Koi Sponge Filter to seed a Fish tank? Temperate flux too much?

[JustaG0ldfish]

Hi Simply Discus! My name is Tommy and I have a very specific question.

Would it be possible to transfer over a cold seeded Sponge filter from my outside Koi pond into a fish tank that will house a warmer tank? Lets say 65 Degrees to a 80 degree tank. Will that kill all of the bacteria I have gotten on the Sponge filter?

[Willie]

Moving from 65F to 80F will not affect the bacterial load. The same population that detoxifies ammonia from goldfish will do the same for discus.

One concern would be that ponds support other organisms that may harm aquarium fish. There are larval forms of insects that can predate. You might want to vigorously squeeze the sponge out and move it to a bare tank to see if anything grows out. (Don't worry, vigorously squeezing does not wipe out the bacteria.) If nothing grows out in a week, you're good to go. Nothing in life is guaranteed, but that would be a reasonable approach.

[JustaG0ldfish]

Hi Willie,

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my post! I will take that approach. Super glad to hear that the bacterial load won't be affected by the temperate swing. I will come back to this post and let you know if I see anything come out of my sponge filter once it's moved into the tank for a week.

[JustaG0ldfish]

Hey Willie,
How long do you think I should keep the sponge filter in the pond until I can move into an aquarium?

[Iminit]

If your just starting with the sponge it will take at least a month to get the sponge ready. So in the same amount of time you can cycle a new tank. Might as well just cycle a new tank! What type of fish do you plan on keeping?

[Willie]

Hey Willie,
How long do you think I should keep the sponge filter in the pond until I can move into an aquarium?

If you don't see anything growing out in a couple of weeks, I'd feel pretty safe about it. Snail eggs would hatch out in that time period.

[JustaG0ldfish]

If your just starting with the sponge it will take at least a month to get the sponge ready. So in the same amount of time you can cycle a new tank. Might as well just cycle a new tank! What type of fish do you plan on keeping?

The sponge filter will be in an established 4,000 Gallon Koi pond that houses about 12 Koi fish and some goldfish. I plan on getting 6 Discus and Neon Cardinals as dithers into a 90G. No rush on getting them so far. I want to make sure the tank is fully cycled before adding anything. I will post on the newbie section soon for more info on my setup! Thank you for being interested!

[seanyuki]

Consider Cross contamination can happen when you mix any aquatic living things from different sources (even water) into the same tank. It can be fish, shrimp, snails, plants or sponges etc. The point of having a quarantine tank is not having anything from an existing tank due to cross contamination. IMO do a fishless cycle for the new set up.

[LizStreithorst]

In this case Francis I agree with Willy. The chance of cross contamination does exist but the chance is so low using a sponge from his pond. His other choices would be what I have done. Change 90% of the water every day until the sterile sponge started to cycle. It takes a lot of care and all different water storage containers and equipment. If I were in Tommy's position I'd take the tiny risk.

[Iminit]

That’s what I was getting too :). If your going with discus. Set up your tank let the filters run for 24hrs to a week before adding new discus. Now because they’re new to your tank and water you change water daily for at least the first month if buying 5-6” discus. If buying 2.5-3” discus you’ll change water till they’re at least 4.5-5”. Now since your changing this much water cycling doesn’t matter. The tank will cycle and the daily water changes are insuring clean water and minimal ammonia build up. So why take any chance with an outside sponge filter spreading anything into your discus tank. Plus even if you add this outside sponge you should still do the water changes to insure your fish’s health.

[CliffsDiscus]

I play it safe by using the bottle bacterial for aquariums outside of my hatchery, but for my own home Discus at home I do sometimes switch sponges from one tank to another. If I use a foreign sponges from someone and kill any fish I would have to
replace any lost at my expense.

Cliff

[LizStreithorst]

That's the safest way, of course. If I were in his position I would do what Willie said. I tend to go with the odds and the odds of something in his outdoor pond tank introducing disease into a Discus tank is minimal. Throwing caution to the wind is one of my bad habits.

[LizStreithorst]

Sorry, Goldfish. We "experts" have taken you into the weeds of the discussion. Despite the fact that I myself would do it Willie's way. If you want to be super safe, do it Cliff's way. With Cliff's way you'll have to change more water at first. The bottled bacteria is good but an already cycled filter does the job immediately.

[JustaG0ldfish]

Hey Liz and Simply Discus Crew

I wanted to follow up on this. The sponge filter did seed and had an instant cycle to the 40G! Thank you for the feedback and giving me the courage to do it!

[LizStreithorst]

Cool.