Qt Disaster

Lost some fish a couple months ago when I had no QT and I added 5 SchwartI Cory's to my established 65 gallon tank and additionally lost my Betta and 1 orange von rio tetra and all 5 of the Cory's, so I bought a 10 gallon to setup as a QT.
I added the small HOB filter in an established tank as well as a fake plant and fake log. Let it run for a couple of weeks.
Decided to give it a shot at 6 Cory's (again) so I used 10 gallons of water from the established tank, then moved the HOB and decorations to the new QT. Tested the water nitrates 10, nitrites 0, ammonia 0.......... Went to the LFS, purchased 6 (very) small Cory's and brought them back and floated the bag for 45 minutes or so, added some water from the QT to the bag, let it sit for a while longer then released the Cory's.
The next morning had 2 dead Cory's.....tested the water and nitrites and ammonia both at .5 ppm....
Did a 50% water change and added Prime and Stability........this morning (2 days later) another dead Cory with bad nitrites and ammonia again.......
What's UP??? I'm figuring (possibly incorrectly) that even though I attempted to move over a seeded small HOB filter and decorations, that dumping the 6 Cory's in there put a dramatic increase to the bio-load in the tank.......
Decision time........ do I keep fighting the nitrites and ammonia problem and possibly loose the last 3 Cory's in my 10 gallon QT or do I move the 3 Cory's to an established 65 gallon tank with 10 nitrates and 0 nitrite and 0 ammonia???
Wish me and the fish luck as I chose the latter........ I know I have read threads here with some people saying Cory's die sometimes but my first tank a 29 gallon still has the original 4 peppered Cory's I bought for it last summer...... I love Cory's and hope these 3 make it and that I don't lose any other fish from my 65 gallon tank......
At this point I'm willing to listen to any and all opinions on how to get the QT cycled and stay cycled once you add fish to it.....it only makes sense to me that depending on how many and what size fish you add to the QT your bio-load will fluctuate wildly.....
....and, once you add fish and nitrites and ammonia rise, is it acceptable practice to do a water change and just add Prime (or Stability as well)??

 

Sorry about your cories. Your hob filter most likely didn’t have enough beneficial bacteria which is why you had the ammonia and nitrite spike after adding in your cories. If you’re not short on space and are able to keep a qt tank up and running, do a fishless cycle with ammonia on that tank and keep it cycled by frequently feeding the BB with ammonia. When the time comes to use it do a big water change to remove the built up nitrates.

 

You can try adding some of the substrate from a tank that you KNOW is cycled (you have a 29 and a 65 right?) into the new 10 gallon that's having the problem. You probably didn't have enough bacteria established in the HOB you moved to the new tank.
Water doesn't have a significant amount of the beneficial bacteria just floating around in it, so water transfers don't really do anything. Those bacteria attach to rough porous surfaces like filter media, gravel, sand, rocks and some decorative items. I'd move 2-3 cups of the substrate from one of the established tanks, gunk, poop and all to the 10 gallon tank. Wait 24 hours and recheck your water parameters. It still may take a couple weeks for the bacteria to catch up to the waste your fish are producing so you'll need to test daily and do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites below 1 ppm.

 

The way you set up your qt tank is the way I set up mine. My qt is a 5gal with a tiny hob filter. I remove all the filter media from an existing tank and the tank water into the qt (yes I know the water doesn’t matter but I still do it). For your ammonia and nitrites to raise to .5 over night from 6 small Cory’s means there wasn’t enough media to feed the tank. Also being that they were so small it could have just been the stress that killed them.
As to moving them into the 65. You had problems last time so if bought from the same place I would continue doing water changes with them in the qt tank till you get it under control and leave the Corys there for a few weeks before you move them into the established tank. Hope it works out for you and good luck.

 

The way you set up your qt tank is the way I set up mine. My qt is a 5gal with a tiny hob filter. I remove all the filter media from an existing tank and the tank water into the qt (yes I know the water doesn’t matter but I still do it). For your ammonia and nitrites to raise to .5 over night from 6 small Cory’s means there wasn’t enough media to feed the tank. Also being that they were so small it could have just been the stress that killed them.
As to moving them into the 65. You had problems last time so if bought from the same place I would continue doing water changes with them in the qt tank till you get it under control and leave the Corys there for a few weeks before you move them into the established tank. Hope it works out for you and good luck.

I am happy to report that as of this morning the remaining 3 Cory's are doing well in the 65 gallon. Time will tell. Prayers for continued success there....
I bought these from a different store. I will never go back to the other store. The other store recently moved to a larger location, and when I went in to buy the previous Cory's I should have had a clue because a few other tanks were labeled NFS (not for sale) as they were treating sick fish.....and I saw more than one tank with a dead fish in it which tells me they have grown too large and do not have the staff to take care of the stock they currently have.
I am pretty sure these Cory's are OK and the 3 that died were my fault for not having enough cycled media in the tank......I sure hope that is the case for the sake of all fish that are in the 65 gallon now anyway.......
edited to add: Yes I use the water from a tank that the fish will go into so the "chemistry" is similar...not for the bacteria to be moved..... maybe I will also run an extra sponge filter in the 65 and add 5 pounds of gravel and run the small HOB for a couple more weeks, then move some gravel, the HOB, and a sponge filter over and add 1 fish?? Better option??

 

I am happy to report that as of this morning the remaining 3 Cory's are doing well in the 65 gallon. Time will tell. Prayers for continued success there....
I bought these from a different store. I will never go back to the other store. The other store recently moved to a larger location, and when I went in to buy the previous Cory's I should have had a clue because a few other tanks were labeled NFS (not for sale) as they were treating sick fish.....and I saw more than one tank with a dead fish in it which tells me they have grown too large and do not have the staff to take care of the stock they currently have.
I am pretty sure these Cory's are OK and the 3 that died were my fault for not having enough cycled media in the tank......I sure hope that is the case for the sake of all fish that are in the 65 gallon now anyway.......
edited to add: Yes I use the water from a tank that the fish will go into so the "chemistry" is similar...not for the bacteria to be moved..... maybe I will also run an extra sponge filter in the 65 and add 5 pounds of gravel and run the small HOB for a couple more weeks, then move some gravel, the HOB, and a sponge filter over and add 1 fish?? Better option??

I wouldn't add any more fish until the tank(s) are cycled and then add fish slowly so the tanks can accomodate the increased bio loads gradually. That's just me tho...

 

Not sure what happened in your tank. Lots of people just add new fish right into there tanks. Acclimate first than add into tank. Only time I would qt new fish is if I wanted the fish even though I wasn’t happy with the way they looked. Is the hob your using big enough for the tank? Can it move 80gal an hour? If it can what you did should have worked. The added sponge will definitely help.
Now if you try to run the qt tank all the time with 1 fish what will happen is both of those filters will only have enough beneficial bacteria in them to keep the 1 fish healthy. B.B. only grows to what it’s needed. So when you add the new fish you will again have an ammonia problem till there’s enough B.B. to eat the new ammonia.

 

Not sure what happened in your tank. Lots of people just add new fish right into there tanks. Acclimate first than add into tank. Only time I would qt new fish is if I wanted the fish even though I wasn’t happy with the way they looked. Is the hob your using big enough for the tank? Can it move 80gal an hour? If it can what you did should have worked. The added sponge will definitely help.
Now if you try to run the qt tank all the time with 1 fish what will happen is both of those filters will only have enough beneficial bacteria in them to keep the 1 fish healthy. B.B. only grows to what it’s needed. So when you add the new fish you will again have an ammonia problem till there’s enough B.B. to eat the new ammonia.

I bought a 10 gallon from Walmart with hob filter, lid, and led light so I imagine the HOB is adequate for the 10 gallon BUT is the 10 gallon enough for 6 BABY Cory's each 1/2" or less in length??
And that gets me back to one of my original questions. Even though you seeded a filter, and decorations, and (in the future) some gravel, it may not be the proper cycling for whatever fish you put in....in other words, you have to test the water daily until you are sure ammonia=0 nitrites=0 and nitrates are 20 (or less optimally) and if the test reading are not what you want, I am guessing you would do a 30-50% water change and add Prime daily to at least make the ammonia and nitrites detoxified to be safer for the fish......is that the general idea?

 

I bought a 10 gallon from Walmart with hob filter, lid, and led light so I imagine the HOB is adequate for the 10 gallon BUT is the 10 gallon enough for 6 BABY Cory's each 1/2" or less in length??
And that gets me back to one of my original questions. Even though you seeded a filter, and decorations, and (in the future) some gravel, it may not be the proper cycling for whatever fish you put in....in other words, you have to test the water daily until you are sure ammonia=0 nitrites=0 and nitrates are 20 (or less optimally) and if the test reading are not what you want, I am guessing you would do a 30-50% water change and add Prime daily to at least make the ammonia and nitrites detoxified to be safer for the fish......is that the general idea?

Yes, you hit the nail on the head. Best thing tho is to cycle the tank BEFORE you even put any fish in the tank. Sorry...analogy...Cycling with your favorite fish in the tank is like getting on the horse, THEN trying to put the saddle on....

 

I guess the tank is a kit as in it came with what you mentioned. If so what they give you is the bear minimum. So that filter may be weak for the tank. I want to be filtering 8 times the water in the tank an hour. So around 80gph. A 10 gal would be fine as a qt tank for 6 small Cory’s with the right filter.
The thing is with a seeded filter you have to add the fish. The fish feed the bacteria. Water test should be done daily. Being a qt tank you want to be on top of what’s going on. Your idea of leaving the hob running in your 65 is good. Me I run at least 2 filters in my bigger tanks. This way I can remove enough media to fill my qt tank filter without hurting the big tank. I leave the tank bare bottom and usually put a peice of driftwood in it.
Yes you don’t want to put to many fish in there at once. But 6 sm Cory’s should be fine. More than likely it was just the stress that killed them.

 

I guess the tank is a kit as in it came with what you mentioned. If so what they give you is the bear minimum. So that filter may be weak for the tank. I want to be filtering 8 times the water in the tank an hour. So around 80gph. A 10 gal would be fine as a qt tank for 6 small Cory’s with the right filter.
The thing is with a seeded filter you have to add the fish. The fish feed the bacteria. Water test should be done daily. Being a qt tank you want to be on top of what’s going on. Your idea of leaving the hob running in your 65 is good. Me I run at least 2 filters in my bigger tanks. This way I can remove enough media to fill my qt tank filter without hurting the big tank. I leave the tank bare bottom and usually put a peice of driftwood in it.
Yes you don’t want to put to many fish in there at once. But 6 sm Cory’s should be fine. More than likely it was just the stress that killed them.

OR, 86 ssinit, you CAN add ammonia instead of fish. Which is how I cycle my new tanks. Seeding helps speed up the cycling but you always need to make sure your seeded bacteria is established and handle the ammonia that fish waste will ultimately produce. That can all be done in a fishless tank.

 

Momgoose he’s talkin about a qt tank. A tank set up in a hurry when you have new or sick fish and want to keep away from the main tank.

 

Momgoose he’s talkin about a qt tank. A tank set up in a hurry when you have new or sick fish and want to keep away from the main tank.

Oh, my baaaad! Sorry, carry on....

 

I bought a 10 gallon from Walmart with hob filter, lid, and led light so I imagine the HOB is adequate for the 10 gallon BUT is the 10 gallon enough for 6 BABY Cory's each 1/2" or less in length??
And that gets me back to one of my original questions. Even though you seeded a filter, and decorations, and (in the future) some gravel, it may not be the proper cycling for whatever fish you put in....in other words, you have to test the water daily until you are sure ammonia=0 nitrites=0 and nitrates are 20 (or less optimally) and if the test reading are not what you want, I am guessing you would do a 30-50% water change and add Prime daily to at least make the ammonia and nitrites detoxified to be safer for the fish......is that the general idea?

Beneficial bacteria doesn't necessarily make home in every piece of media. It's possible for the media you borrow from an established tank to not have enough. So yes, very important monitor conditions daily. If I see any ammonia after adding fish to a QT and it's under .50ppm, I'll dose the tank with Prime and add more established media (hopefully with BB) in the filter or filter flow. It has always worked out just fine for me though, I always have QTd new fish.