quarantine tied to main display

[rygar]

Wondering if anyone here has ever tied in a quarantine tank to the display. I understand that there are times when medications are used from time to time and you wouldn't want this in the display.
So here's what Im thinking...
Qurantine fish for a month or 2. If it without parasites, eating and acting well, remove all traces of any medications with carbon. Then turn valves to and from display tank at a slow rate. Speed up this rate over the course of a week or 2. Now you have a fish that is completely stress free in the display water. No double netting in and out of the bucket, stress of making sure the temp, ph, salinity is the same, and less stress on the fish. Simply catch the fish and put it in the display. AND your quarantine tank is all ready for the next new addition.
What do you think? Any issues with this process?

 

[mbingha]

Even trace amounts of copper will kill inverts. I would never mix my qt water with my display.

 

[jorda9095]

i guess it could work with valves but people usually separate the QT system because they dont want things/parasites from the DT going into the QT and vice versa

 

[rbarn]

I would never cross flow water from a QT tank, defeats the whole purpose.

My Apex will monitor both the main tank and QT tank to make sure they are maintaining the same water parameters for stress free transfers.

 

[dave.m]

To connect the water from the quarantine directly into the display negates the whole idea of a quarantine to begin with. You might as well not bother with quarantine at all. Fish and corals need to be kept totally separate from the display for several weeks in order to insure they don't bring in any unwanted pests with them. Catching and releasing them is the least of your worries.

Dave.M

 

[GHill762]

^bingo.. it isn't quarantine if they're connected, it's just isolated from the main tank - more like a holding tank or soemthing.. any medication, ich, etc. will still make it back to the main tank..

 

[rishma]

Another approach would be to do frequent small water changes in qt with dt water.' Much safer IMO.

 

[rygar]

I would never cross flow water from a QT tank, defeats the whole purpose.

My Apex will monitor both the main tank and QT tank to make sure they are maintaining the same water parameters for stress free transfers.

Do you still drip acclimate them? Or can you simply transfer directly to the display?

 

[rygar]

To connect the water from the quarantine directly into the display negates the whole idea of a quarantine to begin with. You might as well not bother with quarantine at all. Fish and corals need to be kept totally separate from the display for several weeks in order to insure they don't bring in any unwanted pests with them. Catching and releasing them is the least of your worries.

 

[rygar]

To connect the water from the quarantine directly into the display negates the whole idea of a quarantine to begin with. You might as well not bother with quarantine at all. Fish and corals need to be kept totally separate from the display for several weeks in order to insure they don't bring in any unwanted pests with them. Catching and releasing them is the least of your worries.

Dave.M

If the fish has been without parasites for months in quarantine, how will they get into the display? Are you saying there are parasites in the quarantine tank after quarantine is complete? How can this be? If you quarantine, then you should be ridding the quarantine tank of parasites or they will infect the fish you have in quarantine. right? So how can parasites get into the display if you are putting parasite free water from quarantine into your display?

 

[rygar]

Another approach would be to do frequent small water changes in qt with dt water.' Much safer IMO.

That just made me think of something. I could run a line from the display to the 55 gallon tank I'll be using for quarantine (with a valv that will be OFF until the fish is ready) and run a line from the quarantine tank to the drain. My water changes will be 100 gallons at a time, so I would just do that thru the 55 over the course of a couple hours. This would nearly change all the 55 water to display water. No buckets or hoses and and then a simple transfer. Happy fish. Happy me.
Like killing 2 birds with one stone. Water change and acclimation of a new resident.

See, glad I posted...this is what I'm gonna do. thanks Rishma!

 

[Nanook]

Since this thread has nothing to do with the Large Tank Forum, and it looks like you really need some solid advice...

[moved]

 

[rygar]

Since this thread has nothing to do with the Large Tank Forum, and it looks like you really need some solid advice...

<i>This thread has been moved to the current forum.</i>

Actually it was a discussion for quarantine for a 750 gallon display. This issue was on my mind. But your right, it should have been put here from the beginning.

 

[MrTuskfish]

You're worrying way too much about "stressing" the fish when moving him. Its no big deal.

 

[scottwhitson]

You are asking for a infestation of some sort if you link the tanks together. If you have a healthy fish coming out of QT the stress of putting it into another tank isn't going to affect it.

 

[Mrscribbled]

You're worrying way too much about "stressing" the fish when moving him. Its no big deal.

Agreed, all my fish are transferred directly from QT to DT, no acclimation.

 

[OrionN]

I do the same. I got Quarantine tank that is hook up to my main tank but I can isolate it our of the loop with its own sump. I just need to move the return pump to its own sump and turn a valve to get the water to drain to the quarantine sump instead of the main sump.

I don't add much to the tank, and use it as another reef tank. I mainly use it to quarantine anemones and clams. I try to get healthy animals and put in there but if I buy sick animals (I get sick anemones and clams at a huge discount) I set up a Hospital tank separately to treat them, not use this QT. Once I think they are well, then I put them in QT to get them use to captivity, or add it directly to the DT. This QT is a 40 gal breeder. This size is big enough to QT fish, anemone or clam. I have a 150 DE MH over this QT so it is enough for my anemone or clam.

I only put animal that I think is well in this QT tank, so far, I have not got a sick animal in this tank yet. If I ever get a sick animal in this tank, then I have to keep isolate it and either sterilized it or treat it accordingly (fish free for ich, clam free for PMD ect.). I never add medicine to this tank because it is not a hospital tank.

 

[ca1ore]

My QT/HT is downstream of my DT water changes, so as water heads to the drain, it passes through the QT. Nothing goes back though! Is a good way to do large QT water changes and keep the water parameters as close as possible. QT has an adjustable overflow to the drain.

 

[rygar]

That just made me think of something. I could run a line from the display to the 55 gallon tank I'll be using for quarantine (with a valv that will be OFF until the fish is ready) and run a line from the quarantine tank to the drain. My water changes will be 100 gallons at a time, so I would just do that thru the 55 over the course of a couple hours. This would nearly change all the 55 water to display water. No buckets or hoses and and then a simple transfer. Happy fish. Happy me.
Like killing 2 birds with one stone. Water change and acclimation of a new resident.

See, glad I posted...this is what I'm gonna do. thanks Rishma!

As I wrote as seen above. Nothing going back to the display tank. And its completely shut off from the display until I turn the valve to allow water to flow INTO the quarantine tank. All water from quarantine going strait down the drain, NOT in the display.

 

[ca1ore]

As I wrote as seen above. Nothing going back to the display tank. And its completely shut off from the display until I turn the valve to allow water to flow INTO the quarantine tank. All water from quarantine going strait down the drain, NOT in the display.

As I noted in the prior post, this is how I manage my water changes: through the HT/QT. Been doing this way for most of the last 10 years and have not had any disease move from HT to DT.