High Ammonia in QT = not good

saltyrockbox · #1 02-07-2008, 12:34 AM

I put my coral beauty into QT because it developed one cloudy eye.
The QT tank is a 10g with no biological filter. I dosed the little tank with AP Erythromycin (which would've kill any biological filtration...)

I went through a full box of Erythromycin but he actually got worse. his tail developed a little whole in it.

One of the problems was I couldn't keep the ammonia down. I did a 50% water change every other day like the box said and still I had 2ppm ammonia.

How do you use antibiotics and keep the tank water chemistry clean and free of ammonia?

Was that medication correct for one cloudy and slightly popping eye?

untamed · #2 02-07-2008, 01:06 AM

I've not done what you are doing...but I think you realize that Ammonia is far more likely to kill your fish than whatever it is that you are trying to treat. Water changes are the only way that you are going to keep that Ammonia level low in the short term.

You could transfer in a piece of rock from your system, but you may not want that rock back again after you've medicated it.

christyf5 · #3 02-07-2008, 01:26 AM

I always thought cloudy eye/popeye was related to water quality? However treating a fish with antibiotics in a smaller tank is always a crapshoot (because of water quality problems) and every time you do a water change you are decreasing the amount of antibiotic, rendering it pretty much ineffective.

IMO, I would have just made sure the fish was eating and left him in the main tank and done a few water changes. I'm not sure if continuing with erythromycin at this point will do much for your fish. But I'm not sure, maybe someone else will have another product to recommend (although I'm pretty sure this is the right antibiotic to use for this condition).

Also, there are products you can get to reduce ammonia in the tank (ammo lock, Amquel) which might help without having to do waterchanges. Hopefully that will help

kwirky · #4 02-07-2008, 01:42 AM

if you use prime to condition your water you could dose some of that. it has an ammonia neutralizing agent in it because when chloramine is broken down, part of the stage it's converted to ammonia.

has anyone used those "ammo-alert" strips you stick on the tank? How reliable are they?

christyf5 · #5 02-07-2008, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwirky

if you use prime to condition your water you could dose some of that. it has an ammonia neutralizing agent in it because when chloramine is broken down, part of the stage it's converted to ammonia.

However, Prime will also mess with your ammonia test kit, I'm not sure how it does that (whether it reports more or less ammonia when using it).

hawk · #6 02-07-2008, 03:28 AM

In a 10g qt with no filtration, daily water changes will be needed. Don't overfeed, siphon waste and un-eaten food whenever you see it. In such a small tank a turkey baster makes it pretty simple. Keep the lights off, which will help keep the ph on the low side. A lower ph will reduce the toxicity of the ammonia. Good chance the cloudy eye is a result of poor water quality. Frayed or white cloudy fins are another sign. Is this a new fish?. For next time try keeping a couple of cheap sponge filters in the sump, they can be used for emergency filtration when needed (the sponges need to be in the sump a few weeks or longer to be effective)

saltyrockbox · #7 02-07-2008, 03:37 AM

wow so its basically impossible to treat a fish with antibiotics. b/c water quality goes way down if there is no biological filtration.

I good chemical ammoina remover might be helpful but I cant think of one and it might in turn make the medication useless.

Seems the best thing would have been to keep it in the main tank and imporve water quality there.

Shoot. I don't think I'll be removing a fish for medication again...

(I was changing the water like crazy and getting all the detritus and old food out ASAP yet ammonia stayed high)

hawk · #8 02-07-2008, 04:03 AM

What medication are you using? The ones I have used in the past all recommend only removing carbon which will absorb the meds as does rock, sand and porous tank decorations, but otherwise definitely continue normal filtration. If this fish has already been in your main tank and it's only symptoms are the cloudy eye and frayed tail, returning it to the DT maybe the best option at this point. That being said, don't give-up on qt'ing or treating fish, as both are a major part of long-term success in this hobby.

midgetwaiter · #9 02-07-2008, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltyrockbox

Was that medication correct for one cloudy and slightly popping eye?

IME the antibiotic treatment wasn't necessary. This is a very common thing to find in dwarf angels and I'm going to guess you have another dwarf angel. When they fight they often hit the eyes.

Discontinue the antibiotic and add some kind of filtration to the QT like a hang on filter with some rock rubble in it. It will usually clear up on it's own.

kwirky · #10 02-07-2008, 08:40 AM

I've quarantined fish in hyposaline conditions before (1.016 salinity). That's another option. Much safer than medication and no worry about killing off biological filtraiton. You can bring salinity down from 1.023 to 1.016 in 12 hours but to bring it back up to 1.023 you have to spend 3-4 days.