Quaranteen tank

I have a 10 gallon tank that I set up to receive 12 Mollies and 3
Clown Loaches. Thursday morning I transferred 10 gallons from my 75
gallon tank. The Qtank has a sponge filter in a Whisper Jr power
filter. The sponge had been kept in the rear of a power filter in the
75 gallon tank until I moved the water and sponge. I added 1
tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of Melafix.

The fish arrived Wednesday afternoon and appeared to be fine.
I covered the Qtank and didn't look at it until Friday morning. Again
the fish all looked fine. I fed them lightly and their was mild
interest. Three hours later I looked at the tank and it was cloudy.
The food had been eaten from the bottom, no sand, no plants, so I had
a good view.

This was seasoned water. The temperature was kept the same as in the
75 gallon. No new water had been added. How could the tank go cloudy
so soon and so quickly?

I had cleaned the tank with bleach early in the week, but rinsed it
with an outside hose. The tank had been standing empty until Thursday
morning.

I want to find a reliable Qtank procedure. Any observations,
suggestions?

I have had same issues before with my 30 gallon tank. Even though you
cleaned with bleach and got it all out, there is still residue. I had
cleaned my tank with mild soap as suggested by many sites and let it sit for
2 weeks with not fish. Only water and gravel. I got new fish and they died
instantly. Went to petsmart and they recommended a few products and told me
to drain the tank and refill. The day after, I got 2 fish to check the
tank. 2 months later, they are doing fine. No clue what caused the deaths
and the murky water. I just put about 5 water conditioners in when I
drained it and they are great.

Don't know if that helps but just something to keep in mind.
"Dick" wrote in message
...

I have a 10 gallon tank that I set up to receive 12 Mollies and 3
Clown Loaches. Thursday morning I transferred 10 gallons from my 75
gallon tank. The Qtank has a sponge filter in a Whisper Jr power
filter. The sponge had been kept in the rear of a power filter in the
75 gallon tank until I moved the water and sponge. I added 1
tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of Melafix.

The fish arrived Wednesday afternoon and appeared to be fine.
I covered the Qtank and didn't look at it until Friday morning. Again
the fish all looked fine. I fed them lightly and their was mild
interest. Three hours later I looked at the tank and it was cloudy.
The food had been eaten from the bottom, no sand, no plants, so I had
a good view.

This was seasoned water. The temperature was kept the same as in the
75 gallon. No new water had been added. How could the tank go cloudy
so soon and so quickly?

I had cleaned the tank with bleach early in the week, but rinsed it
with an outside hose. The tank had been standing empty until Thursday
morning.

I want to find a reliable Qtank procedure. Any observations,
suggestions?

On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 04:54:27 GMT, "amanda"
wrote:

I have had same issues before with my 30 gallon tank. Even though you
cleaned with bleach and got it all out, there is still residue. I had
cleaned my tank with mild soap as suggested by many sites and let it sit for
2 weeks with not fish.

Bleach isn't the same as soap (mild or otherwise). Using a simple
chlorine bleach (no extra soaps/ cleaners), it rinses very easily.

This was seasoned water. The temperature was kept the same as in the
75 gallon. No new water had been added. How could the tank go cloudy
so soon and so quickly?

Cloudiness was probably a bacterial bloom. There was suddenly a
bunch of ammonia, and so the bacteria started growing quickly to
handle the ammonia.



Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua