Kaudern's cardinal fish died

[Bectan01]

Agree that is poor advice from your LFS. I have always gotten good advice from here so best to check in with the crowd I once checked the salinity of the LFS water and it was incredibly low compared to my tank, I hear its common for LFS to run a lower salinity so def drip acclimate in future.

 

[firewrangler81]

What is needed for a quarantine tank and what is the smallest I could get by with?

 

[TheTodd]

10-15 gallons works okay for most fish. I use a small filter, small powerhead and some PVC for hiding. I have never needed a heater, but this year have decided to add one as we are allowing the house to cool down more during the winter.

Your QT will not be cycled at first, so you have to watch parameters and be ready for water changes. Once you have your display going, a lot of people will keep a filter pad in there to collect beneficial bacteria and then add that to the QT to help biological filtration. Depends on whether you keep the QT up and running all the time or just set it up for new additions or as a hospital tank when fish are sick. It is money well spent though.

 

[firewrangler81]

I've read where it needs to be almost sterilized between uses, any thoughts? And what type of filter, do I need as an elaborate setup as I have on my 90 or will a cheap filter from Walmart suffice?