New 10 gal tank for the grandkids - old timer back after 50 years

[JCinPA4]

07/05/26

Day 6 of QT
Tested ammonia, it's at zero. Temp is 77.9F, and nitrite dropped to 0.25 PPM. Dosed 0.7 ml of Prime and 1.5 ml Stability again and did a 20% WC. Gourami looks great.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/06/26

Day 7 of QT

I don't feel the need to test again today, will do tomorrow. Dosed 0.7 ml of Prime and 1.5 ml Stability again and did a 20% WC. Gourami looks great.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/07/26

Day 8 of QT

Tested today, ammonia = 0, nitrite crept back up to 0.5 PPM. Did a 20% water change and dosed 0.7 ml of Prime and 1.5 ml Stability again. Since Prime is supposed to bind both, I'm going to stop the water changes unless nitrite goes to about 2 PPM, then I'll do a 30% change. I'm going to keep on dosing both until the nitrite comes down. Takes longer to grow the nitrobacter colony, I guess. Gourami still looks fine and has moderate appetite.

Main tank, the remaining endler developed ich spots again. I guess the API treatment wasn't quite enough. The guppies look fine. Got Ich-X, which seems to be preferred, and dosed that today. Day 1 for that.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/08/26

Day 9 of QT

Tested today, ammonia = 0, nitrite now up to 2.0 PPM. I did a 40% water change, and double dosed Prime.

Gourami looks just fine, eating more now, and looks comfortable in his surroundings and the orange tint in his tail is intensifying.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/09/26

Day 10 of QT

Tested today, ammonia = 0, nitrite now 1.0 PPM. I did a 20% water change, and dosed Prime and Stability again. Gourami looking very good.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/09/26

Day 11 of QT

Tested today, ammonia = 0, nitrite now 1.0 PPM. I did a 20% water change, and dosed Prime and Stability again. Gourami looking very good.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/11/26

Day 12 of QT

Tested today, ammonia = 0, nitrite now between 1.0-2.0 PPM. I did a 40% water change this time, and dosed Prime and Stability again. Gourami looking very good.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/17/26

Haven't posted in a while, but the bacteria finally started converting nitrites. I've kept up the Prime/Stability every day through today, lessee ...

Today is day 18 of quarantine, and nitrites were between 0.5 and 0.25 PPM. Gourami looks very nice. Nice color, very confident looking, eating well. Vacuumed up any uneaten food. I think he's ready to go to the main tank, but heck, I set up the QT, I'll leave him there for a full 30 days, and keep that tank going with ammonium chloride after he's out.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/26/26

Today is DAY 27 of quarantine, the QT is fully cycled, finally, the gourami looks great. I'm going to do a 30% water change in the 10 gallon community tank and a 20% change in the QT just to get them closer in parameters. The temperature is equalized, I'm just going to net him and plop him after the water changes.

I plan to keep the QT going by dosing with Fritz ammonium chloride to get it ready for one more guppy in a week or two.

 

[JCinPA4]

07/26/16b

Gourami swap accomplished. Guppies are ignoring him entirely while still chasing each other like the maniacs they usually are, and he seems oblivious to them, as well. He started hiding out behind the plants (brought one over from the quarantine tank) but he wasn't too freaked out. within ten minutes he was coming out front to check things out, but then back to the plants. A little vertical glass surfing but nothing too frenetic like when I brought him home from the PetSmart. He got pretty comfy within 10-15 minutes.

Interested to see how they are all doing tomorrow.

 

[JCinPA4]

7/27/26

Cool! All fish are happy as clams, nobody bothering anybody else (well the guppies chase each other), Gourami is settled in nicely. All is good. Gonna look for one more fish to add through the QT

 

[JCinPA4]

08/01/26

Everybody happy! I dosed the quarantine tank with Fritz Fishless Fuel to boost the bacteria in the sponge filter, the one gourami didn't provide much of a load. After a couple doses, the ammonia goes right down to zero, but the nitrates take several days to drop, now about 2 PPM. I'm leaving it along until they drop to zero then dosing one more time to be sure.

I'm planning on adding two more male guppies, but def going to QT them first. I learned my lesson.