too many fish in qt?
- Thread starter Wolf89
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You have gotten some excellent advice. I wish you the best of luck although I think you are in for troubles. Just for curiosity's sake - just how big is your DT? Is it well established?
AcanthurusRex
Well-Known Member
I use Aquaforest life bio fil and biospira with a Seachem Tidal HOB for QT. The Seachem Tidal surface skims which is why I use this HOB; keeps the film off the surface. Plus several powerheads pointing at the surface and another at the bottom to keep detritus in suspension. Of course, the bristletooth will eat all the detritus.
Malifry97
Valuable Member
I’d say if you dose prime EVERY DAY. And do a water change of 50% a day AND have many hiding places you should be ok. BUT, I agree it’s way overstocked. I’d say pick up another 20 gallon.
Malifry97
Valuable Member
Oh ok, a 55 is fine. Good choice!
JasonK84
I want more!!!
At the risk of not being very popular I’ll add a little to this conversation. While I do think it is overkill to QT 8 (6 being tangs) at once in a 20 gallon it could be done. I am under the impression that your QT is sterile and therefore has no bacteria to process the ammonia. This will make your endeavor nearly impossible. I run a fully cycled QT with MarinePur and ceramic rings. I mostly use an old Biocube 14 (actually only holds 10 gallons of water). I recently QT’d 4 yellow tangs together in 10 gallons of water. I started the QT with new water and didn’t change water for over 30 days. Only changed it to remove copper after treatment. I did a nearly 100% change. Then I ran PraziPro. I also didn’t use any product to reduce ammonia for the entirety of QT.
With a sterile QT you will have the ammonia issue.
The issue I had with the 4 tangs is aggression. First week was good second week aggression started and I came home one day to a very sick yellow tang with a bacterial infection from an injury. They were all going at it! I then had to separate them (still in the same tank). I ran antibiotics concurrent with the copper treatment (still no water changes) and all pulled through and are in my DT doing well.
First image is pre separation:
Second image is after I had them stand in the corner:
And a video of them after going into DT. A couple days of fighting and now all I get is the occasional chase.
Again, I don’t recommend this many fish at once but it can be done. I wouldn’t even try with a sterile tank.
Going with the 55 will work out better but be ready to separate of aggression starts. Fish die quick with infections.
I wanted a trio of yellow tangs. LA had them on sale plus there was a coupon code and free shipping over $149. All said and done I got them delivered to me for $33.60/fish.
With a sterile QT you will have the ammonia issue.
The issue I had with the 4 tangs is aggression. First week was good second week aggression started and I came home one day to a very sick yellow tang with a bacterial infection from an injury. They were all going at it! I then had to separate them (still in the same tank). I ran antibiotics concurrent with the copper treatment (still no water changes) and all pulled through and are in my DT doing well.
First image is pre separation:
Second image is after I had them stand in the corner:
And a video of them after going into DT. A couple days of fighting and now all I get is the occasional chase.
Again, I don’t recommend this many fish at once but it can be done. I wouldn’t even try with a sterile tank.
Going with the 55 will work out better but be ready to separate of aggression starts. Fish die quick with infections.
I wanted a trio of yellow tangs. LA had them on sale plus there was a coupon code and free shipping over $149. All said and done I got them delivered to me for $33.60/fish.
Malifry97
Valuable Member
Maybe use a bottle of bio spira or doctor Tim’s. And if budget allows I’d use turbo start because of concentration
JasonK84
I want more!!!
I wouldn’t use the rock. It’ll absorb copper and make keeping therapeutic levels more difficult.
Do you already have these fish or are you planning on getting them all at once?
Malifry97
Valuable Member
Yeah you could but if you get any die off it could do more harm than help but if they’ve been in saltwater for a while you should be fine.
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Wolf89
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I have a sailfin tang, foxface, and convict tang. They will go into the 20. I will be ordering a powder brown tang, a hippo tang, a copperband butterfly, and a tomini for the 55 gallon qt
I would do no more than 5 fish and no more than 2 tangs in any QT 55 or under. QT is a very harsh and stressful time and adding possible aggression to that is asking for trouble IMO, (I would make exceptions for very small fish and pairs like a pair of clowns or cardinals etc...) I have 5 Tangs and had them all in some stage of QT at once, (so I could add them to my DT at the same time) but I had two 45 gallon, one 20 gallon and two 10 gallon QT tanks going all at once, (was hard to keep up with, but worth it). As cheap as smaller tanks are, there is no reason to cram as many fish as you can in QT.
As far as keeping up with ammonia in QT goes, use seeded media and Bio Spira, (or your bacteria of choice) and you won't have to worry about it. I have been QTing fish, inverts, coral and algae for the last 11 months straight and have gotten my process perfected and do not worry about water changes at all anymore. It's hard enough to keep up with a QT tank and the schedules and meds and adding water changes while trying to keep therapeutic levels to that is just adding an unnecessary complication to an already complex process.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Edit: I should add that I am only talking about my fish QT when I say I do not do water changes at all. I only keep any fish QT tank going for 14 days and then I transfer the fish into another clean, (and seeded) QT tank to continue the QT process and sanitize, (with bleach) rinse thoroughly and dry the old tank in the AZ sun for at least three days before spinning it up again. If you are planning on having the QT up and running for a full 30 day copper treatment, you may have to do a water change since you should be over feeding the fish during QT and Nitrates may get pretty high with just a HOB filter. Just make sure you test your water and act accordingly.
As far as my invert and coral QT's go...I keep my coral QT continually going so I do water changes every week and use my DT water for those. I also feed the coral often since there is no fish bio load or left over fish food for them to eat and I want to keep nutrients at a decent level during their 76 days in QT. My invert tank is run for 76 days with regular water changes once a month since the bio load is very low.
As far as keeping up with ammonia in QT goes, use seeded media and Bio Spira, (or your bacteria of choice) and you won't have to worry about it. I have been QTing fish, inverts, coral and algae for the last 11 months straight and have gotten my process perfected and do not worry about water changes at all anymore. It's hard enough to keep up with a QT tank and the schedules and meds and adding water changes while trying to keep therapeutic levels to that is just adding an unnecessary complication to an already complex process.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Edit: I should add that I am only talking about my fish QT when I say I do not do water changes at all. I only keep any fish QT tank going for 14 days and then I transfer the fish into another clean, (and seeded) QT tank to continue the QT process and sanitize, (with bleach) rinse thoroughly and dry the old tank in the AZ sun for at least three days before spinning it up again. If you are planning on having the QT up and running for a full 30 day copper treatment, you may have to do a water change since you should be over feeding the fish during QT and Nitrates may get pretty high with just a HOB filter. Just make sure you test your water and act accordingly.
As far as my invert and coral QT's go...I keep my coral QT continually going so I do water changes every week and use my DT water for those. I also feed the coral often since there is no fish bio load or left over fish food for them to eat and I want to keep nutrients at a decent level during their 76 days in QT. My invert tank is run for 76 days with regular water changes once a month since the bio load is very low.
Last edited:
warlocktitan
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Any tank with proper bio load support in filtration that can handle many fish.
Why people think only cooper the only thing to deal with ich?
I currently using 10g tank with a small hob with highly concentrated season media to counter any ammonia spike.
IMHO Hyposalinity at 1.009 or 1.01 is best to treat ich and at sametime destress the quarantine fish.
Key to success of long term hypo treatment is keep pH above 7.8 consistently, so here the secret.
I use my source tap water is already pH at 7.8 with MICROBE-LIFT/XTreme is a full-function water conditioner to
I maintain salinity at 1.009 and no more than 1.01 at all time.
I feed them good so they stay healthy.
I do WC 50% every three days or so depend how heavy feeding I do.
For med choice either using Chloroquine Phosphate or Kordon Rid Ich Plus that will be easy on fish but pound ich heavily plus it has little to nothing residue unlike copper.
Treat the quarantine fish for 30 days duration.
Why people think only cooper the only thing to deal with ich?
I currently using 10g tank with a small hob with highly concentrated season media to counter any ammonia spike.
IMHO Hyposalinity at 1.009 or 1.01 is best to treat ich and at sametime destress the quarantine fish.
Key to success of long term hypo treatment is keep pH above 7.8 consistently, so here the secret.
I use my source tap water is already pH at 7.8 with MICROBE-LIFT/XTreme is a full-function water conditioner to
- Detoxifies Nitrite
- Removes Ammonia
- Destroys and removes chloramines
- Removes Chlorine
- Detoxifies heavy metals
- Adds a multi-part skin-slime replacer
- Adds essential electrolytes
- Boosts alkalinity
I maintain salinity at 1.009 and no more than 1.01 at all time.
I feed them good so they stay healthy.
I do WC 50% every three days or so depend how heavy feeding I do.
For med choice either using Chloroquine Phosphate or Kordon Rid Ich Plus that will be easy on fish but pound ich heavily plus it has little to nothing residue unlike copper.
Treat the quarantine fish for 30 days duration.
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