Quarantine Tank - Where, How, When?

[filippo]

Hello :)

I understand the purpose of a quarantine tank, but here are a few questions:

1) Will a 10 gallon tank work? Even if I quarantine one fish at a time, isn't it too little space for almost any fish that can eventually stress out? I am questioning a 10 gallon tank because I have no space where to put a larger tank.

2) Instead of having a separate tank w/ a totally different setup and water, can I just create a space within my sump and quarantine my fish there? (this goes against the true meaning of a quarantine system, but oh well, I'll just ask anyway)

3) Instead of having a separate tank w/ a totally different setup and water, can I just quarantine my fish inside my refugium? (this goes against the true meaning of a quarantine system, but oh well, I'll just ask anyway)

4) Instead of having a separate tank w/ a totally different setup and water, can I just create a space within my display and quarantine my fish there? (this goes against the true meaning of a quarantine system, but oh well, I'll just ask anyway)

5) This might be a very very stupid question - Do most diseases among fish, such as ich, spread through "touch" only? Or is water itself a mean of conduct for any fish to get ill? :mixed:

Thank you :D

[TickleMyElmo]

The bigger the QT the better. In my opinion, quarantining new larger fish in a 10 gallon can do more harm than good through added stress,etc.

As for all of the other questions, no. Ich is a parasite and must be treated in an area separate from all live rock / sand etc. QT tanks should be bare bottom with simple PVC pipe to hide, as ich will attach and thrive in sand/rocks/ etc. The biggest reason for having a separate tank for QT is that the most common parasite, ich, mut be treated with either copper or hyposalinity.

Your main display tank ( DT ) would not appreciate the hypoalinity which must be reached gradually over a period of time. The biggest threat with copper is that if any touches your DT, no inverts can ever be placed in it because it is highly toxic to inverts and live rock/ sand and will slowly leach from the silicone seals for years to come.

[filippo]

Yes. That is right.

I forgot to mention that ALL my questions were referring to adding a "new" fish to my tank, barely bought from a LFS. :D

[BlueSi4]

As mentioned, the whole purpose of the QT tank is to prevent ich from spreading, and if you use the sump/part of your DT to QT a fish, you're also quarantining the rest of the tank.

As far as the size of the tank, it all depends on the size of the fish, but a 10G should be fine for a couple weeks. If you have something bigger, then use that, but 10G should be fine.

[reefergeorge]

I use a 10 for the smaller fish, and a 29 for larger fish. If you stress them out. At least you know any problems will show.

[filippo]

"As mentioned, the whole purpose of the QT tank is to prevent ich from spreading, and if you use the sump/part of your DT to QT a fish, you're also quarantining the rest of the tank."

My questions are all based on NEW HEALTHY fish bought at a LFS, not fish that are sick. Of course I wouldn't want to treat a sick fish in my sump/display/refugium. :)

thanks all :D

[filippo]

Quarantine tank for new, healthy fish VS Quarantine tank for already established sick fish.

:)

[horwitzs]

The sump/fuge type isolation would be useful for something to heal from injury, but not quarantine to prevent spread of disease.

[BlueSi4]

I know what you're saying, but how do you know that the fish at the LFS are not sick?

Basically, you use it to prevent any kind of disease from going into your tank, since you don't know in what shape the fish are when you get them.

[filippo]

so true. :)

so here's another question:

what will i do when i am done stocking my display? do I leave the quarantine tank up and running in case any fish gets sick? yes, of course, but do i need to do water changes and use a powerhead to keep the water circulating and run a filter as well, even if I am not using the QT?

Or can I just store some fully cycled saltwater in a container, and then only when a fish gets sick set up the quarantine tank with a heater, powerhead, and cleaning filter? This way I don't need to keep this tank "on" for months (let's hope) without really using it (let's save on maintenance, water, and elec$).

Any advice? :D thanks

[ken123]

I only keep mine running when I plan on buying new fish, or when I get a sick fish. If it's not going to be used I break it down. I use an Aquaclear (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~filters_hagen_aquaclear_power.html) filter. I have a few spare media bags and sponges for the filter, don't use the carbon. I keep one media bag and sponge in my DT sump so it's seeded with bacteria. When I need to use the QT, I setup the tank, use the media bag and sponge from the sump and a 50/50 mix of DT water and fresh saltwater in the QT. I then add another media bag\sponge to the sump right away. This has worked well for me. With the amount of electricity used on the DT, no need to waste power on a tank not being used! There are enough electronics these days that use power even though they are powered off.

[filippo]

ken123,

do you clean the media bag and sponge once in a while? do you place those in an area with "no" flow clear from everything so that it doesn't get that "dirty"? my guess is that those media bags and sponges get pretty dirty after a month, and i wouldn't want to spend $ and time replacing those every month if I don't use those (hopefully, again:))?

what about cycling the QT - how long do you wait before adding the sick fish since yours is an emergency setup? how often do you do water changes?

thanks :)

[tmz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11933185#post11933185 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by filippo
Quarantine tank for new, healthy fish VS Quarantine tank for already established sick fish.

:) :D You don't know it's healthy. Cryptocaryon irritans can take weeks to show itself or remain invisible in the gills for a period of time. Quarantning in part of your tank or any add on serves no discernible purpose. Why would you wan't to do that? If a fish is infected the tank will become infected. No ich and other parasites do not spread by touch ,they swim freely in search of a host and will quickly spread troughout your system.

[kevin2000]

Here is a good article on how to QT ..... answers all of your questions.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=288805

[filippo]

grazie :D