QT Tank Levels... Yay or Nay?

[sparty059]

Ok, as I have been saying before, I'm finally going to purchase a Hippo Tang this week. I have the QT set up... in fact, it has been set up for some time, I just haven't had the heater in it because the tank was going unused for the time being. So realisticlly it has been cycling since August haha. I have PVC pipe in there for the Hippo to hide in, as well as a ceramic mermaid for it to be friends with haha. I have a Fluval filter in there, with zero media in it, a K1 Koralia to push water around, and a 200W heater. The tank is a 60 gallon hexagon tank so it measures at about a two foot diameter and approx two feet tall, give or take a few inches.
The levels read:
pH - 8.1
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10
Salt Level is at 1.22
And the temp is working its way DOWN to 76 degrees. (Last night I wanted to speed the heating up a little faster so I set the heater to 86 degrees and it jumped up to 83 over night).
I assume all these levels should be good enough for a ready to go QT.
Any disagreements or thoughts?

 

[jstdv8]

yes, you will want to consider raising teh temp as high as you can get away with. probbaly around 80 degrees. the hotter it is the more active the ich have to be in what they do and the faster they will go through thier life cycle. which = less chance for failure.

 

[sparty059]

I thought you want to keep it as cold as you can? That's why I was dropping it down to 76... I was even considering 74. So hotter the better in this case. GOTCHA! I'll keep it around 78-80.
However, having a warmer tank won't cause the fish to get ich and then have it go away right? Because if it doesn't have it in the first place, then I don't want it getting it at all.
Thanks for the help!

 

[jstdv8]

it either has it or it doesnt, its not going to GET ICh by putting it in hotter or cooler water.
If your goal is to force it to show up if it is present then a warmer temp will help that.
Remember wehn you heat up the water the fishes internal stuff moves faster, he swims faster he consumes more energy and therefor more CO2 out.
So do have some surface aggitaion in the tank to allow for that CO2 to be properly exchanged for O2.
temp isnt going to make a huge difference, but might as well get as much out of what you have to work with as you can.

 

[beth]

You should keep temp at what ever the temp is going to be in the tang's display. Raising temp to treat ich is a waste of time and could be risky for fish. Sounds good. Get the temp stable, and the tang will be ready for the assimilation to his new home.

 

[sparty059]

Beth, thanks for that. I was worried about that as well. So I'll just do that and leave the fish in a tad bit longer than usual. Also, my salt level is a bit different than my DT. This one is 1.022 my DT is 1.025 possibly 1.026, is that ok to have that change as well? I will just have to reacclimate? I'm going to my LFS tomorrow, so if you could answer my next question as soon as possible it would be great.
Assuming the Tang gets sick. It will most likely get Ich. I want to pick up all the medications I need just in case it does so then I don't have to scramble when the time comes. So, what would you recommend I pick up to cure ich?
My other question is, would there be a chance it could catch any other type of disease? If so, what would you think, and what type of medication should I pick up and have on hand at all times?
Thanks for your help.

 

[jstdv8]

you need a refracrtometer and mixed saltwater for a hypo treatment
or you need some copper (I like cupramine) if you want to go with the copper treatment.
I treat all my fish for parasites to begin with rather than wait and see if it happens to show up.
most do the QT with no treatment just visual inspections. be prepared to go fully into whatever treatment you want, but do ready the stickies beth has written on the subject at the top of the page, good info there.
To really deal with ich properly i feel you have to know the life cycle pretty well and know what to expect adn why you must do certain theings, and then be anal about making sure those things take place. if you go about it half-*** theres a much larger chance that teh medication can fail inwhich case you might as well have done nothing at all.
As far as your salinity... the best thing to do IMO would be to test the LFS water for thier salinity (thye should do this for you right in front of you) so that teh acclimation preocess is very east into the QT. check Ph levels and temp and you are good to go.
rememebr as soon as you open the bag the fish comes home in the clock starts ticking on the oxegen from the air mixing with the ammonia in the water (from fish waste in the bag)
the longer its open the more toxic the ammonia becomes to the fish.

 

[sparty059]

Wait, have I been doing my acclimation wrong this whole time with my other fish?
I live about 10 minutes from my LFS. I usually bring them in and have the box tilted at a 45 to 50 degree angle waiting for them with the water line knoted and only needing a cyphon to get the water running. I dump the water and fish from the bag into the box, with a heater inside the box. I set the heater to 77 degrees typically and turn it on approx 20 minutes into the acclimation process. I have about 1 or 2 drips a second for about an hour, then get it to about 4 or 5 drips a second for another hour. After that point, I have the water dripping at almost a steady pace for another hour. I don't have anything that will push the water around, mainly because the water is so shallow at that point. Once that three hour period has passed I remove the fish from the water and place them in the tank. I then dispose of the water in the box.
Does that sound right?
Also, should I just have my K1 pointing to the top of the surface rather towards the middle (for aggitation purposes)? I have very little, and I mean little, almost to the point of no movement on the top of my water in my QT. I was told at the start of this that QT's don't need much water movement inside of them because the fish are either going to be weak/sick/or new. Is this correct? If I have to I guess I can buy another powerhead, but I'm guessing if I buy another one it should probably be a K3 to have better water flow on the top and in the actual take as well. I know K1's are meant really for nano's or 10/20 gallon tanks. Again, this is a 60 Hexagon that is rather tall.
Lastly, I'd like to keep away from copper type drugs because of everything I've heard about them. I'll have to do some research on this refractrometer thing as I've heard about it, but never looked into it. This is my first time QTing something (I know that's bad seeing that I have 8 other fish), but I feel this is one of the more important fish that you can't just put in and skip steps... these next few fish I am getting will be the ones that will HAVE to go to QT before the DT... so I'm hoping I get it right the first time and continue to do well the coming times.

 

[sparty059]

Do I NEED a refractrometer!?!? These things are rediculiously expensive! Are you SURE I need one?

 

[cranberry]

What prices are you looking at. You can get them in the $20-30s. Of all the equipment you can have, you need one. It's one of the best purchases you can buy.

 

[jstdv8]

yes drip acclimation is the way to go.
I'm jsut saying if you open the bag and don't start getting new water in there with tehm right away, the longer they are in thier own water without new stuff coming in to dilute it the more likley you are to have problems.
As far as the copper I'm a big fan. very easy to use, very mild to the fish with the newer style cheleated copper (newer as in not the older method) dose it once and walk away. monitor ammonia and that's all there is to it. Fish act normal and eat great. Keep in mind most fish have allready been in alot of copper by the time they get to you. LFS's use it (alot of them, not all) the shippers use it, the catchers use it. Ect.
You must have a refractometer to do hypo treatment.
the real downside to hypo IMO is you have to stay on top of it all the time. if you let too much water evaporate out of the tank without puting in freshwater the salinity will rise above proper levels (and this can happen in a day) and your whole treatment will have been comprimised.
If left in hypo for longer periods of time fish can have liver (kidney?) failure as well.
just my .02

 

[sparty059]

Ugh, ok. I will be getting one. I hope my LFS has them for cheap.

 

[jstdv8]

you don't NEED one if you do copper
You absolutley NEED one if you do hypo.

 

[sparty059]

This is all really helpful information. Thank you all for this! Anything else to add would be appreciated!
I was under the impression though that copper is bad for your tank? This QT I have I plan on making into either a fish tank one day (when I get my new houes) or making it into a seahorse tank. Again, I thought if you use copper you're jeopordizing the quility of the tank and can't use it again unless you clean it out extremely well?

 

[jstdv8]

that's the downside to the copper.
once you put it in a tank, thats your copper tank, no inverts and no corals ever in that tank. FOWLR would be ok though. same thing for the filter and the powerhead, they are now a dedicated copper Qt tank setup.
I have two QT tanks, one for the fish that runs copper and one that i keep LR, inverts, corals and everything else in for 4 weeks that just has regualr SW in it and an evil 66 LED light.
Don't forget to provide some hiding spots for the tang in the QT and keep the lights off or low for the first coulpe of days.

 

[sparty059]

Ok, I'll probably do hypo then. Because once I take this tank down everything will probably go to the DT.
As far as hiding goes, I have five pieces of PVC pipe, ranging from as small as 3" to as large as 6". Some are T's some a corners, some are just straight pipes. Would that be ok for the tang? I know many people say the small ones are hard to take care of, but I'd prefer to start with the small as I like to take care of the fish from their youngest stage. I know it will be a challange and difficult, but I feel I can manage (hopefully). As far as lighting goes, I have it in a room that typically doesn't get much light in it. I have a ceiling light in it though and I can turn it on for a couple of hours a day... would that be good enough for the tang? Lastly, I mentinoed the K1 I have... is that going to be enough flow to aggitate the water, or will I need another to aggitate the water AND move the water around in the middle section? My Fluval seems to push the water around fairly well in the mid section, so I assume I shouldn't need anything else as far as powerhead wise. What do you think?

 

[jstdv8]

yes the K1 i would think will be fine. and when you aggitate teh water with it you can always point it even higher if you think the flow is too much in the tank, that will deflect some flow and cause more surface aggitation.
Make sure you have enough light on the tank when you need it for inspection, beyond that you really don't even need a light on your QT.
pipes sound fine

 

[sparty059]

Ok, everything is ready for the new fish! I forgot one minor detail which could cause stress on the fish... I never painted the bottom of the tank a solid color. It's clear so the fish can see right through the base. Can I just put white printer paper on the underside of the tank and that be that?
Oh! I keep forgetting to ask this also. There is about a 1 1/2" gap between top of the tank, and water level. Is the hippo tang a jumper by any means? I have egg-crate on it, but should I put a book over the edge of the tank so it can't jump and knock the crate over?

 

[jstdv8]

I've never heard of a hippo jumping.
Anything under the tank is fine as long as the fish can't see all the way down to the floor through the stand.
if the tank is siting on a flat surface stand then you will be fine there

 

[sparty059]

Ok I understand. What should I do about food? I know I need to feed him however, I don't want him to get attached to what I feed to the point when I put him in the display tank he doesn't eat the algae and just waits for me to feed him.
Also, what should I take into consideration when I go pick one out? Usually they have 7 in a tank and some have spots on them some have brown or grey marks on them... should I look for one that looks normal and swims around a lot?