Panda Corys finished with QT and ready for display tank, but…

[Stef]

Hi everyone. So I have four panda corys that have been in a 10 gal qt for a month. The qt is an older tank that has a mystery snail, an adolescent BN Pleco and a betta. I did not medicate the qt when the pandas went in from my lfs. Fast forward to today, all pandas are healthy, eating and swimming fine. While checking parameters of the qt and the display tank they’re going in, I’m getting some big differences in KH. 
 

For the qt strip (left), I’m getting 0 KH. On the liquid (left) I got to 3 drops to change from blue to yellow. The display tank is getting at least 80 ppm KH per strip on right and I got 6 drops to changes from blue to yellow for the liquid. The pH for both tanks are the same per liquid test at 7.2.  And so are the nitrates at about 20 ppm per strips. 
 

So my question is when transferring fish to a tank with higher/better KH, is there the same acclimation protocol?  I would do a drip method. I’m just wondering if it’s better to do small daily water changes first on the qt before transferring the pandas. 

[Theplatymaster]

@Stef

maybe try this method:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/how-to-acclimate-new-aquarium-fish?_pos=1&_sid=3f8c17186&_ss=r

ive heard dangerous things about drip acclimation.

[nabokovfan87]

Something isn't right....

On those strips, the #2 and #3 pads from the bottom.  What is the scale for them?  I assume the one on the right sat a little bit or you're looking at near 8.0 PH and very high hardness.

 

If you were concerned at all with KH/GH you can drip acclimate the corydoras over an hour or two and they should be fine with that to move into the tank.  The only reason I say "something isn't right" is because I don't understand that second strip and if it's good parameters for the corydoras.

[Stef]

Thanks @Theplatymaster and @Pepere I do not have the Seachem product but do have API pH up. 
 

I will work on the qt as it needs it. All my tanks were pandemic tanks and this is now my third tank going through OTS. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/8/2023 at 5:34 PM, Stef said:

now my third tank going through OTS. 

What amount of water are you changing and how often? 

How different is the test results compared to your tap water?

[Stef]

Hi @nabokovfan87, the strips sat while I filled and tested using liquid API test. My pH is usually 7.2 or 7.4. In this pic it was taken prior to the liquid pH and KH test. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/8/2023 at 5:46 PM, Stef said:

Hi @nabokovfan87, the strips sat while I filled and tested using liquid API test. My pH is usually 7.2 or 7.4. In this pic it was taken prior to the liquid pH and KH test. 

because you're seeing the results "off the chart" so to speak on the strip on the right.  You can use RO / Distilled water and dilute it by 50% to give you an idea of the values you're getting. 

GH = 300+ (probably close to 400-450)
KH looks like 140 or so
PH looks like 8.0+ region

The test on the left there is a little bit of corruption of the pads, here's a video explaining that:

 

[Stef]

Here’s my tap water test after a minute. It’s Chicago water.

My qt water change is 50% weekly and is a 10 gal. It has more fish (4 corys, a betta, juvenile bn Pleco and snail). My display tank is 20 gal long, only has 1 betta and 6 corys, ramshorns. For it, I’ve been doing 25% water change every month. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/8/2023 at 6:18 PM, Stef said:

 Going off of this test....  Things can change if your aerate your sample of tap water for 24 hours with an air stone.  It's called off-gassing. 

For now, let's just take this test as is for your tap water.

In the two strips we have above:
Left Strip - Old Tank Syndrome candidate. (your QT Tank)
Right Strip - Closer to your tap, but a bit high like it's being buffered a little bit some way.

Considering you're changing water once a month this is also can be a symptom of OTS.  Things "build up" in terms of your KH, GH, which results in parameters being higher than normal.  This can be eased by topping off with distilled / tap water and can be resolved by upping slightly the occurrence of your water changes.

My suggestion for moving the fish at this point would be to up your water changes for the QT tank until parameters match.  Change water once a week at a higher volume (50% max, which you're already at) or go ahead and just increase how often you're changing water to every 3-4 days for the time being.

From what I see in the tap test, your KH, GH are all fine for stability.  Lower KH in QT might be an indication of a lot of organics in the water. 

[Andy's Fish Den]

Me personally, I would not worry about the difference too much. Fish are pretty resilient, and adaptable. Think about how much they are moved between different water parameters through the journey that they go through from being caught in the wild or even if tank raised. The only thing I acclimate for is temp, floating the bags for 10-15 minutes and then pouring the fish and water into a net and into the tank they go, no dripping, no pouring a cup of water from the tank into the bag every 10 minutes, just float and that's it. In my fishroom, when I move fish around or after QT, I put catch them, put in a specimen container, float that for 5-10 and pour the fish and water into new tank.