Quarntine Tank/Hospital Tank

H

HollieR14

New member
Hey Y'all:

we ave managed to kill all the fish we have purchased in the last 5-6 weeks, we now have 3 fish in the tank - one neon goby, one clown, and one blu green chromis which are all doing great.

So - until this point we have not quarantined any new fish or corals however I would really like to add more livestock and keep it alive- so I need some advice on setting up a quarantine tank. Questions -

I have very limited space- Is 10 gallons two small?
Do I need to cycle it?
Do I need to add rock?
Can I use gravel instead of live sand- I have no sand to spare...
DO I use water from the water change in my main tank to get it started?
How long do you quarantine fish for?
Do I use the same lights that are in the main tank?


As always thanks for your help

Hollie
 
What did the original several fish die from? What disease? Is possible the disease is still in the main tank although the remaining/new fish look fine at the moment.

QT tank should be bare bottom with heater, small powerhead, no less than an air driven sponge filter seeded with bacteria from main tank for a couple of weeks prior to using in the QT tank. PVC pieces for the fish to hide in. If QTing corals(which should be done as well as QTing inverts) you will need some type of lighting. Skimmer would be a plus. Testing the ammonia, pH, etc is standard as this will suggest necessity for water changes on a daily basis or so.
 
I agree with Freed. That is very similar to the setup that we have in our 10 gal qt. We don't have a skimmer but are looking for one. We also put a ball of cheato and small piece of live rock in it. We purchase a cheap all in one system from the lfs and modified it for our purpose. We added small pc lights from wally world (found in the aquarium dept) and this works okay for soft coral as a temp home.
Freed by the way love your line on No ich in the main tank. LOL
Monica
 
Hehe, yep, the only way to keep from having ich or other issues in the main tank. Catch it in QT first and don't have to worry about tearing your main tank apart later or losing all your fish, etc in the main tank.
 
Depends on the pest or disease. Ich, no less than 6 weeks for hypo, a few for copper. To make sure there is no viable ich when you QT corals or inverts, no less than 4-6 weeks. For velvet and copper treatment a couple of weeks I think, not totally sure.
 
ok so a question comes to mind- if you use a sponge from the sump to seed with bacteria- if you have a disease in the main tank then wouldn't be transferred to the qt tank? i will read the threads too- thanks
 
It depends on how long the water is in your main tank. As a general rule, the only thing you are really likely to transfer to a QT via water alone is ick. Left fishless for 6 weeks, the ick will die out in the QT.

Personally, I don't use water from the main tank for a QT for new fish and corals. The necessary bacteria is in the air and will colonize the QT just fine. Just toss a bit of dead shrimp into the new QT to get the bacterial ball rolling. I prep the QT before any new purchases, which of course means I have to PLAN any new purchases weeks in advance. Not a bad thing if you have Acquisition Syndrome.

However, to keep a hospital tank and and running constantly isn't really practical. As long as you have the equipment and test it periodically, it's okay to keep it dry and waiting somewhere you can fetch it in a hurry. The sponge with the airline in your fuge can be a lifesaver in the event you need to treat an emergency like pop-eye or another bacterial infection caused by a wound. In this case, the fish are coming from your main tank and using tank water and the sponge will be the least stressful thing for them.

In your case, I would pull your 3 fish into a 10 gallon with PVC tubes and elbows for hiding places. Deworm them (just because; I deworm all new fish), then start hypo. Leave the main tank fishless for 6-8 weeks. Barring some very strange problem, this should give you a clean slate in your main tank.

Speaking of very strange problems, do you know what your fish died of? Any symptoms or details you can give? There is one pest in particular that you really CAN'T starve out; it's fairly unusual so it isn't something to worry about but it would be nice to rule it out before going through all the effort of hypo.
 
Hi NicoleC:

The two clowns from the October Meeting died witinh a week- think that was ick, after thanksgiving I got a firefish and a fridmani pseudochromis the fire fish had what I call "death" spasms" and died within 16 hours of when we go him, the fridmani looked great and literally disappeared within 5 days of getting him - never found any remains. ....In the interim my husband got a clownfish around christmas that looks great and is thriving with the lone blue green chromis

We had two blue green chromis to start out tank with - since August and until 4 weeks ago they were both fine--then the larger one just died...did not look sick or anything- of course may daughter had just named the fish and I now understand that if you name them they are doomed.......:)

We got two small blue green chromis to replace the one large one that died and within 2 weeks they were dead too- no symptoms were eating great- the only thing we can think of is the larger chromis and the clown may have stressed them out- but other than that no ideas......

Hence we are going to set up the qt tank- got a cheap 10 gal tank yesterday and plan on getting it going this week - sorry for the long response- Hollie
 
Were there any other symptoms the fish may have shown? Hazy white patches on the body? Red or inflamed gills? Red spots on the bodies? Can't recall if you stated that or not.
 
Hi Freed:

The only thing we ever saw was the ich on the clowns- or what looked like ich....the firefish croaked so fast...the others we never saw any thing on thier bodies...the fridmani, the original chromis, and the new chromis were all eating fine and did not show any signs.
 
Some possibilities could be oxygen, lack of. High ammonia, etc.

What are your parameters? Please post numbers including ammonia, pH, alk, calcium, nitrite, salinity, etc.

Dying that quickly points to velvet possibly though.
 
Ick usually doesn't kill so quickly, but since you saw ick on the clowns you know that is at least one problem and the solution for that will give you plenty of time to the observe the remaining fish for other issues.

But since you tell me you did see the bodies and didn't report any gaping wounds, that rules out the worst case scenario -- cirolanid isopods.

I agree with Freed that deaths that quick suggest an enironmental problem, not a disease.
 
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