how to set up a quranteine tank

[Guest bill33]

hello, i need a little help. when you set up a hospital or qurantine tank what size should it be. what filteration should it have, power or canister, when you take out the water from the main tank and put it in the quranintine tank is that water cycled. should you use live sand with the qurantee to keep it cycled, is copper based medication the best.   thanks alot

 

Billy

[Guest Amber Nussbaum]

I'm still learning on this, but I got some good info at the meeting about this, so I'll share what I know. With quarantine tanks, I think it's best to have a bare bottom.. parasites can fall off fish and live in the rock and sand, so basically you just want a plain tank with some coffee cups or pvc pipes for the fish to hide in. A heater, small powerhead for circulation, and some type of biological filter, like a bio wheel or bio sponge.

 

You can use water from the main tank if you want, but you will still have to wait for this tank to "cycle." Bacteria lives on media (bio balls, bio sponge, etc) not in water.. (at least this is what I was told).

 

I've had to do a lot of water changes to keep nitrates down. So far I haven't treated any fish yet, just quarantining them before I put them in the main tank to observe them and make sure they're eating okay. Maybe check the fish disease forum on reefcentral if you have a question about medication.

 

Hope that helps..

[Guest bill33]

thanks, my fish i keep adding to my showtank keep getting sick and the dieing 1 out of 5 die. so how can i cycle the tank really fast to start adding to the qurantee.

 

Billy

[Guest HVF21221]

I use a bare bottom tank, heater, sponge filter, and penguin bio-wheel hang on filter. Put the new sponge and bio-wheel in an established disease-free tank for a couple weeks to get the bacteria growing on them. Then set up your QT. I keep a few extra "seeding" in my main tank so when my impulse buying takes over I can go home and set up the QT right away and it is basically cycled already. You don't want a stressed or sick fish to have to battle bad water quality also. This complicates things alot more. HTH, Howard

[Guest bill33]

when i add the sponge filter to the disease free tank, than add that to the qt how long will it take for the qt ready for clients. thanks what size is best, i might get a 20 gallon shallow

 

 

Billy

[tree]

If you can't wait for it to cycle, you can also do nightly water changes.  Each night just a little less water until the cycle is done.  Its a pain, but you don't have the wait factor.   Since a QT is usually pretty small it doesn't take that long.  

 

My QT has a whisper filter & I do the same thing HVF21221 suggested,  but instead of sponges I keep a new filter bag in my sump.  If you have to treat the fish with anything make sure you do not put that sponge or filter back in your display tank.

 

As far as medicating the fish - the less the better.  For ick hyposalinity should be tried.  Over a 48 hour time frame you drop the salinity from the normal 1.024 to around 1.009.  You will need a refractometer for this since if it gets below 1.007 you could cause damage to the fish.  After 3 weeks all of the ich should be gone. Then you bring the salinity back up to that in your display.  Again very slowly.  If it doesn't seem like the ich is starting to disappear after a week or the fish is in really bad shape, then try the appropraite medication.  Just remember copper is toxic to fish as well especially if it is overdosed.

By the way, I've used this method it cured the ick & lymph that my perculas had.

[Guest bill33]

i have a biowheel that is pretty old on my display tank can i add that to a biowheel on the qt. it is about 4 months old so it has a lot of bacteria on it. will that work