Lets see those quarantine tanks!

[Phillybean]

We do a good job of showing off our display tanks, sumps and fuges'

The quarantine tank is something often overlooked, which we often see threads asking for help because their display tank has a ich infestation.

So let's see them! Share advice, what you learned etc.

 

[woganaga]

heh all my fish are back in qt now after my tang got ich. i'll have to take a picture.
my qt setup is not very sophisticated...
- stand - old file cabinet covered with piece of plywood
- tank - 20 long
- hob penguin filter w/ biowheel
- coralife uv sterilizer

--david

 

[coral_lagoon]

Here are my two. A 38 & 29..

 

[ACBlinky]

Absolutely dreadful cell phone picture of my 26g bowfront QT. Pretty basic; just a 75w heater, HOB filter with foam, single T8 bulb, epoxy-coated gravel, some artificial and real rocks, and WAY too many fish! The whole tank's worth of fish is in QT right now due to an ich outbreak. They're all very healthy now, and will go into the new tank within the next couple of weeks.

 

[coral_lagoon]

Looks good AC..

 

[dan1789]

I really need to setup a QT tank but I have such a small apartment I don't now where to put it. Would a 29g bio cube make a good QT?

 

[ACBlinky]

Absolutely. You can make a QT out of a Rubbermaid bin, a salt bucket, an old 10g tank, a Brute trashcan or a 40g breeder tank -- it honestly doesn't matter, as long as it holds saltwater, has a heater, some sort of filtration and water circulation. What matters most is that you USE IT.

 

[Palting]

My first QT, 110 gallon tank. LOL!!! It's my noob tank, developed Ich. Upgraded to a 150, converted this noob tank to an HT/QT for the fish and treated with hyposalinity. Biofiltration care of a wet/dry sump and a Fluval 405 canister filter.

Tried to sell it once the treatment was done. No buyers after a year, so made it into a FOWLR tank.

Here's my current and TRUE QT. 20 gallon long, serviced by a Aqueon powerfilter and a sponge filter bubbler, with a clamp on shoplight. Ugly as sin, hiding it in the storage area of the basement, but serves it's purpose

 

[coral_lagoon]

Cool. Keep em coming guys!

 

[rovster]

Tunze ATO, ac70, heater, powerheads, etc. 30 gallon. DIY stand.

 

[r1racer]

33g, aquafilter with carbon removed, airstone, led light and heater.

 

[tmz]

I don't have pictures handy but this this post of mine from another forum may be of interest:



"Fish, acclimation, qauarantine and preventative treatment
<hr style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="1"> Questions come up from time to time on what to do with new fish to increase the odds for survival and prevent pathogens from entering the tank. I've tried a number of approaches over the years . The following summarizes the current method(s) I use:

All new fish are quarantined,no exceptions.

Acclimation:

The quarantine tank is temperature adjusted to match the bag water as closely as practical without opening the bag. If the bag is warm ,the tank water should follow it ; if the bag is cool then the tank water can be cool( the qt tank can then be heated or cooled gradually to match the temp of the display tank. The unopened bag is floated for 15 minutes in the tank water to complete finer gradual temp adjustments.

The qt tank water should match the sg of the bag water or be lower than the bag water. Usually, 1.018 or so is a good bet for shipped fish. Drops in sg will not harm fish. Rapid increases can cause osmotic shock The sg can then be adjusted upward at .001 per day over the course of the qt stay to match the display.

Next, Iopen the bag ,remove the fish and put it in the qt tank. No drip needed or desired. Once the bag is opened CO2 blows off and raises the ph in the bag water . This transforms much of the ammonia that has built up in the bag from the low toxicity ammonium NH4 to the more toxic ammonia NH3. So getting the fish out of the bag once opened quickly is important to avoid ammonia toxicity , particularly for fish confined to the bag for long periods. I avoid letting too much bag water get into the qt tank.


Preventative treatment and observation:

Ich is the most common plague. To treat it prophylactically. fish are placed in a small tank with new salt water. Tank water brings in organics and nutrients without the biofilter to handle them so newly mixed water aged and aerated overnight is used. The tank is simple with pvc for resting/hiding places , an hob and/or sponge filter and a heater. For burying species like leopard wrasses , a bowl of sand is added.

The fish will remain for 3 days so ammonia build up is not a concern.generally. To be on the safe side a small dose of ammonia detoxifier can be added on the 2nd day. It's fine to use the detoxifier since no meds are in play. In contrast, detoxifier and bound copper meds are a deadly combination .

After 72 hours the fish is/are moved to new similarly equipped tank with the same temp and sg. Care is taken to avoid adding water which might harbor a parasite from the first tank
The first tank is stripped of the equipment and drained down to a few inches to facilitate gentle capture for the transfer. It is then fully drained and dried over night along with all the equipment. The drying kills any parasites or cysts . It is set up again for the next transfer.
A total of 4 transfers with 3 days in each tank will ensure any ich that came in with the fish is left behind. This method is known as the tank transfer method and takes advantage of the timing ich( crytocaryon irritans) life cycle.

After tank transfer , the fish can be moved to a larger cylced qt tank for further observation and treatment of other maladies that may emerge like flukes or bacterial infections. I use a cycle 29 gallonn tank for this.
Tank transfer only treats ich. It may have some effect on velvet but that parsite's life cylce is different. It will not help brooklynella, flukes or other infestations that confine themselves to the skin or internal areas of the fish. So if these are observed a treatment with an appropriate med is required:

Amlyloodinium( velvet): copper or formalin.
brooklynella; ( fromalin)
Flukes and/or internal parsites; (prazi pro)
lymphocystus; good water quality and nutrition;no known treatment.
bacterial linfections Triple sulfa or other broa d based antibiotics)



__________________
Tom

Her is a link to the thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2185929&highlight=acclimation+and+quarantine