"QT" questions

[Clown Monarch]

Well, I've finally determined that "QT" means Quarantine Tank (only about 500 more acronyms to figure out now).

What is the purpose of the QT? I remember setting one up before when I had a sick fish, but do you QT fish when you first buy them? How long do you let them live in the QT before determining that they're healthy?



btw - do you have an acronym definition thread here?

 

[Clown Monarch]

Nevermind on the acronym question - I see there is a cool tabover definition feature on here. For some reason it didn't work on my home pc.

 

[Atari]

Whenever you see an acronym you can usually hover your mouse cursor over it and you'll get a pop-up explanation. There's also a common abbreviations page.

 

[blorkiemom]

Most folks put new fish in the QT for 2-6 weeks, with 4 being about average (I know this because I asked exactly the same question a while ago!)

 

[Clown Monarch]

So, I have a 44 gallon tank set for SW now. I'm guessing it would be a good idea to keep that tank SW, keep invertebrates out of that tank, and it'll also double as a treatment tank for sick fish?

 

[Atari]

Oops sorry, forgot about the main question lol.

Yes 4 weeks is a good amount of time. The reason is to keep an eye on the fish for any signs of parasites, infections etc. That way you haven't introduced anything nasty into your main display and you already have the fish in a separate, treatable tank if something shows up.