Quarantine tank

[saullman]

I am new to this hobby and don't have a quarantine tank set up. Just this past week I have lost 2 fish (Emperor Angel & clown) with a 3rd fish (goby) that's not looking so good. I currently have a 45 gallon JBJ nano. What I am quickly finding out is if you are going to be a serious hobbyist you need to have emergency procedures in place which I obviously don't have. I am about to move in a few weeks so I was thinking that I need to setup a QT in the new place.

I have a few questions regarding quarantine tanks:
1- what is the smallest tank I can use as a QT?
2- what equipment will I need to buy for someone that is on a tight budget?
3- what chemicals should I have on hand?
4- Do I need to cycle the QT and perform regular water changes?
5- what else do I need to know about a QT that I am not asking?

 

[Brew12]

I am new to this hobby and don't have a quarantine tank set up. Just this past week I have lost 2 fish (Emperor Angel & clown) with a 3rd fish (goby) that's not looking so good. I currently have a 45 gallon JBJ nano. What I am quickly finding out is if you are going to be a serious hobbyist you need to have emergency procedures in place which I obviously don't have. I am about to move in a few weeks so I was thinking that I need to setup a QT in the new place.

I have a few questions regarding quarantine tanks:
1- what is the smallest tank I can use as a QT?
2- what equipment will I need to buy for someone that is on a tight budget?
3- what chemicals should I have on hand?
4- Do I need to cycle the QT and perform regular water changes?
5- what else do I need to know about a QT that I am not asking?

First, I'm sorry for your losses. It's always rough losing fish.

Let me try to answer some of these. I highly recommend you reading in the fish disease section of the forum for more in-depth answers. Lots of information on this in the stickies at the top.

1- I use a 10g QT normally, but I do have a 20g and a 55g available if need.
2- All you need is the tank, heater, HOB filter, and a small powerhead. I picked up everything for my 10g QT for under $50 taking advantage of Petco sales.
3- I recommend having at least a copper product (such as Copper Power or Cupramine), Metroplex, Kanaplex and Prazipro. There are some others that are nice to have, but these are the basics.
4- Yes, a QT does need to be cycled. I normally use a bottled bacteria product such as Biospira.
5- A lot, but again, it's all there in the fish disease section and you can ask there if you have more questions.

I would also recommend being more selective with your fish. Hobbyists often fall into the trap of seeing a small fish and thinking it will work in their system "for now". An Emperor Angel needs a much larger tank than a 45g even when they are small. Tangs also fall into this grouping. Even smaller fish in these species are subjected to stress when in tanks that are too small. This stress makes them much more susceptible to both aggression and disease. Even if you don't order your fish from them, I recommend using the www.liveaquaria.com website to research fish purchases. You would see there that the minimum recommended tank size for that Angel is a 220g system. A very small one might do well in a 120g system for a year or 2 but will struggle in anything smaller.

 

[Crabs McJones]

The size of your quarantine is going to depend on the fish you want to keep. If it's small fish like clowns, gobys ect a 10 or 20 gallon works great. If it's larger fish such as angels a 40 beeder or a 55 gallon would be better. As far as equipment, this can be very basic. A heater and hang on back power filter such as the aquaclear is sufficient. You'll also want to have some PVC fittings for something for your fish to hide and in and swim through.
For chemicals and medications to have on hand, I follow this guide by Humblefish:
Anti-parasitic:

• Chloroquine phosphate (treats Ich, Velvet, Brooklynella & Uronema) - Prescription required from a vet, which can then be filled at a local pharmacy. If you buy it online, on ebay, from China, etc. - Who knows what you’re really getting?
• Copper (treats Ich & Velvet) - The following brands are available, with therapeutic ranges listed and compatible test kits:
  1. Cupramine (0.4 - 0.5 ppm) - Seachem or Salifert copper test kit*
  2. Copper Power (1.5 - 2.0 ppm) - API copper test kit*
     
  3. Coppersafe (1.5 - 2.0 ppm) - API copper test kit*

* Hanna High Range Copper Colorimeter (HI702) is capable of reading all forms of copper in saltwater.

• Acriflavine (treats Velvet, Brooklynella & Uronema) - Use in a bath solution to provide temporary relief of velvet. Can also be used as a bath or QT treatment for brook & uronema. Acriflavine-MS & Ruby Reef Rally both contains acriflavine.
• Formalin (treats Velvet, Brooklynella & Uronema - alternative treatment for Flukes & Black Ich) - Use in a bath solution to provide temporary relief of velvet. Can also be used as a bath or QT treatment for brook, uronema, flukes & black ich. Formalin is found in the following products: Formalin-MS, Quick Cure, Aquarium Solutions Ich-X, Kordon Rid-Ich Plus.

Anti-bacterial/antibiotics: A broad spectrum antibiotic that treats both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial diseases is recommended. Seachem Kanaplex, Furan-2, Nitrofuracin Green Powder and Triple Sulfa Powder are all good options to have on hand. Erythromycin & Minocycline can also be used but are becoming more difficult to find. To achieve the widest possible spectrum of treatment when battling a particularly nasty bacterial infection, combine the following: Kanaplex, Furan-2, and metronidazole (exs. Seachem MetroPlex, Metro-MS).

Dewormers:

• Praziquantel (ex. Prazipro) for gill flukes. API General Cure (contains both praziquantel & metronidazole).
• Metronidazole (exs. Seachem MetroPlex, Metro-MS) can be used to treat stubborn intestinal worms prazi does not treat.
• Formalin can be used to treat prazi-resistant strains of flukes and black ich.

Multi-purpose medications:

• Metronidazole (treats Brooklynella, Uronema, internal parasites/intestinal worms, some anti-bacterial activity) - Use Seachem MetroPlex or Metro-MS. API General Cure contains both praziquantel & metronidazole.
• Malachite Green/Methylene Blue (treats ammonia burn, cuts, injuries).

Medications that are “reef safe”:

• Prazipro - may kill tube worms/feather dusters and bristle worms. If you have lots of tiny feather dusters and/or bristle worms in your tank (usually down in the sump), the resulting die-off can lead to an ammonia spike.
• Kanaplex, erythromycin, metronidazole and powder praziquantel can all be soaked in fish food. Use a binder, such as Seachem Focus, to prevent the medication from leaching out into the water column.

Fish Vitamins & misc.:

• Soak fish food in vitamin supplements such as Selcon, Zoecon and Vita-chem or even Omega 3 & 6 fish oil. This will boost a fish’s natural immune system and is particularly useful for clearing viruses such as Lymphocystis.
• Soak fish food in garlic to stimulate appetite. Useful for new fish that refuse to eat.
• Always keep an ammonia reducer, such as Amquel or Prime, on hand. You never know when you might need it. A reducer can be useful for immediately neutralizing ammonia in the DT, QT (so long as no medications are present, especially copper), or when drip acclimating a new fish that has been in transit a while and ammonia has built up.

You do need to cycle your quarantine and do regular water changes with it as you would your display.

I always quarantine for a minimum of 6 weeks to ensure that no signs of illness or parasites are present. I also don't run any medication unless I observe a problem.
I would also give this thread by Brew12 a read through.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Great reponses and advice given, your in good hands saullman!

 

[BZOFIQ]

Lots of good information; liked & subscribed!

 

[Tom Stevens]

Lots of good information; liked & subscribed!

I just bought a 10g Nano from Waterbox for $99. Includes pump and filtering system is built in. You just need to buy a heater and a small jet. It is pretty plug and play, but there is a slight premium since it is an AIO

 

[reelredfisah]

I just bought a 10g Nano from Waterbox for $99. Includes pump and filtering system is built in. You just need to buy a heater and a small jet. It is pretty plug and play, but there is a slight premium since it is an AIO

How did this work out? I bought two of the same ones. One arrived in pieces. Going to work on setting them up this week or at least the one.

 

[Tom Stevens]

How did this work out? I bought two of the same ones. One arrived in pieces. Going to work on setting them up this week or at least the one.

It works great! I recently just completed quarantining several fish . One thing to note, make sure you run the QT with as much vigor as the DT to keep stress to a minimum. The tank is small, so it can get out of wack pretty quick.

The good news is making a 10% water change is very easy. I just use a 2 quart plastic pitcher to dip into the tank and take water out and replace by going in reverse (<5 min. to complete). Also, I keep some live rock in mine, so if meds are needed I use a cheep 10 gal tank as a hospital tank before moving the fish to QT. The hospital tank is dry until needed.

I also found that if I keep at least one fish permanently in the QT along with some GSP and Zoas will keep the biology going and minimizes stress on new fish. Less stress means less use of the hospital tank .

Let me know how it works out for you.

 

[Mufti]

Hi! I wanna work setting up my 10gal QT, is it okay if I add coarse sand as substrate? Tx