How can I lower Ammonia in Quarantine Tank

[tubz]

I am using a 10 gallon tank for a quarantine tank. I have no sand or rock in it, just a bare tank with a couple hiding spots for fish, a sponge filter, heater and air stone. How can I keep the ammonia levels down? I did a 40 percent water change yesterday and the level is still around .50

 

[Smitty]

If you're not going to have any biological filtration in there (which most ppl don't), then all you can really do is lots of water changes...probably daily.

 

[little_fish]

+1 smitty

 

[tubz]

If I put some live rock in there to help with the biological filtration. Would any treatments for sich fish such as copper etc. defeat the purpose of the rock?

 

[little_fish]

Yep, because the copper will kill anything live in there, and once the copper gets on the rock, it will never ever come out. Finally anything that goes in the qt tank must stay in the qt tank, otherwise you can have cross contamination

 

[tubz]

I'm starting to think it doesnt even pay to quarantine my new fish? Just maybe put them straight into the display tank and only quarantine them if absolutely neccesary. Wouldn't it be more stressful on a fish if I have to do daily water changes in the display tank to keep ammonia down ?

 

[tubz]

I was reading about products such as Amquel or Ammolock. Is that something most people use to fight ammonia?

 

[ErinCahir]

Most of us don't use that stuff. Water changes.

Also... most of us don't QT. The focus instead is on keeping the fish happy so they stay healthy.

 

[little_fish]

Most of us dont QT our fish, we rely on keeping our fish stress free and feeding a quality diet to keep them disease free. Its very very easy to keep your fish stress free and healthy, just follow three simple rules 1. Dont over stock your tank unless its well matured and you have planned ahead to do so! 2. Dont buy fish that cannot live their whole lives in the size tank you have! 3. Go slow, nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

I cant think of a single person on this site who has followed those rules and has a problem with disease in their tank, and I can also think of several people who havent followed those rules and have had numerous issues.