Ammonia spike! 2-3 PPM!

Quarantine Means 4 weeks

one week is not going to solve many problems, 3 to 4 weeks is wat most people who have quarantine tanks do.

preventing Disease
 
Wow! That long? How long would it take for a fungus infection to show up? Should I medicate the tank even if they don't show signs of having it just to be safe?? The other danios I have in my 23 gallon tank I didn't quarantine when I added them (2-2-3) seperately. They are all from the same store and same tank and I haven't had any problems with them. After I bought the last 3 I saw one fish have a fungal infection that would be easily cured but none-the-less I didn't want to expose my fish to it without needing to. They've been in quarantine for 5 days now in my 10 gallon tank.

Do you think it's better to leave these fish in an uncycled 10 gallon tank for another 9 days where the ammonia is still 1PPM and I do 15% water changes daily?

Or do you think it's better to put those 3 fish in with the other 7 so as not to stress them out any more??
 
They have already been stressed and are now more prone to picking up any disease/pathogens. I would DEFINATELY keep them in the Q-tank for 3 more weeks. Ammonia/Nitrite can damage gills and cause other problems which could make getting "sick" much more easy than normal.

I used to do minimal QT with my fish, until I got sickness running rampant in one tank. It was a heavily planted tank, so when I added medications it tends to harm the plants also. I will now do a 1 month QT on any fish I add to my house....period!
 
The ammonia level has been between 0 and 1 PPM the last couple of days. Is it still necessary to do daily water changes of 15% or is the tank cycled enough that the ammonia levels will stay down? The three fish have been quarantined for a week and show no signs of disease or infections.

My next pair is set to spawn on July 11th, so I was wondering do you think it would be safe to take the fish out of quarantine on the 9th, which would give them a total of 12 days in quarantine? Also, do I change all the water in that tank if I want to put established "safe" fish into that tank to make it a breeding tank? I know that most people suggested a quarantine period of 2-4 weeks but I don't think that is practical in my situation. I have no live plants, observe my fish everyday and if they were to get any sort of disease I would treat them immediately at first sign...

Do you think that my impatience will end up killing my fish??
 
IME, impatience is not conducive to good fishkeeping. Your primary concern should be controlling/preventing illness in your main tank, and a quarantine of 12 days is just about worthless. I consider a month the minimum time for quarantine, and 6 weeks is usually adequate. All kinds of nasties -- intestinal parasites, etc., may not show up right away. Quarantining for only 12 days is the same as not quarantining at all, in my book.

Water changes are in order to keep ammonia below 1 ppm. Are you also testing for nitrites?

Jim
 
Dechlorinators for chloramines and ammonia readings

Yashinfan, do I recall that you are using a dechlorinator that treats for chloramines?

I'm not really up of how that affects ammonia readings.... can someone enlighten me, and maybe Yashinfan too, if this is what she is using.

I'm thinking that if she has used Prime or something like that then the standard ammonia test kit will read ammonia but it is actually bound up and not affecting the fish.

Right?
 
Alright well I moved my fish (2 out of 3) into the community tank and there was a spawn immediately (*grrr*) and I moved a male to the bottom tank with the remaining female and it's been 6 days and I am not quite sure if they have spawned because he's about half her size!
I used dechlorinator when I added new water but the ammonia tests were about 22-24 hours after that. The ammonia level is now 0 ppm even tho I continue to use dechlorinator so it doesn't seem to affect the test. I do not test for nitrites or nitrates- only the fish store does that for me if something goes wrong. But they were 0 even then ... so... yes... My fish are all fine and continue to breed like mad horny fish that they are. No problem of mine. :D
 
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