quarantine tank...how does it work???

[skiflyer]

Hi everybody,

I'm a little confused on the quarantine tank thing. I know NOW, (after ich outbreak) that you are supposed to quarantine fish you buy for a couple of weeks before adding them to your display tank, however i have a couple questions about this.

1. As i understand it, "ich" for example is a disease that can be caused by stress. How is the quarantine tank gonna be of any help if the fish has an ich outbreak in a quarantine tank after transport and new environment, etc. .....and then after the ich has been treated and taken care of......isn't there a good chance that it can get stressed again and have an ich outbreak by putting it in the main tank???

2. Also, as i understand every tank is different whether it is in the same household, the same chemicals are added, and OR all the maintenance is done the same. How can the same water quality in the display and quarantine tank be established.......? Do I use display tank water? Or does it even have to be the exact same?

3. Do I need live rock in the quarantine tank too??

Sorry for the long questions. I hope somebody can help me on these issues or question. Sorry if they are not to clear, i tried my best :-) lol
Also maybe i misunderstood the whole quarantine tank idea, if so, please explain what it is for.
Thank in advance

1st

Its easier to treat a problem in a QT and you have more options for treatment, especially if you have a reef tank!

2nd
Fill your QT up with water from your main tank, that what I do....

3rd

No you dont need live rock. Depending upon what "treatments" you use it may not be too alive for very long.


QT tanks are a good way to isolate a new addition to insure its health before you add it to your collection. This way if you have a probelm with the fish or coral it will hopefully be relagated to that one only and not be a problemn for your entire tank. It restricts the possiblity of parasites getting introduced your system. Not using one will more than likely,l eventually be regretted. Its just a smart way to do buisness. I strongly recommend one. It can be as simple as a used 10 gallon tank with small HOB filter and Light fixture. You dont need or shouldnt even have decorations. It is sometimes a good idea to add a small PVC pipe elbow to give a critter safe haven to minimize stress, bot things with porus surfaces generally should be avoided. I probably missed a thing or two but this should give you a better idea of the concept.

[gman0526]

Ok 1 thing ICH is not "caused" by stress it is caused by a parasite that attaches to the fish's scales in one phases of it's life time. Stress simply put messes up with the outer protective coating fishes have on their scales and makes it easier for the parasite to attach itself.

This is true. It goes through several cycles in its life cycle. Once you have it established it is in your tank and will take a while to beat it.

[gman0526]

Yeah, the life cycle of the ich parasite depending on the conditions can be anything between 30-60 days.

[pilotrob]

yes i also learned the hard way. i was hesitant to set up another tank just for treating fish but its a necessity. i used to use the hyposalinity method of lowering the specific gravity to kill off parasites but i have found that copper treatment works much better for me if you have to treat fish. also, i dont remember if it was said but turning up the heat a little in the quarantine tank makes the ich cycle faster so its less stressful for your fish.

as a side note skiflyer i noticed your in florida and a student, Embrey-Riddel perhaps??? :razz: Im a UND Aerospace student - commercial aviation major

yes copper is awesome for treating in the QT, just not in the reef tank!