As crazy as it sounds I’ve spent ( well by I’ve , i mean my dad) have over $1000 in my 14 gal nano.. def not the cheapest hobby, but the most rewarding! Everyone has had there troubles in the beginning, like mine was tank crash by adding tooo many corals at the same time and brown jelly by having a wall hammer. I’m almost tempted to set up a 5g evo by fluval and have what I started with in the hobby, a fire clown, a gonipora ( some say the hardest coral) And a crocea clam. But just remembere to not give up. Just keep swimming lolJust a quick update:
I moved all 3 from the bucket to the tank. The tank showed 0 ammonia. They all had advanced neurological issues. One of them died within a hour of placing it in the tank. A second was dead by morning. I still have the last one hanging on. It shows intermittent signs of progress. I will keep it as comfortable possible and measure ammonia. I'm hopeful he pulls through but I think the damage is done.
Moving forward: I'm abandoning the small tank transfer method of quarantine. To admit, the method wasn't a failure as much as my ignoring the ammonia symptoms when first displayed. I honestly did not think ammonia could build up that quickly (less than 24 hours). However, I believe it had a good head start with the cat litter box. Would I have had the same problems without the litter box pumping ammonia into the tank? I don't think so. In the future, I'll just quarantine with a cycled 20 gallon long. I'll have a hospital tank ready to medicate if I need it.
Honestly, if I hadn't spent so much money right now, I'd probably just fill the 210 with freshwater fish and be done. I'm still considering it.
I appreciate all of the help and feedback.
Lucas