Hyposalinity QT tank

[MBryant]

Bought a fish that was questionable so I put it in my QT tank. There I left it for about two weeks. Right before I was going to put it in my main tank I noticed that during the Qt time that it had got ICK even though it was eating well and showing no signs of sickness I decided to keep it in QT though I was now going to do a hyposalinity QT. So I did a water change and cleaned the tank the best I could and made my water then set the salinity to 1.015 also made the ph to around 8.1 "it veries bc of such a small tank" Now how long before I can add it to my main tank?

 

[GregC]

If its in a QT tank, why hypo? Just treat the fish with Copper and get him better much quicker and easier.

 

[lauremf2002]

how big is your qt? putting a fish into a very small qt without excellent filtration can spike the tank, thereby stressing the fish and causing the ick breakout. daily water changes are sometimes necessary to keep the water quality good. Just a thought. QT are really not effective if they are too small imo. Im no expert though, just my 2 cents

 

[MBryant]

It's a 10g with a maxi jet 600 and a marineland emperor 280. I do daily water changes of 1 1/2 gallons. I was told that you can do a small tank but the water changes are a must!

 

[lauremf2002]

cool, I had a 10g qt and didnt do enough water changes. Sounds like youre on top of it. I would do water tests to make sure the levels stay good

 

[luvabunny]

To answer your original question, I would go ahead and add the fish to your display at any time, but if he's still in hypo salinity, I would acclimate him well.

IME, and I'm certainly no expert, the ich germ is carried around like the common cold germ - everyone's got it, it's just waiting for the right time to show up - like when the fish is stressed.

Myself, I do not quarantine, almost always have a mild ich outbreak after moving a SW fish, let it clear itself up, watch my water quality, and go on from there. I have never lost a SW fish to ich, not have I ever noticed fish previously in the tank to catch it.

I don't like quarantine tanks because I don't like moving the fish more than is absolutely necessary, and because there is no way I can keep a QT tank the exact same params as my DT. That being said, I don't buy fish sight unseen, i.e. online, so I have already spent a good share of time watching them, seeing what they are housed with, making sure they eat and look healthy, before I add them to the DT. If someone bought lots of fish online, or purchased one they knew was unhealthy to nurse it back to health, then I think a QT tank would certainly be necessary.

 

[Mylilreef]

i just use the water from my waterchanges in the DT to change water in my QT. then i know my parimeters are the same and don't have to worry about acclimation.