URGENT HELP PLEASE

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

What I'm curious about is if your quarantine all new fish, and you leave that live rock in your QT tank comma then what's the problem with using live rock

 

[Empress]

Needs to be BRAND NEW knee highs (very important).

^^this just made my day. Does it matter what color knee-hi's?

 

[Joey waid]

What I'm curious about is if your quarantine all new fish, and you leave that live rock in your QT tank comma then what's the problem with using live rock

Exactly, I have 5 qt tanks right now. They all have a thin layer of rock substrate, live rock chunks, ceramic, filter elements and two have skimmers, I also rotate a diatom filter between them. My thing is the fish in qt are in most cases are to big for their tanks and to many too. Out of those 5 tanks two are with copper and three have chloroquine phosphate with other meds introduced when needed. 4 of these tanks will never have corals or inverters. The tanks with copper were a little trouble some at first, but now are stable as a rock. With all my rock and such I have to do way less water changes on the tanks that aren't overloaded. The tanks with cp, who knows what they are doing? If those fish show signs of disease I add a touch more until it goes away and if they show signs of stress like not eating I start doing water changes. Water changes are very exspensive and time consuming so I believe rock is the way to go.

 

[Empress]

Believe me I understand, what I don't understand is the sponge is not big enough or porous enough to hold enough bacteria for any thing bigger than a ten gallon. He has a thirty. I have to do daily water changes on ten gallons and I'm using rock and ceramic with no copper and only one or two fish per tank. I almost makes more sense to me to use a filter with a bio wheel if you can't use rock.

Bacteria in a bottle will seed the sponge.

 

[Joey waid]

Bacteria in a bottle will seed the sponge.

Understood. I still seed all my tanks, because copper kills bacteria too. Sponge to me is a filter. To me a sponge soaks up stuff. The stuff we are calling sponge is a filter element. When it clogs with fish food you have to wash it, when you wash it the bacteria goes too. So why have it other than to clean. I can see using stacks of them, one for cleaning and others for bacteria propitiation. To me filters with a bio wheel would be a better choice.

 

[Empress]

Understood. I still seed all my tanks, because copper kills bacteria too. Sponge to me is a filter. To me a sponge soaks up stuff. The stuff we are calling sponge is a filter element. When it clogs with fish food you have to wash it, when you wash it the bacteria goes too. So why have it other than the clean. I can see using stacks of them, one for cleaning and others for bacteria propitiation. To me filters with a bio wheel would be a better choice.

Very true and I agree with you 100%. I don't clean the seeded sponge out when it's in QT.

 

[melypr1985]

What I'm curious about is if your quarantine all new fish, and you leave that live rock in your QT tank comma then what's the problem with using live rock

The problem is that is absorbs meds as previously stated. A proper QT has no live rock or sand in it for the purpose. To be able to keep your copper levels stable and constant the rock is not something you want in the tank. Let me tell all of you guys something here. Copper is a poison. It's dangerous to use with fish when you can't control exactly how much you are dosing or how much is free in the water. Live rock will absorb this copper making you add more to the tank. It will ALSO, later, release the copper back into the water. So your sitting there thinking you finally have your copper stable and where it should be, then you test a few days later and find that the levels are twice what they should be and your fish are sick and not eating. Now you are doing water changes to bring the levels back down to normal so the fish don't die.

A sponge is more than enough to filter a simple QT. If you need to double up the sponge, then do so. If it get's clogged, then take it out and swish it around in the water you pull out of the tank for a water change. This will not hurt your bacteria and will clear out the clogs.

 

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

Then what do you do to give the fish hiding places so they don't stress out?

 

[melypr1985]

Then what do you do to give the fish hiding places so they don't stress out?

PVC elbows work very well for this purpose. I've also used mugs, though I dont recommend that.

 

[Joey waid]

Then what do you do to give the fish hiding places so they don't stress out?

Pvc fittings, but I have read fish hate white things and they are not natural. We have plastic plants like for fresh water tanks and they seem to like them. I'm sure I'm wrong again...

 

[cgd01]

I'm sorry to tell you this, but it's velvet. I have personal experience with it. Your fish is going to die. And fast. Get it out of the tank, do a 50% water change ASAP. Then another the day after. If you don't, you're going to loose every fish you have.

 

[melypr1985]

I have read fish hate white things

Do you have a link to where you read this?

 

[Joey waid]

Do you have a link to where you read this?

I think it came from Paul,b. It's a artical he linked, on one of his many threads. It may have been on the other site though.

 

[Empress]

I had a neon goby in with white pvc elbows that he wouldn't go near. So I put in a blue coffee mug and made himself right at home. Weird but true.

 

[melypr1985]

I think it came from Paul,b.

Well that explains that. Sweetie, QT is not meant to be comfortable, pretty or a permanent home for these fish. It is simply a means to make sure the fish are healthy before being introduced to the main display. If you think the fish will not like the white pvc then you can always purchase Schedule 80 pvc which is gray. I use PVC at the store in every single fish tank. I've never had a fish that was afraid of the PVC or appeared to not like it. PVC has never negatively effected a fish in QT unless it had a sharp edge and the fish got a scrape.

 

[Joey waid]

Well that explains that. Sweetie, QT is not meant to be comfortable, pretty or a permanent home for these fish. It is simply a means to make sure the fish are healthy before being introduced to the main display. If you think the fish will not like the white pvc then you can always purchase Schedule 80 pvc which is gray. I use PVC at the store in every single fish tank. I've never had a fish that was afraid of the PVC or appeared to not like it. PVC has never negatively effected a fish in QT unless it had a sharp edge and the fish got a scrape.

Not disputing that either. We have little pieces of pvc, fake plants and rock.

 

[Humblefish]

^^this just made my day. Does it matter what color knee-hi's?

My wife said "n u d e" color.

 

[Mr_Banana_Pants]

I'm not even trying to make anything pretty, I'm just trying to reduce the stress as much as possible. This tank will end up being their home for the next 2 months. It's going to be fish only and a week or so after everyone is clean and clear, I'm going to run a carbon reactor to clear the copper. I'm definately not giving up on my cow fish either. If he doesn't make it I want to be sure I tried everything to help him. I will add some pvc and plants just to give plenty of hiding spots to calm them.

 

[Empress]

My wife said "n u d e" color.

Love [emoji173]️ it. Thanks for the [emoji23].

 

[Empress]

Not disputing that either. We have little pieces of pvc, fake plants and rock.

I think it comes in black too.