Maintaining cycle HELP

[Acgelok]

Last week I got a bad batch of angels in my hospital/isolation tank.
Now I want to keep the tank empty without losing cycle for a couple of weeks to
get rid of whatever killed the angels. I would like to maintain the cycled
condition with pure ammonia. The tank is a 10 gallon with a small filter. What
I need to know is approx. how much ammonia to add on a daily bases only to keep
it cycled. Some malicite green is the only thing I had time to try before the
whole bunch ( 6 ) of angels kicked off. I've got some zebra danios in there now
but they
don't look like they're going to survive, so ammonia is the next best thing I
guess
If anyone has an idea about how much ammonia to use please post a.s.a.p.
Time factor allows me maybe 2 or 3 amm. tests in the next week or two, having
some idea of ammount and frequency would sure be a big help
T.I.A. and as always regards ART

[Elaine T]

Acgelok wrote:
> Last week I got a bad batch of angels in my hospital/isolation tank.
> Now I want to keep the tank empty without losing cycle for a couple of weeks to
> get rid of whatever killed the angels. I would like to maintain the cycled
> condition with pure ammonia. The tank is a 10 gallon with a small filter. What
> I need to know is approx. how much ammonia to add on a daily bases only to keep
> it cycled. Some malicite green is the only thing I had time to try before the
> whole bunch ( 6 ) of angels kicked off. I've got some zebra danios in there now
> but they
> don't look like they're going to survive, so ammonia is the next best thing I
> guess
> If anyone has an idea about how much ammonia to use please post a.s.a.p.
> Time factor allows me maybe 2 or 3 amm. tests in the next week or two, having
> some idea of ammount and frequency would sure be a big help
> T.I.A. and as always regards ART

If you don't disinfect the quarantine, there's a chance whatever nasties
came in on the angels will stay alive in the tank. Why don't you run a
new sponge filter in one of your larger tanks for a couple of weeks?
You can put that in the quarantine and it won't cycle at all. It's
faster too!

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[humBill]

"Elaine T" > wrote in message
t...
> Acgelok wrote:
>> Last week I got a bad batch of angels in my hospital/isolation tank.
>> Now I want to keep the tank empty without losing cycle for a couple of
>> weeks to
>> get rid of whatever killed the angels. I would like to maintain the
>> cycled
>> condition with pure ammonia. The tank is a 10 gallon with a small
>> filter. What
>> I need to know is approx. how much ammonia to add on a daily bases only
>> to keep
>> it cycled. Some malicite green is the only thing I had time to try before
>> the
>> whole bunch ( 6 ) of angels kicked off. I've got some zebra danios in
>> there now
>> but they don't look like they're going to survive, so ammonia is the next
>> best thing I
>> guess
>> If anyone has an idea about how much ammonia to use please post a.s.a.p.
>> Time factor allows me maybe 2 or 3 amm. tests in the next week or two,
>> having
>> some idea of ammount and frequency would sure be a big help T.I.A. and as
>> always regards ART
>
> If you don't disinfect the quarantine, there's a chance whatever nasties
> came in on the angels will stay alive in the tank. Why don't you run a
> new sponge filter in one of your larger tanks for a couple of weeks? You
> can put that in the quarantine and it won't cycle at all. It's faster
> too!
>
> --
> __ Elaine T __
> ><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

This sounds like an excellent suggestion. I have been told that a hospital
tank should be sterilized with bleach after a problem, then dosed well with
a dechlorinator and allowed to run for a few days, then started again.
Bill

[Ozdude]

"Acgelok" > wrote in message
...
> Last week I got a bad batch of angels in my hospital/isolation tank.
> Now I want to keep the tank empty without losing cycle for a couple of
> weeks to
> get rid of whatever killed the angels. I would like to maintain the cycled
> condition with pure ammonia. The tank is a 10 gallon with a small filter.
> What
> I need to know is approx. how much ammonia to add on a daily bases only to
> keep
> it cycled. Some malicite green is the only thing I had time to try before
> the
> whole bunch ( 6 ) of angels kicked off. I've got some zebra danios in
> there now
> but they
> don't look like they're going to survive, so ammonia is the next best
> thing I
> guess
> If anyone has an idea about how much ammonia to use please post a.s.a.p.
> Time factor allows me maybe 2 or 3 amm. tests in the next week or two,
> having
> some idea of ammount and frequency would sure be a big help
> T.I.A. and as always regards ART

Hi,

You MUST take the whole tank down after a something like this. You can't
keep the filter cycled and will have to recycle the tank. What ever killed
your fish is in every bit of that tank now and most probably in the filter
the most.

I bought 4 new male Black Phantom Tetras tonight and one of them had fungus
on it. My Q tank had previously had a Honey Gourami with a stomach parasite
die in it, so I had to completely empty it, wash it out with H2O2 solution
(disinfectant, oxygenator etc.) refill it AND I replaced the filter
cartridge. It's one of those clip on air filters "Smallworld" types (French
I think). I also dosed the heater and the net I use for that tank.

Once the fish were in there I added medication to the tank and to counter
any ammonia build up I will do a 50% water change tomorrow. They haven't
been fed and there won't be an abundance of ammonia in there over the next
12 hours as long as they aren't fed. I am taking the fungus fish back to the
LFS for a replacement, so after it leaves the tank, the same procedure
follows - break down - disinfect everything and re-cycle if necessary.

*If* I decide to use the tank though all I will have to do is bring one of
the main tank filters over and that will "seed" the small tank sufficiently
to keep fish in it for a length of time. I may even bring the main tanks
water over. We'll see. It's more useful as a Q/H tank at the moment.

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith

[Ozdude]

"humBill" > wrote in message
om...
> This sounds like an excellent suggestion. I have been told that a
> hospital tank should be sterilized with bleach after a problem, then dosed
> well with a dechlorinator and allowed to run for a few days, then started
> again.

Technically that's right, but if your a bit slack or caught off guard as I
was tonight I throughly recommend Hydrogen Peroxide as a safe(ish) fast
disinfector, which breaks down into to Hydrogen and Oxygen when it's done
it's thing (about 3 or 4 hours). It has the side benefit for me in that, not
only does it do a fine job of disinfecting when in that mode, it's also
useful for the creatures themselves. Fungus (what I'm dealing with now)
hates H2O2 and I have a male Phantom Tetra in my quickly broken down and
reconstituted Q tank, quite happily swimming around.

I am so confident of H2O2 doing it's magic that I have even turned the
filter off for over night, because you know when it's breaking down because
the water becomes super oxygenated and little bubbles form on everything.

The only thing I expect the Phantom to have in the morning is probably
slightly red gills from osmotic reaction to the amount of oxygen in the
water. His fungas will still be there, but most of it will be either dead or
dying.

He's going back to the shop just the same - they can do what ever they do
there to it.

As for the future of the Q tank - well, there are some beautiful Bettas I've
seen in my travels yesterday and the attraction is proving too strong, so
I'm going to move my smaller filter straight over from the main tank to the
Q tank and some of it's water too. Instant Betta Home.

Elaine is right, in that the tank doean't cycle when you do this. I call it
seeding a tank, but I'm not sure what it's technical term is.

FWIW, this is how I got my new tank up and runnning in less than 1 week
without it cycling, only in reverse - the Q tank had the filter, so I moved
it's filter over, but squeezed all of it's filter media into the tank water
of the new tank, which seeded the new filter, whilst having enough to handle
the fish from the old tank. All I really did was wait for the water to clear
(over night).

I moved the fish over two days, to make real sure and never lost a single
one to chemical imbalance in the new tank. It never cycled. In fact it
suffers from what the old tank suffrered from - slightly elevated nitrates -
which are lower today and have been dropping over the last three days and
are now acceptable.

Any way, Elaine's seeding advice is the right advice in my book, but you
need more than one tank to do it ;)

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith
>
>

[Acgelok]

doesn't anyone know how much ammonia will keep a 10 gallon tank
cycled????????????????
All the answers are of cource rite but they don't answer my question on ammonia
ammounts, and time is of the essence, for I'am leaving for mexico in a couple
of days and need to instruct my baby sitter/ fish sitter on how much and when
and keep it simple in an attempt to keep the tank cycled T.I.A. and
regards ART

[NetMax]

"Acgelok" > wrote in message
...
> doesn't anyone know how much ammonia will keep a 10 gallon tank
> cycled????????????????
> All the answers are of cource rite but they don't answer my question on
> ammonia
> ammounts, and time is of the essence, for I'am leaving for mexico in a
> couple
> of days and need to instruct my baby sitter/ fish sitter on how much
> and when
> and keep it simple in an attempt to keep the tank cycled T.I.A. and
> regards ART

I don't think the amount is critical, as long as there are no fish and
the amount added is consistent, a level of bacteria will be maintained.
I imagine 2 drops per day (totals between 1/5 and 1/10 of a ml), but I
haven't done a fishless cycle lately. If you want to be more scientific,
add ammonia till you reach 5ppm, and then regulate a smaller dosage to
take you to 1-2ppm. Both methods should avoid massive spiking which
would be harmful to whatever other organisms and contagions were there
;~)

I also don't see the value of what you are trying to do Art, but I hope
your question was answered. Note that you'll have some serious NO3
levels when you return. Have a good time in Mexico.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Fuzzy]

NetMax wrote:
> "Acgelok" > wrote in message news:20050204121058.02159.00000297@mb-
> ...
> > doesn't anyone know how much ammonia will keep a 10 gallon tank
> > cycled???????????????? All the answers are of cource rite but they
> > don't answer my question on ammonia ammounts, and time is of the
> > essence, for I'am leaving for mexico in a couple of days and need to
> > instruct my baby sitter/ fish sitter on how much and when and keep it
> > simple in an attempt to keep the tank cycled T.I.A. and regards ART
> I also don't see the value of what you are trying to do Art, but I hope
> your question was answered. Note that you'll have some serious NO3
> levels when you return. Have a good time in Mexico.
> --
> www.NetMax.tk



I have to comment on this thread. I have never had a problem in any of
my tanks over my years of fish keeping, that was not my own fault. Be it
through my own ignorance, or a lack of following the advice of the more
experienced. We have here a person who when seeking advice, is told that
the course of action he thinks best to follow is wrong. He instead
disregards the advice, and charges head on blindly in the wrong
direction. Imagine, going into a hospital, and learning, that the bed
you are in, has not been sterilized from the previous patient. I applaud
all those who spend valuable personal time trying to advise, and or help
those ppl seeking help. I do wonder how long it shall be, before the
thread originator is back asking questions, which should never have to
be posted, if he had just followed the advice already given.



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