Hospital/Quarrantine Tank

[Codefox]

So I've never really done this before but I've never really had a tank quite like this 120g before. Wiping out a 20g or even a 55g tank with ick isn't as disasterous as killing 30 or more expensive fish. So I think I need a tank for treating sick fish and for quarrantine purposes.

How big should it be and how long should I quarrantine fish prior to introduction? Should I bother with quarrantine for the first batch of fish?

 

[mike47517]

The size matters on what kind of fish you want to isolate.

I usually keep mine in a QT tank for a week and if i dont find anything wrong with the fish then i put it into the main tank. But if its sick or injured then i keep it in the QT tank till it is healed. But to tell the truth i usually dont use a QT tank. But it is very smart too use one and i highly reccomend it to any and everyone.

Yes i would put my first fish into a QT tank just so you can cure the fish ( if sick) and never have any sickness in your main tank.

 

[CTD]

Two things to consider:

(#1) The tank has to be able to house the amount and size fish you buy until they are deemed safe for the main tank or designated tanks you are going to house them in.

(#2) How much tank water do you want to treat? For instance you could do a 29 gallon as a quarrantine tank but if you were quarrantining say two guppies a 10 gallon tank (or smaller) would work just as well, and be about 1/3 of the amount of water to treat using 1/3 the medicine in case you needed to treat the fish.

 

[Codefox]

Yeah the main concern is that as a QT tank for new fish its not a big deal since they'll all be small for right now. I can house 10 little ciclids in a 10G no problem. But if fish start getting sick I can't QT a bunch of 6" adults in there. Though really I guess if more than 3 fish are getting sick at once I have other issues

 

[CTD]

I am remiss as I forgot to address it, but you asked "how long to quarantine the fish" I personally try to quarantine for 30 days. However some say that is too long others not long enough. I have been guilty of not quarantining in the past and it came back to bite me in the rump. It is very hard to resist the urge to just go ahead and put those nice new fish into your tank along with your other fish many of us have been guilty of it sometimes it works out sometimes it does not. Sucks when it doesn't! especially for the fish.

 

[Codefox]

Yeah, I've had impatience ruin tanks that were otherwise coming along nicely

 

[CTD]

Yeah, I've had impatience ruin tanks that were otherwise coming along nicely

You are not alone I learned most my painful as well as expensive lessons on patients the hard way and sadly mostly at the fish's expense

 

[bs6749]

Mike and CTD have given good information. Good job with the help guys!

Mike brings up a good point about the size of the QT tank and the size of the fish and CTD also gave good input on it being more costly to treat a larger tank with meds than a smaller tank.

I remember reading in another thread that you were wanting an African cichlid setup. With that in mind, I'd go with a 20L or a 29 as a QT tank in case you have to treat more than one fish at a time. And just remember, a 29 CAN hold 29 gallons of water but that doesn't mean that it HAS to. If you wanted to put 15 gallons in there to treat a smaller African, you could by all means do so and it would cost you half of the amount to medicate. I'd suggest a submersible heater for the QT tank so you can turn it horizontally if you only want 1/2 the water volume in the QT tank for example. I'd suggest a 200W Stealth heater for that tank in case you have to get the water up to the low 90's (to treat flagellates). A simple sponge filter and airpump would do the trick for filtration.

 

[Codefox]

Yeah, I think a large QT tank is almost neccessary for the fish I have. I'm going to price it and if its more than I want to spend right now what I might do is buy a smaller setup for the time being since initially I won't need a large QT.

 

[xander]

I heard rubbermaid tubs work well as QT. They come in all sizes.

 

[jsoong]

2nd the rubbermaid idea. I use a 30 gal tub for my QT. When not in use, it holds all my fish stuff in storage. < I also keep the filter of the QT's canister in my sump so the QT will be cycled whenever I need it.>

Length of QT - I do 2 weeks - takes care of most of the common parasites, etc. Although lots of people are now going for 1 month to isolate the various virus & mycobacterium that is showing up.

 

[bs6749]

One bad thing about the Rubbermaid tubs is that you can't see through them at all if they are colored and if they are transparent it's still a little hazy. I would like to see how a sick fish is progressing rather than guess and medicate or net it out and stress it in the process. A lot of the time when dealing with Africans, the fish are rather expensive and it'd be a shame to lose a $30 fish because you save $20 on a tote. Just my two cents on the matter.

 

[mike47517]

One bad thing about the Rubbermaid tubs is that you can't see through them at all if they are colored and if they are transparent it's still a little hazy. I would like to see how a sick fish is progressing rather than guess and medicate or net it out and stress it in the process. A lot of the time when dealing with Africans, the fish are rather expensive and it'd be a shame to lose a $30 fish because you save $20 on a tote. Just my two cents on the matter.

I have to agree. An average QT tank should be a aquarium. Just so you can see through it perfectly and find any markings on the fish that could be a sign of sickness. And it saves you alot of trouble and keeps the fish less stressed and keeps the fish's slime coat intact and it is more likely that you can see the markings when the fish is in the water peacefully swimming. Should i go on?

 

[jsoong]

I never net my fish. I use a plexi box to take the fish out, water & all. The fish is never stressed if I take the time to allow it to swim into the box. Then I can really have a good look at the fish inside the box. I can take the box to good light, turn it around, etc. Much easier to get a good look in an "examination box" than in the tank.

PS - an inexpensive plexi box - those little betta cubes .... about only thing they are good for ... defn not for keeping bettas.

 

[bs6749]

I never net my fish. I use a plexi box to take the fish out, water & all. The fish is never stressed if I take the time to allow it to swim into the box. Then I can really have a good look at the fish inside the box. I can take the box to good light, turn it around, etc. Much easier to get a good look in an "examination box" than in the tank.

PS - an inexpensive plexi box - those little betta cubes .... about only thing they are good for ... defn not for keeping bettas.

The only problem with the box is that there are many Africans that would be too large and fish that I keep, such as discus, wouldn't fit either. They'd splash water all over at best.