Quarantine Questions

[E_rock]

I just thought I would start my own thread. I know there are thousands of Articles out there about quarantining fish. But I am just interested in how everyone one here does it. Or if someone could just point me to a good article that sums it up.

I am have an extra 20 gallon tall and a marineland biowheel 200 filter, lying around would that be alright for a Q tank?

Do I leave that Q tank always running? Or do I just set it up everytime I get new fish? How long do you guys leave your fish in the Q tank? How would that work with cycling the tank?

 

[SkiFletch]

I have a 20 long in the basement as a QT tank. I have it running constantly with an HOB filter. Every week I add a couple drops of ammonia to it to keep the bacteria inside the filter alive. If nitrates are high when I get a new fish, I do a quick water change on it as I always keep some seawater mixed up. I also run the salinity in there at 1.019 normally and slowly allow evap to bring it up. The HOB filter get's ****y about that, but whatever . My QT period is a minimum of 3 weeks, 4-5 if it was a new addition to the stock in the LFS. I don't run copper or anything prophylactically, only as-needed to treat.

 

[Haffs09]

I have a 20H, 30L and 55gal I use for QT/HT. On all tanks, I have an Aquaclear filter and an air-driven sponge filter. Depending on the fish in QT, I may toss in a maxi-jet for added circulation.

Here's my general protocol:

- Acclimate fish and try to get eating within the first 3-4 days. During this time, I'll also observe for signs of disease and treat as appropriate.
- If I don't see disease, I then treat with prazi-pro. Lately, I dose 3 rounds, 5 days apart with 30-50% water changes in between treatments.
- Next, I use cupramine and target 0.40mg/L and gradually increase Cu levels to aim over four days. I maintain this level for 4 weeks.
- After cupramine, I'll observe for another couple of weeks before adding to my display tank.

I've had the 3 QT tanks in continuous operation for the past year. I'm winding down on my fish purchases, so I'll likely shut down two of the tanks and keep one up and running.