Quarantine Tanks

[davelin315]

I have never in my life quarantined fish (I made an attempt to do it years ago when I first started with saltwater tanks... 1991... but it turned into another place to house fish and inverts...). That said, I am about to (meaning in the next year or so) put a 300 gallon tank in my wall and build a tank room behind it, so I'd like to do it right.

 

With that in mind, thinking how in the world will I ever catch a fish if it's sick and needs to be removed from the tank, I have been thinking of using a quarantine tank. However, I question a quarantine tank that is set up on the side. Water chemistry would be different from the main display tank and I would think that with the idea of quarantining, it would need to be a little more barren than other systems.

 

So, here's my idea, and hence, my questions...

 

I was thinking I could just run another drilled tank above the display tank and have a pump bringing water up to it, kind of like a gravity return refugium. In order to separate this "system" and keep it independent while running on the same water supply, I was thinking that I could have the return to the main system or tank run through a UV sterilizer. This would allow me to keep the fish separate, but in water that is exactly the same as the main system.

 

Therefore, I was wondering if anyone ran medication in their quarantine tank (this would be a no-no in my proposed set up) and if anyone thought that a UV sterilizer would do the trick for making sure to not introduce anything bad into the tank itself. I have a 40W Aqua UV sterilizer that's been sitting in my garage now for 3 or 4 years as I never installed it, so I was thinking now would be a good time to use it for the first time...

 

Let me know what you think, and also, what type of set up you have and if it's separate from your main system, how you maintain water quality.

[emissary]

I don't have a QT so take everything I say with a grain of salt. But I am installing a 180 in a wall and have had the same thoughts.

 

First off, QT serves two purposes as I understand it. Q new fish, and Q sick fish. You mentioned catching them in the first place. Sick fish are typically easy to catch, but I've never been able to make one not die. At some point I started training my fish to swim into nets. Every day, when I feed my fish, I add a pinch to a fish net and then put the fish net in the tank to let it soak... then after it's soaked a bit I submerge it completely and let the fish either swim in or near it to get their food. At this point, the only fish in my tank I couldn't catch is the jawfish.

 

Okay, back to QT for new fish... QT for new fish with UV sterlizer, I have nothing to contribute except that I don't think you can bank on a UVS to kill any/all "bad stuff" that you may be bringing with the fish. Moreover, I THOUGHT (maybe i'm wrong) that you're always running some kind of medication in QT AND/OR that you're running with a lower salinity (many parasites can't tolerate that). This also breaks your methodology.

 

As mentioned previously, QT for sick fish involve medication which is often metal based (i.e. copper) and will kill yer corals and whatnot. So that's out.

 

What I figured was that I'd keep a tank or two spare that I could fill in a pinch with water from the main tank. In the way I have it set up, I'm going to have a 55G staging tank that I'm going to use to feed new saltwater into my main tank. So with 55G of seawater ready at a pinch, i can:

extract 10-20G of water from my main tank into a new QT setup

add new saltwater into my main tank

 

It's a water change and QT setup step in one. As far as filtration goes, I haven't thought that far. Maybe just standard freswater style filtration without carbon.

 

HTH, I'll be interested to see where this thread goes.

[Guest clownfish4]

In my opinion you SHOULD NOT, under any circumstances, connect your quarrantine to your main tank. What I did was take a 29g tank with a little HOB filter and a small light. Do not put any sand or live rock in there either.

[rocko918]

I agree 100 % with Clownfish. DO NOT connect your Q-tank to your display tank in anyway. It defeats the purpose of it.

Here is how i have set up mine. I have a few sponges i leave in my filter of my main tank. When it comes time to setup a q-tank i put the sponges in HOB or any other type of filter. Add all display tank water to the q-tank ( do a water change) and a few things for the fish to hide in (pvc pipes) no live rock or sand.

 

You are set, Keep an eye on all your levels and do a water change once a week on it. Small ones, use display tank water. put a heater in if you need it. I have added an air stone just to help add oxygen to the water.

[HowardofNOVA]

David,

Agree with everyone else, QT tank and main tank have zero connections, EXCEPT when I do a water change, I drain the water out of my main tank into my small 5g QT tank to feed it. You really only need a small tank 10-20g would work. In my case, I had a 5g lying around and has worked nicely.

Inside:

1 Heater

1 PH or Media Filter box

1 hiding spot, PVC or old coral colonies that RTN, etc for them to hide in.

Nothing else.

 

Good info on Acclimations: http://www.aquacon.com/acclimation.html

 

When I get my fish, DAY 1:

Remember Fish and critters which have been shipped by mail order will be under stress, as they are usually in the bag for at least one day. From the time they are put in the bag, the pH of the packing water will start to drop. Add to that the factor of ammonia build up in the packing water if the shipper doesn't use an ammonia buffer and you have a fish that is under stress when you get it.

First I acclimate them to the water by putting bag in sump or QT tank to get temperature about the same. Then open bag and start either a drip method or what I do is add about 20% more water from tank to the bag and repeat every 15-20 minutes until bag is full. Dump out 1/2 and repeat again.

Next, It is a very good idea to give the fish a freshwater bath before placing it into your main tank. The freshwater bath will cause any parasites attached onto the fish to let go and remain in the freshwater (to die a lonely death). Otherwise, parasites left to their own will reproduce very rapidly in captivity and usually infect all the fish in the tank.

To give a marine fish a freshwater dip, prepare a container of dechlorinated freshwater with a similar chemistry of the destination tank. That is, make sure the pH and temperature are as close as possible to the destination tank (this is critical!) . Remove the fish from the bag and place the fish into the container for 3 to 5 minutes. Watch the fish closely for signs of stress. If the fish stops moving or begins to float, remove it immediately and place it in the destination tank (either the main or quarantine tank).

In placing the fish into the freshwater bath, never pour the fish into the container. Use a tupperware container or a net to capture the fish and place it into the dip.

Then with either my hand or net, release them into the QT tank, trashing the old water.

Cover tank with Plastic lid will help keep jumpers from going AWOL!

After about hour or two, will start to add a variety of food. (Your main goal now is to get them to eat. Don't worry about over feeding at this point, you just want them to eat anything. Daily 10-15% water change from here on out with new water directly from tank. Adding some Stressrelief or Amquel won't hurt now.

 

DAY2 or about a day after that are feeding well.

Add an Ich or Fungus solutions to water, removing Charcoal Filter just before for a 24 hr period.

 

DAY 3, Do a 25% water change and return a new Charcoal Filter Bag

 

DAY 4 on, repeat getting fish fatten up and ready for new tank. When fish LOOKS healthy and acts healthy, time to put in tank.

Do a 25% water change.

About an hour later, repeat, again water from main tank.

No signs of distress, time to add to tank. I found that after main lights go out in evening and Actinics on to be the best time as fish are winding down and will give them the best chance of not being picked on before lights out.

Afterwards, as long as fish is showing no major distress, leave in tank. If not, return to QT tank, get feeding solid again and repeat imput to tank.

Hope this helps?

Howard

 

Note: This info is taken from several sources including my own experiences. The biggest problem is not having the patience and rushing the fish to the tank.

[davelin315]

Sounds like a sound system, and I typically will do a freshwater dip depending on how the fish is when I get it (I usually do as long as the fish seems to be doing OK, about 10-15 minutes, and also stir the water a bit to keep it moving the whole time). However, in a quarantine, I thought it was supposed to be for a couple of weeks before adding the fish. Is 4 days enough when the typical range for a medication is longer?

[HowardofNOVA]

Most medications only require a 24hr period to work.

Followed by a 20-25% water change to dilute its strength.

Most of the websites recommendations that come with their orders or posted push to get the fish in the tank in under a week.

I know folks like Lee Stearns mentioned if I'm correct about taking a several weeks before letting his go into his tank.

I guess it all depends on how the actual fish themselves are looking and acting.

 

Also the 4 days mentioned is just a guideline, if you notice I mention " DAY2 or about a day after that are feeding well" could take a week in its self.

Howard