[swansondan]

Hi I got two new fish about 1 week ago....I decided that it was about time that I started qt them instead of putting them in my tank.. THe two fish are a red sea sailfin and a foxface. I put 10 gallons out of my display tank into a 10 gallon with a powerhead a heater and a airstone. I also added some copper to the tank...I used a littile less then the recommended dose. I put them in the tank after about a 2 hour acclimation...they were both doing great at first..both eating as well. Then later that night they were both breathing really fast with their mouths open...the foxface was doing really bad so I decided to take him out and put him into a 5 gallon bucket with just display tank water...he started to do better....Decided to take out the water in the qt tank and replace it with display tank water.. took about 8 gallons out and put 8 gallons of fresh water in it's place...No change after about a day...That night I lost my first fish...my sailfin died and all because I was trying to do the right thing...should have just put them in my tank. The foxface slowly started getting better...about 4 days ago he started eating again and now he is a little pig.....So basically my questions are.....

Why would the copper kill my sailfin..I used less then the container says.

Also how long can I keep the foxface or any other fish for that matter in a qt..do I need to clean it often? The tank seems a little dirty already and it's only been a week....also there in so filtration just bare bottom...is that ok....

Basically any other hints that people might have....I am frustrated and think that maybe I should just put all my fish straight in to my display tank..

THanks!!!!!

Dan

[Tonz of fun]

O man sounds rough. I would do more research next time and see what fishes cant take copper. I do know in my QT I suck out all that crap your talking about by doing daily water changes. Always getting water from the main tank. No when you say 8g of fresh water do you mean from the main tank "fresh" being good water from the main tank. If not that low of salinity would be a shock. So many things could of been the determining factor. The rapid change in water parameters could of sent them into shock. There is so many things...

[swansondan]

Yeah I meant 8 gallons from my display tank. In a QT tank...should there not be some copper in the tank?

[Tonz of fun]

If your perfectly healthy to you take aspirin? I never use anything unless I have reason to believe something is wrong. I think I read somewhere that tangs dont take copper well because it hurts there internal systems. I do know one thing though if you cant keep your QT tank water stable it wont be leaving it alive. Rabbit fish are very hardy. It doesnt matter how cruddy it looks. He is a fighter. It may have had everything to do with water parameters.

[swansondan]

Makes since...they both looked extremly healthy....so I should have just watched them for the 3 weeks instead of dosing the water...then if something were to show up I would then dose the water......Yeah the foxface does look like a fighter.....How long should I keep him in the qt? He has been in there 1 week now...4 days of that he has been acting healthy....

[Tonz of fun]

im a a 3 week qt guy. But thats because I qt under hyposalinity. I dont recomend doing that unless you have a refractometer.

[swansondan]

I do have a refractometer...but again; like you said before; is there a reason to use hypo if there is no signs of any illness?

[pogodzib]

I like to keep my fish in my q-tank for 6 weeks. I prefer to use hypo treatment on all new tangs regardless of how they look since they almost always seem to get ich anyway and I don't want it to get into my main tank. For all other fish, I don't add anything to the water and use a standard SG=1.025 and watch the fish closely. I never dose copper unless that is the only proven treatment method since copper is so harsh.

[wlt501]

Some folks use hypo salinity to ensure they kill off any hitch hikers the fish may have came with. It's not a sure thing but it may decrease your chance of transporting something into your display. Some folks use 4+ weeks of QT, the thought is to give any parasites a full life cycle so you should know by then if something hitched a ride. Remember, if you are using a bare bones QT you may not have a biological fiter in place and little to no clean up crew so keeping ammonia and nitrates down could be fun. 10% water changes every 3 days or so usually works well.

[Tonz of fun]

Originally Posted by wlt501

Some folks use hypo salinity to ensure they kill off any hitch hikers the fish may have came with. It's not a sure thing but it may decrease your chance of transporting something into your display. Some folks use 4+ weeks of QT, the thought is to give any parasites a full life cycle so you should know by then if something hitched a ride. Remember, if you are using a bare bones QT you may not have a biological fiter in place and little to no clean up crew so keeping ammonia and nitrates down could be fun. 10% water changes every 3 days or so usually works well.

I had to do daily water changes when my fish were in the QT tank...

[Tonz of fun]

Originally Posted by swansondan

I do have a refractometer...but again; like you said before; is there a reason to use hypo if there is no signs of any illness?

Like I said do your research. Some fish cant take hypo. But most do and there are fine with it. You are not going to stress your fish out when doing hypo. You will stress fish out when using copper.

[RGRDGR]

I have a question. I it absolutley necessary to use 100% tank water in the QT or can you seed it with say 25% tank 75% new?

[Tonz of fun]

Thats what I do to mine. 75/25. I then do 10 percent daily changes after day 3.