Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

I have a bit of a predictament. I had a carpenter wrasse in my qt now for 3 weeks. Initially put him in got him eating and then treated with prazipro for a week. Did a water change a week ago and put carbon back in the filter and all was going good. He was eating and coming out more and things were good. Then last night he was laying on tbe bottom of the tank and was still breathing and was occasionally swimming. This morning he was dead. The only thing different was that last night some of his scales were cloudy, this morning all of his scales were cloudy. He did not have any other symptoms of an issue. So no idea as to why he died. There is a pj cardinal that I keep in the qt that hasnt had or desnt have any issues. Any thoghts to what was up with the wrasse and how do I prep my qt for the next new fish after this? Thanks
 
my QT is 20 gal w/penguin 330 hob with Seachem Matrix in the extra media area. I also have a Aqua20 w/ 2 bags of ceramic bio and a sponge in it and 500 g of fluval bio ceramic in a media sock. I have 2 new fish in quarantine since last Sat. an Flame Angle and a One Spot Foxface. The fish are fine and eating well they just had their second treatment of Prazipro the other day. The water seams very cloudy today. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate are 0 SG 1.023 temp 79 PH 8.0, would it be okay if I put the filter cartridges in the 330 ? They are the fiberglass w/carbon cartridge. Will it clear the water and should I watch for anything if I do use them. I'm a little confused because I remember reading something about using a regular filter cartridge.
Thanks, don't like the cloudy water
 
I have a bit of a predictament. I had a carpenter wrasse in my qt now for 3 weeks. Initially put him in got him eating and then treated with prazipro for a week. Did a water change a week ago and put carbon back in the filter and all was going good. He was eating and coming out more and things were good. Then last night he was laying on tbe bottom of the tank and was still breathing and was occasionally swimming. This morning he was dead. The only thing different was that last night some of his scales were cloudy, this morning all of his scales were cloudy. He did not have any other symptoms of an issue. So no idea as to why he died. There is a pj cardinal that I keep in the qt that hasnt had or desnt have any issues. Any thoghts to what was up with the wrasse and how do I prep my qt for the next new fish after this? Thanks

Hi
sorry to hear bout the loss, hard to say without really seeing in pic or reality to predict what would have happened. i am just guessing from cloudy fins some sort of parasitic problem. how does the PJ cardinal look?
is he happy no spots of cloudiness on it?
Course of action would be after we know whats the cause of death in the wrasse. meanwhile you can run carbon and do water changes 50%.
 
my QT is 20 gal w/penguin 330 hob with Seachem Matrix in the extra media area. I also have a Aqua20 w/ 2 bags of ceramic bio and a sponge in it and 500 g of fluval bio ceramic in a media sock. I have 2 new fish in quarantine since last Sat. an Flame Angle and a One Spot Foxface. The fish are fine and eating well they just had their second treatment of Prazipro the other day. The water seams very cloudy today. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate are 0 SG 1.023 temp 79 PH 8.0, would it be okay if I put the filter cartridges in the 330 ? They are the fiberglass w/carbon cartridge. Will it clear the water and should I watch for anything if I do use them. I'm a little confused because I remember reading something about using a regular filter cartridge.
Thanks, don't like the cloudy water

I have noticed cloudiness/milkiness of water with prazipro use that last for a while but no ill effects. I wouldnt worry as just run the second coarse of treatment and then use carbon and water changes If you want to cut the second treatment short then do water change and carbon that should take the cloudiness out.
 
thanks bnumair that's exactly what I did. I put the carbon fiberglass cartridges in and did 25% water change. Everyone is still eating and looking good and I have an ammonia badge plus I just checked ammonia and everything is fine. Now next week when I do the 3rd Prazi treatment should I pull the carbon cartridges ?
 
thanks bnumair that's exactly what I did. I put the carbon fiberglass cartridges in and did 25% water change. Everyone is still eating and looking good and I have an ammonia badge plus I just checked ammonia and everything is fine. Now next week when I do the 3rd Prazi treatment should I pull the carbon cartridges ?

its not necessary to do 3 treatments, prazipro is more intended to use as a bath rather than a long term use in qt. This is why it breaks down and leaves cloudiness in qt but nothing to worry about, even if its bacterial bloom still nothig to worry about, carbon and water changes will take care of it.
Filter cartridges: do not remove them now till qt is empty (fish been transfered) reason is we dont know how much bacterial population will be living in that filter and by removing it you might throw the tank into mini cycle. wait it out now and remove them when there is not living fish in qt.
 
I am finishing my 2nd set of fish in th qt and will move them to the dt next week. I would like to get a mandarin next. Since they require pods for feeding I'm not sure how to do this in the qt. Do I need to buy pods daily to feed the qt? I have a great population in the dt but I'm not sure how I could transfer enought to the qt. Also, won't the Prazipro kill the pods?
 
mandarin (The species in general) are not known to carry external parasites (possible but not probable) due to their thick slime coat. so i have never qt them personally. All i do is when i get them i give them prazipro bath (follow directions on bottle) then i acclimate them to DT and transfer.
 
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Hi Everyone,

I purchased 3 blue/ regal tang 3days ago and have them in QT which is painted black and it's dark my concern is all 3 blue tang don't swim or eat but just laydown and their gills are moving. I know they like to play dead but for how long is it coz the tank is dark and no light. Anything that i have to worry about here. Also tried them feedind nori and brine shrimp with garlic.

Note: Water is taken from DT

Please advice

Fahad
 
Hi Fahad
is QT cycled? if its not and if you just took water from DT and put it in QT thats not gonna help you infact those fish maybe on their way out. please respond as quickly as you can and then i can help you further.
 
Fahad
if you took water from DT and setup a QT tank WITHOUT cycling or without seeding QT with bacteria from an established source then those fish are dying off ammonia poisoning.
You need to do large water changes daily to keep ammonia to 0 or use products like prime/amquel/ammolock etc to rid ammonia. read the last few post before yours as it tell you some more details on products like prime ammolock amquel etc. about how to test them with a badge and not with regular test kits.
Good luck and safe reefing..


Note: Get me more details and i can guide you in right direction.
 
so i have a 10 gallon that im going to use for QT. have i HOB filter, heater and a seeded sponge thats been on my display tank for about 4 weeks. if i fill my 10gallon QT with water from my DT and put my sponge in my QT there wouldnt be a need to cycle correct?
 
technically yes, but do a simpe test after setting up the QT.
put some fish food in the tank and test for ammonia 24 hrs later if there is no ammonia then your good to go. if there happens to be some ammonia then it will have to go through a mini cycle for few days.
Good Luck and Safe Reefing.
 
technically yes, but do a simpe test after setting up the QT.
put some fish food in the tank and test for ammonia 24 hrs later if there is no ammonia then your good to go. if there happens to be some ammonia then it will have to go through a mini cycle for few days.
Good Luck and Safe Reefing.

if in the case there is a mini cycle should i add anything to it or do anything? or just let nature do its thing?
 
i would let it run its course for few days thus increasing the bacteria living in the sponge. once ur ammonia is down to 0 after mini cycle add your first fish then wait few (3-4) days to add more fish.
 
i would let it run its course for few days thus increasing the bacteria living in the sponge. once ur ammonia is down to 0 after mini cycle add your first fish then wait few (3-4) days to add more fish.

awesome. thanks. ill be doing 1 fish in QT at a time for at least 4 weeks. wanna go slow lol
 
maybe a stupid question, but how do you read the salifert color chart. cupramine says to bring copper to 0.5 mg. but the chart goes down to 0.10 with 0 being white. how do you tell when you have 0.5?
 
not sure if i follow your question, i think your thinking of 0.05 and not 0.5.
the true strength for copper treatment is 0.5 that is clear on salifert chart. here is a pic.

AdyScan149_zpsfbd2324c.jpg
 
filter media

filter media

I have a 20 high QT set up. I will be a permanent QT.
I have an old Penguin 330 bio wheel hob with a Aqua20 hob and a bag of 500mg fluval ceramic rings. In the 330 I have Seachem's Martrix in the extra media area and in the Aqua20 I have 2 small bags of ceramic 60mg each and a sponge.
I purchased a new Penguin 350 bio wheel. It's for a 70gal tank so I would just like to use this and get rid of all the other stuff. What would you suggest I use for filter media in the 350 ? Should I fill it with little ceramic rings or just use filter floss of some king. I just want something that's functional yet pleasing to the eye. This QT looks like my DT sump right now, to much stuff...lol
I plan to house a fish in there when not QT fish for the DT.
As always thanks for you help, I have many happy fish do to your advise.
 
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