Ammonia

[col]

Hi
I set up my QT tank and it is proving more trouble than my main.
Lost a Bangaii Cardinal after a few days of QT - levels were fine.
Put 3 Green chromis in QT for 3 weeks or so, they died in main tank after a few weeks.
Another 2 Green chromis died in QT before I could put them in main tank. All chromis were from same LFS and same tank. Tested water and it was fine.
Finally, Yellow tail blue Damsel just died in QT after 1 week. I noticed it was going white around the eyes and it died soon after.
Tested water and Ammonia was 0.2 (ish). Hagen test kit says below 1.2 is ok!!!! Was the Damsels symptoms because of ammonia or am I unlucky. Turbo snail has survived in this tank(now moved to main). It has a crappy trio filter, I thought it would be ok for a 10G tank.
Main tank is fine - 2 percs, R Gramma, Turbos and cleaner shrimp.

 

[col]

anyone???

 

[entice59]

ammonia should be at 0, nothing higher, if its that high i would do some water changes
if ammonia is over 0 its dangerous already

 

[col]

Yeah I agree on that.
BUT, the test kit says that below 1.2 is safe!!!

 

[entice59]

your test kit is wrong, are you sure that isnt for freshwater?

 

[col]

It's a Hagen test kit and it is for saltwater and freshwater.

 

[melbournefl]

What is/was the Ph and water temp? Both effect the level of toxic ammonia. 1.2 is completely out of bounds and I tend to think that that *might* be either a typo or something pertaining to fresh water tanks.
Just my .02 of course,
Paul

 

[leboeuf]

hey col,
just an nebbie suggestion, try but some LR in the QT tank. It may sound stupid but many of the micro organisms that process ammonia thrive deep within LR. How big is the QT tank? Try a 5lb chunk (cured of course), I would wager a pint it will cure the problem...
Any luck on Aquariums ? No Rush.........

 

[col]

HI Folks
Thanx for your replies. I have shut the QT down till after Xmas. When I start it up again I will try another type of filter and maybe a piece of LR (can move this to main if needed).
It is a 12G tank and has so far cost me:
£30 to buy second hand
£30 to repair (I saw it up and running before I bought it!!!)
£50 in dead fish.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to do things right.
Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[fshhub]

Dont put LR in the q- tank. It would not be beneficial anyhow, the hypo saline levels, will kil most of what is on and in it anyway. Cycling it however, could not hurt
Anything over 0 i slethal, I do not care what a kit says is safe. Ane from what I have heard, Hagen tet kits are not that good or accurate anyway. Get a different kit. Again. what were your other levels? They could help too.
The chromis sounds like it may be another problem, they lived for a few weeks in the main tank first. Unfortunately, They often do die early on, but if they survive, tehy will do fine, but many only live a couple of weeks to start with. This, I hear is b/c they do not ship well. We have lost a couple early on, but the others who lived are still thriving(over a year later).

 

[entice59]

i agree

 

[dindi]

I agree with fishub, but one thing I wouldn't do is "shut down" my QT. It should be up ad running and have excellent water quality BEFORE you add any fish. This hobby is NOT cheap and I could have bought a HUMMER if it was this year, what we do for visual relaxation, not counting the many weekends and hours plus money to relax and enjoy. IMO worth it

 

[leboeuf]

I disagree, LR will be benefitical. It may not be your solution, but it can help.

 

[volitanfba]

Live rock will be of help Only if you are running salinity around 1.023-1.025 in your Q-tank.. if you running a Hyposalinity setup then anything of use that will be on rock will die and cause you even more ammonia.. this is just my oppinion

 

[fshhub]

LR IS GREAT, JMHO
BUT, it is also one of the last things that we want ina Q-tank.
As well, adding to a Q-tank, would be a waste of money. Like mentioned all on it would become dead inside of aQ-tank. Unless, you are not usig it as a Q tank but more like just another small tank.

 

[col]

Dindi
The reason I have shut the QT tank down is so I can start it up again after Xmas (got enuff to worry about at this time of year). Since the ammonia was showing at .2 with only 1 damsel in there I can only think the filter is suspect. I will be looking at buying another type of filter.
Of course, if anything happens in my main tank in the meantime I guess I will just hang myself. It is lightly stocked, mainly because not much has survived the initial QT period.