Quarantine tanks

reif119 · Aug 7, 2014

A qt tank is such an overkill . Why not just save your money and spend a little longer looking at fish and only buying the healthy ones. IMO moving fishes from tank to tank and all this stuff will just stress them out which will in turn make them more susceptible to disease...

gtbarsi · Aug 7, 2014

reif119 said:
A qt tank is such an overkill . Why not just save your money and spend a little longer looking at fish and only buying the healthy ones. IMO moving fishes from tank to tank and all this stuff will just stress them out which will in turn make them more susceptible to disease...

I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry.

First, if done correctly a QT system should be less stress for all of the livestock in your tank.
Second, if done correctly a QT system will save your tank and all of it's livestock.

Lots of ways these are accomplished, read the thread by the folks that do it right and you will understand.

G.T.

Bowin · Aug 7, 2014

gtbarsi said:
I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry.

First, if done correctly a QT system should be less stress for all of the livestock in your tank.
Second, if done correctly a QT system will save your tank and all of it's livestock.

Lots of ways these are accomplished, read the thread by the folks that do it right and you will understand.

G.T.

+1 I totally agree. The low cost of a qt is far less than the cost of losing all of the livestock in your dt to a disease you couldn't catch from just a few minutes of watching a fish in the store. Having a fish in a qt for 30 days gives you time to get them eating right and really watch for those hidden things you couldn't see in just a few brief encounters in a store. I just ran two separate qt's for two Tangs and the cost of running both of them was far cheaper than the cost I had last year when a healthy looking PBT wiped out most of my livestock.

zgetman · Aug 7, 2014

I live in a rural area. I make it to a fish store once or twice a month. So I can only observe a fish a few mins. That fish could have any disease. Brook can wipe out a tank in a matter of days and I do not want to risk it.

Sleeperr34 · Aug 7, 2014

I agree with the qt tank being a saver. I used to be the same way in saying no point in a qt. take the time watch the fish. Give great vitamins in food and everything will be fine.

Then that one mistake happens. You slip up once. All it takes is once. And you get stuck with a stocked fish/coral tank and stuck watching your fish die quicker then you can understand or keep up. Its heart breaking to watch. You can try and stay as prepared as you want. Get cleaner shrimp. Cleaner wrasses. Water changes. Vitamins. You name it i have tried it. And have realized one thing.... If i would have just set up a qt system like my friend told me to do in the beginning it would have saved me thousands of $$. Even now i have stopped even looking at fish for the time being waiting to get some money saved up and convince the wife in giving me a corner in one of our rooms for a qt. i have a powder brown that is off and on with ich. So i know i have it in the tank. Im just waiting for my 2 smallest leopards to get a little bigger because i know if i put them out of the tank i will not be able to keep up with feedings for them. Way to small.

But believe me. If you are running a reef system and are not running a qt tank. You are gambling in a very high stake game.

Now. If you have a fish only tank no corals. No fish ( like leopards ) that get a lot of their food from the pods in the tank. Then yes you could run that with out a qt. and just medicate the tank or hypo it and be just fine.

Again. Anything i say is just how i feel and what i have run into since starting this amazing thing. Im sure others have other ideas.

Do what will make you happy.

Squishie89 · Aug 7, 2014

gtbarsi said:
I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry.

Indeed!

babyjess210 · Aug 8, 2014

zgetman said:
I figured I would ask this here instead of opening a new thread.

I have a QT that is ready to set up when I need it. I am planning on buying some new fish for my FOWLR setup. The question I am wanting to ask is what medicines should I be aggressive at using to make sure my fish are healthy for the new tank. I know from what I have been reading that I need to give them a couple of doses of prazipro and to slowly ramp up doses of cupramine to recommended lvls. Can I feed the fish some garlic, to help boost its immune system, during QT? I have also heard of doing Ro/Di dips, is this necessary, and will it help? I understand some of these things need to be done after the fish has acclimated to the environment as to reduce the amount of stress. Can someone give me a good plan of action in it?

Wow a lot of good info and ideas here. I have lost hundreds of dollars in fish from not QT and I will not make that mistake again. IMO Every fish is different and should QT in different ways for example large angels I freshwater dip as soon as I get home, prazi pro and watch for at least 6 weeks. Moorish idol I treat with copper for a week (they tend not to tolerate copper too well). What I have been very successful with is a cleaner wrasse. I have one in my display for over 4 years and one in my qt tank. They tend to be able to chase down the newbies and clean them off where as the cleaner shrimp have to wait for the fish to stop next to them.
HTH

gtbarsi · Aug 8, 2014

One other thing that often is looked over with a QT are the corals, and other inverts.
Corals and inverts should go through QT. Red Bugs, AEFW, zoanthid eating nudibranch are just some of the possible coral pests that can ruin a tank. Not to mention ICH, and other parasites can come in on almost anything.

If you QT your corals and other inverts you can insure that none of these make it in to your DT. One other side benefit of a coral QT is that you can acclimate your new corals to the type of lighting you are using in your DT. When you move them to your DT, you do not have to go through so much dimming of your DT lights.

Clearly you can not use a tank that has ever seen copper treatment, and additional lighting of the quality of your DT is costly as well, but the safety net provided by putting the other 1/2 of the tank inhabitants through QT will save you headaches and live stock losses in the long run.

IMHO It is our responsibility as pet owners, to protect our pets to the best of our ability. In that way proper QT practices are the same as having a dog or cat vaccinated, and checked out before bringing it home to live with you and your other pets.

Kworker · Aug 8, 2014

gtbarsi said:
One other thing that often is looked over with a QT are the corals, and other inverts.
Corals and inverts should go through QT. Red Bugs, AEFW, zoanthid eating nudibranch are just some of the possible coral pests that can ruin a tank. Not to mention ICH, and other parasites can come in on almost anything.

If you QT your corals and other inverts you can insure that none of these make it in to your DT. One other side benefit of a coral QT is that you can acclimate your new corals to the type of lighting you are using in your DT. When you move them to your DT, you do not have to go through so much dimming of your DT lights.

Clearly you can not use a tank that has ever seen copper treatment, and additional lighting of the quality of your DT is costly as well, but the safety net provided by putting the other 1/2 of the tank inhabitants through QT will save you headaches and live stock losses in the long run.

IMHO It is our responsibility as pet owners, to protect our pets to the best of our ability. In that way proper QT practices are the same as having a dog or cat vaccinated, and checked out before bringing it home to live with you and your other pets.

I agree with with QTing corals. I have ich in my display and it either was there to begin with (unQT'd fish) or came in recently on frags. Fortunately I have large tanks laying around so I can QT my tangs and let my display go fallow. Worst part about all of this is of course I have been doing everything I should with all new fish however one cyst of Ich on a frag and a fish such as a Acanthurus tang and it will fester like it currently is.

Carlson Moncrief · Aug 12, 2014

This was mine. A very quick setup. With a wavemaker. Heater and carbon

Squishie89 · Aug 13, 2014

gtbarsi said:
One other thing that often is looked over with a QT are the corals, and other inverts.
Corals and inverts should go through QT. Red Bugs, AEFW, zoanthid eating nudibranch are just some of the possible coral pests that can ruin a tank. Not to mention ICH, and other parasites can come in on almost anything.

If you QT your corals and other inverts you can insure that none of these make it in to your DT. One other side benefit of a coral QT is that you can acclimate your new corals to the type of lighting you are using in your DT. When you move them to your DT, you do not have to go through so much dimming of your DT lights.

Clearly you can not use a tank that has ever seen copper treatment, and additional lighting of the quality of your DT is costly as well, but the safety net provided by putting the other 1/2 of the tank inhabitants through QT will save you headaches and live stock losses in the long run.

IMHO It is our responsibility as pet owners, to protect our pets to the best of our ability. In that way proper QT practices are the same as having a dog or cat vaccinated, and checked out before bringing it home to live with you and your other pets.

Yes I have learned my lesson about not quarantining inverts and corals. I have a very, very unfortunate hydroid problem which is causing me to break down my tank and re-do it all. EVERYTHING will be quarantined from now on.

SantaMonica · Aug 13, 2014

Carlson needs to keep a cover on that thing :)

gtbarsi · Aug 13, 2014

SantaMonica said:
Carlson needs to keep a cover on that thing :)

+1

Mesh would probably be best.

megisawesome06 · Jun 25, 2015

Random noob question. Would I have to quarantine empty hermit shells?

Civilized_drifter · Jul 15, 2015

I have a 10 gallon that used to be a fresh water tank. I cleaned the whole tank and hob filter with vinegar and ran the tank with a water/vinegar mix for about a day to make sure it was pretty clean. I was wondering if I could use this as a qt tank. I've heard that some de clorinating chemicals can mess with the tank if you convert to saltwater, is that true?

gtbarsi · Jul 16, 2015

megisawesome06 said:
Random noob question. Would I have to quarantine empty hermit shells?

I know this is late but I figured I would reply. Put them in a container full of freshwater, RO/DI would be best, let them sit for a day, then take them out and let them dry for a couple of days. After that rinse one more time, to dislodge anything that may have been in them and died, or come loose before putting them in the tank.

gtbarsi · Jul 16, 2015

Civilized_drifter said:
I have a 10 gallon that used to be a fresh water tank. I cleaned the whole tank and hob filter with vinegar and ran the tank with a water/vinegar mix for about a day to make sure it was pretty clean. I was wondering if I could use this as a qt tank. I've heard that some de clorinating chemicals can mess with the tank if you convert to saltwater, is that true?

I have not heard of this before, if it is a glass tank then you should be fine I can not imagine that the chemicals could bond to the glass and still be able to do anything. If you did not already empty it and let it sit completely empty to completely dry, then rinse well.

If the tank is acrylic I would want someone else's opinion since I do not know the origin of this potential issue.

Bob Escher · Apr 10, 2016

Here is mine. Although I would call it more of a QT/ Acclimation tank then anything. It has a aqua life skimmer on it as well as a aqua clear 20 HOB running a in tank setup. I also put a feeding ring in it for the moment. It also has live rock as well and live sand. It has two clownfish waiting to go into the DT. The probes are back in the DT

ZenReefer · Aug 26, 2016

do you think its ok to qt like 6 blue/green chromis in a 10g? I don't want to end up causing the fish more stress than necessary due to being cramped up in an small tank.