria" products to my QT's filter system. (I have an AquaClear 110 with a sponge block and ceramic rings for my 40-Breeder QT.) I'd also get a Seachem ammonia "badge" for the tank, rather than testing with liquid kits - it's far more accurate if there's copper in the water. Speaking of which, API's ammonia kit has a reputation for sometimes giving a false .25 or so reading, which _might_ be what we're seeing in this case. (Can you source a different brand of ammonia kit to cross-check the API? The badge would help with that as well...)

~Bruce

 

[ramasezz]

Thanks Bruce... yup, the params are of the QT. I have added seachem amguard and bacterlife from waterlife into the tank. I forgot to mention that I also have a canister filter running on it that has some carbon, lava chips and ceramic rings in it. And you're probably right on the API kit. I also have a JBL Marin test Kit and NH4 is less than 0.5 on that. NO2 is still there though... I'm hoping this will help but I'm constrained by time here, the fish stock will be here at my doorstep in an hour... and that's freaking me out... they were already enroute so there's no chance of me postponing that...

 

[saltyphish]

I would not out the fish in there with those numbers. The water you took out of your tank will do little to help with bacteria since that is found on the surfaces of your rocks in your tank. Not much free floating in the water column. I would just do a waterchange to get the parameters under control and as mentioned use a amonia badge amd some amguard. Also if you have a piece of sponge in your dt place it in your qt. It will help with the bacteria. Something like dr tims would also help.

 

[ramasezz]

Thank you. So I'll not use the QT in its current state. I have another spare 20 gallon tank which will be too small for the number of fish on its way so I plan on using my refugium partition of the sump of my DT to hold the chromis and the cardinals and the rest in the 20 gallon... but if any fish in the sump stress and break out into velvet or ich then I'm a goner... ain't I..

 

[saltyphish]

Just dont attach the sump to your system. The parasite will travel in the water infecting your dt.

 

[saltyphish]

Once any infected fish is placed inside a system it will remain in the system. You can only rid it by going fallow and treating all fish with copper or ttm.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Thank you. So I'll not use the QT in its current state. I have another spare 20 gallon tank which will be too small for the number of fish on its way so I plan on using my refugium partition of the sump of my DT to hold the chromis and the cardinals and the rest in the 20 gallon... but if any fish in the sump stress and break out into velvet or ich then I'm a goner... ain't I..

I am going to take a leap of faith and say you don't have a U.V. Sterilizer on the Display tank. Right? If not you are not going to like the results of dumping all the new fish in the display since the QT is not cycled or able to handle the load you are about to put on it. U.V. of correct size would have gone a long way toward preventing a wipe out in your Display...just saying it works for lots of us out there.
Your only other option is water changes to keep the levels in the safe zone. Prepare for a long day or night. Wish you well and hope it all works out okay.

 

[saltyphish]

I am going to take a leap of faith and say you don't have a U.V. Sterilizer on the Display tank. Right? If not you are not going to like the results of dumping all the new fish in the display since the QT is not cycled or able to handle the load you are about to put on it. U.V. of correct size would have gone a long way toward preventing a wipe out in your Display...just saying it works for lots of us out there.
Your only other option is water changes to keep the levels in the safe zone. Prepare for a long day or night. Wish you well and hope it all works out okay.

Ive never heard of uv helping with water parameters. Just algae and parasites. Even then doesnt take care of all parasites

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Ive never heard of uv helping with water parameters. Just algae and parasites. Even then doesnt take care of all parasites

Just to be clear I never said U.V. helps with water parameters...where did you get that from my comment? It does however reduce the counts of free swimming parasites giving the fish a fighting chance.

At correct levels of exposure and flow it will reduce water born parasites. Read the information regarding 45,000 micro watt kill ranges to see the data. Most of the large wholesalers, public aquariums, water treatment plants, and aquaculture facilities use them for good reasons. I have watched the results for my customers (aquarium stores for over 30 years) their loss rates declined to 2 to 3 percent from almost 30 percent with the correct application of U.V. Parasites can be limited during the water born phase by keeping the levels (counts of parasites) at non pathogenic counts. Just before the host fish dies the parasite goes water born looking for a new host. In lower counts a healthy fish can fight off the parasites but at higher counts (pathogenic levels) the fish's immune system is overwhelmed.

By the way nothing takes care of all parasites...not even quarantine or letting the tank go fallow. There is no such thing as a disease or parasite free aquarium no matter the protocol. Fish do not live in sterile environments in freshwater or seawater. It is their ability to fight infection or parasites that allows them to survive much like the immune system of humans and animals.

 

[saltyphish]

Just to be clear I never said U.V. helps with water parameters...where did you get that from my comment? It does however reduce the counts of free swimming parasites giving the fish a fighting chance.

At correct levels of exposure and flow it will reduce water born parasites. Read the information regarding 45,000 micro watt kill ranges to see the data. Most of the large wholesalers, public aquariums, water treatment plants, and aquaculture facilities use them for good reasons. I have watched the results for my customers (aquarium stores for over 30 years) their loss rates declined to 2 to 3 percent from almost 30 percent with the correct application of U.V. Parasites can be limited during the water born phase by keeping the levels (counts of parasites) at non pathogenic counts. Just before the host fish dies the parasite goes water born looking for a new host. In lower counts a healthy fish can fight off the parasites but at higher counts (pathogenic levels) the fish's immune system is overwhelmed.

By the way nothing takes care of all parasites...not even quarantine or letting the tank go fallow. There is no such thing as a disease or parasite free aquarium no matter the protocol. Fish do not live in sterile environments in freshwater or seawater. It is their ability to fight infection or parasites that allows them to survive much like the immune system of humans and animals.

Agreed, thought your comment about dumping all the fish at once and messing with cycle was tied to that. I completely agree with free swimming parasites. Sorry bout the misunderstanding

 

[ramasezz]

Thank you for your words of advice, collectively looking at them all, here's what I did..
Since I do not have ur number lights... I ruled out the sump. There was no way I was gonna risk the DT... I emptied 15% of my DT which works to about 40 gallons app.. this is almost 75% of my QT capacity.. so I had. Water with good params now in the QT.. the DT was replaced with freshly prepared water and since that is huge (220 gallons) I hardly broke a sweat... this also took care of my weekly water change regime... so now I have all of the fish in the QT.. so far so good.. fingers crossed...
Once again, thanks.. I'm an avid reader of this forum and I knew my reach out for advice will be answered...