QT cycling/process

[Nem0]

I'm going to be putting a clown in QT. this is my first time putting a fish in QT, am i not supposed to cycle? i think my DT may be compromised so i don't want to bring already mixed/cycled salt water from it to my QT. i read humblefish's post but still kinda confused! any help or tips welcome

 

[ShaunRobinson]

I'm going to be putting a clown in QT. this is my first time putting a fish in QT, am i not supposed to cycle? i think my DT may be compromised so i don't want to bring already mixed/cycled salt water from it to my QT. i read humblefish's post but still kinda confused! any help or tips welcome

Why might your display be compromised? Are you planning on treating the clown while in qt? What have you got set up at the moment?

 

[Nem0]

Why might your display be compromised? Are you planning on treating the clown while in qt? What have you got set up at the moment?

i have a 2.5 gallon tank set up, filter, air pump, heater. the clown was swimming at the bottom of my DT and lying on the sand breathing heavy. still have no clue what it could be. but he's not doing well at all. i didn't want to risk anything in the DT coming into the QT. in the DT there is 1 firefish which is healthy, no problems whatsoever.

 

[Marco S]

i have a 2.5 gallon tank set up, filter, air pump, heater. the clown was swimming at the bottom of my DT and lying on the sand breathing heavy. still have no clue what it could be. but he's not doing well at all. i didn't want to risk anything in the DT coming into the QT. in the DT there is 1 firefish which is healthy, no problems whatsoever.

Hopefully that's a typo because a Clownfish needs more than a 2.5 gallon tank, (so does the Firefish for that matter). If it's not a typo then maybe that's why he is stressed and breathing heavy.

 

[Marco S]

i have a 2.5 gallon tank set up, filter, air pump, heater. the clown was swimming at the bottom of my DT and lying on the sand breathing heavy. still have no clue what it could be. but he's not doing well at all. i didn't want to risk anything in the DT coming into the QT. in the DT there is 1 firefish which is healthy, no problems whatsoever.

After rereading that, I am thinking that you want to use the 2.5 as the QT tank...right? If so, I would go up to at least a 10, (preferably 20) for the Clownfish QT. You don't want to add more stress to whatever he is going through so give him more room in the QT.

 

[Nem0]

After rereading that, I am thinking that you want to use the 2.5 as the QT tank...right? If so, I would go up to at least a 10, (preferably 20) for the Clownfish QT. You don't want to add more stress to whatever he is going through so give him more room in the QT.

correct, the 2.5 is a QT tank. its all i had lying around and i needed to take him out of the DT asap as he was not doing very well. my questions still remain about needing to cycle or stuff of that sorts. the QT water is not cycled, should i just be dosing prime and doing water changes everyday? im medicating the clown with furan-2 atm.

 

[Marco S]

Prime is just a water conditioner if you are using tap water, (should be using RODI though). You need some kind of beneficial bacteria like Bio-Spira or API Quickstart or Dr Tim's One and Only to kick start the cycle, but you will still have an ammonia spike and then a nitrite spike and in a tank that small it may just kill your fish anyway. I used Bio-Spira in all my QT tanks and it took about 6 days to fully cycle, but the ammonia and nitrite spikes in my 45 were so small that it did not affect the fish I put in at all. In a 2.5 gallon I would not recommend that though.

Water changes everyday will not stop ammonia completely, (unless you do 100%) and will stress the fish further. What is in your DT and how big is it? You may want to reconsider just medicating the DT since it is potentially already infected if you do have anything.

That's just my two cents though...you may want to wait for an answer from one of the experts and you may want to post in the Fish Disease and Treatment section.

 

[ShaunRobinson]

Ideally you should have a sponge in your display at all times in case you need to use a hospital tank. You can then add the already seeded sponge into your qt filter.

As above though, with a tank that small any parameter swings are going to be huge. Ammonia is always a huge risk in a quarantine tank too and will kill your fish extremely quickly. Can you get your hands on a food safe storage tub at all to transfer the fish into? They can be picked up very cheaply and will more than suffice for a temporary quarantine/hospital tank.

Shaun.

 

[NanoJimmy]

What do you mean by compromised? How long have you had the main tank set up? I assumed you are talking about ammonia from an uncycled tank? You can get Prodibio Start Up and it will be safe to add the fish in two days. It comes with Ammo Start which will trap ammonia as well as the bacteria needed to cycle the tank. They have it on Amazon Prime if you can't find it locally. Until then I would stop medicating, test for ammonia or get ammonia alert and do 100% water changes making sure you acclimate well. This will stress the fish but IMO, doing 100% changes is better than letting the fish die in ammonia