QT tank

[aerialdronemaster]

Hello
so I had a QT tank 5.5gallon ( yes I know it is small, but this is what I have so far)
this one https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...uariums-kits/aqueon-aquarium-kit-pink-neoglow

I really had issue to keep the ammonia ( not even zero) but low, every day water replace did not help !!

what is the problem? is it really hard to keep ammonia close to 0 in such a small tank with a small fish?


I was thinking to it a different way
add live sand, add bacterial and cycle the tank, would that help? instead of replacing water everyday?

second question

if I have a medical tank, cycled with sand, after helping the fish, I guess, I need to dump the sand, filter sponge and start fresh , due to added medication and possible bad parasite, bacterias? ?


thank you

 

[Hugh Mann]

If you have zero beneficial bacteria in your QT, then water changes or dosing Prime will get rid of your ammonia. However I understand that Prime reacts very badly with most medications.

If you used rock or sand, yes, it could potentially absorb some medications and release them later, but you wouldn't have to worry about reinfecting with the diseases you treat, as that is the whole point of QT, to kill off the disease. You could toss the sand after, or let in soak in a container with carbon or some other media that would pull out the medications.

Alternatively, you could use a sponge filter and soak the sponge in various bacterial cultures and use that instead. With good flow it should be enough to counter the ammonia production from a small fish. Same with a bag of biomax or or similar.