QT Basic Requirements

[Pamela]

So I am in the midst of having it driven home in my FW aquarium just how very important QTs are. My glorious freshwater aquarium has been going along smoothly for several years. That is until I pulled a real rookie move last week and introduced 3 juvenile pink kissers without quarantine. I've lost not only them, but several of my beautiful long timers as a result. I could cry. In fact, I did. More than once.

Anyway, I can see that I need to purchase a couple of 10g tanks and make a freshwater and a saltwater QT. Thought I could avoid it, because our family really doesn't have the unused space, but um, no. So -- what's sufficient? Clearly, tanks, lids, heaters. Anything else? Do I need to put bubble stones with airlines in them? What do you do about filtration? Can I simply rely on water changes for that? What is the standard quarantine? 2 weeks? 4 weeks? What's worked well for you, while remaining very simplistic? I can't drop hundreds on state-of-the-art quarantine tanks. Thanks!!

 

[redfishbluefish]

@Humblefish has written a nice sticky on the subject HERE. Hope this helps.

 

[Pamela]

@Humblefish has writen a nice sticky on the subject HERE. Hope this helps.

That was very informative, thank you!

Next question -- if fish are coming from a place like LiveAquaria, who proactively treat all of their fishes for diseases, is it strictly necessary to treat fishes that are quite possibly healthy? Would it be okay to just quarantine for a month without any medicine, since they were just medicated at LiveAquaria and didn't make any stops at places like Petco along their way to my house?

 

[Humblefish]

Next question -- if fish are coming from a place like LiveAquaria, who proactively treat all of their fishes for diseases, is it strictly necessary to treat fishes that are quite possibly healthy? Would it be okay to just quarantine for a month without any medicine, since they were just medicated at LiveAquaria and didn't make any stops at places like Petco along their way to my house?

Regular LiveAquaria specimens ARE NOT QT'd. They are actually just drop shipments from Quality Marine (a wholesaler).

LiveAquaria Diver's Den specimens do receive some QT. But it is minimal. So, you would at the very least want to observe for 1 month in a QT of your own.

 

[Pamela]

Regular LiveAquaria specimens ARE NOT QT'd. They are actually just drop shipments from Quality Marine (a wholesaler).

LiveAquaria Diver's Den specimens do receive some QT. But it is minimal. So, you would at the very least want to observe for 1 month in a QT of your own.

Oh wow, I was really misinformed on that one. Thanks for the info.

 

[Pamela]

I bought my quarantine tanks, and am in the process of getting each of the things I need for them. In the meantime, I'm not buying any new fishes. I feel so happy to finally be taking this important step.

 

[michellejy]

I freaked so much about losing my 7 1/2 year old clownfish to brook that at least one friend thought I had lost a family member.

I am so sorry for the losses you experienced and wish you luck going forward.

 

[Pamela]

I freaked so much about losing my 7 1/2 year old clownfish to brook that at least one friend thought I had lost a family member.

I am so sorry for the losses you experienced and wish you luck going forward.

Thank you, Michelle! Never again will I kill fishes by skipping quarantine.

 

[Pamela]

YAY! I finally have my 2 quarantine tanks (salt & fresh) all set up and running with filters, heaters and bubbles. Both DTs are the picture of health and I'm ready to get some new water babies into the QTs. What a wonderful feeling it is that I will never again cross my fingers and HOPE I'm not adding a sick fish to my communities.