Adding fish without quarantine

[Masha]

I'm in the process of upgrading from a small tank to a large one. My husband keeps dropping "hints" such as:

"We really don't have to have two tanks, do we? Now that you've got your large tank, you only need one, don't you?"

So I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to keep my smaller tank up and running (space is a bit of an issue so I understand his concern)Having experienced what an outbreak of whitespot can do to a tank - I'm going to keep the small tank running as a quarantine tank until my new tank is stocked. But after that, I may have to dismantle it.

Leaving aside all the ways I could persuade my husband, and all the reasons I need a quarantine tank -- assuming that you really are in a position of having to add fish without a quarantine tank, what would be the best way?

Transfer as little as possible of the water that comes with them? How?
Medicate them somehow?

 

[Krissycakes]

I would say keep them in the bag and float them. Then after acclimating some of your tank water into the bag and observing that the fish is healthy I would say net him from the bag so just the fish gets put in your tank.

If you need quarantine use a glass jar if you have one. It should be easier to treat the fish too, less medicine to add.

 

[Fishlover3578]

You could use a bucket with a heater and air just change water once a day

 

[Fett999]

If you really have to add without using a quarantine tank then you really want to transfer none of the water that comes with the fish. Once the acclimatisation is done scoop the fish out with a net and pop him into the tank and ditch all the water. You could dip the net in an anti white spot treatment before transfer to cut down the risk of that getting into your tank. I tend to use my hand for the transfer. It's actually more gentle on the fish I find. Some will put a white spot treatment straight in the tank but I don't like to put a treatment in without an actual need. It increases the time before you can get a treatment in if you find they have something else instead, and can add another unnecessary stress to the fish.

 

[Cactuspixie]

2 days ago I got a beautiful healthy looking fish that I was unable to quarantine. I floated the bag added tank water to the bag etc put him into the tank by hand, and discarding the water in the bag. Then this morning I see ich.
You don't need to keep the QT running. You can set it up as needed and fill it with water from your display tank, and used filter material from your DT filter also. As mentioned you can use a tub if you wish, but a tank allows better visibility for monitoring the fish.

 

[Cynic]

1. Investigate the fish and fish in the tank before purchasing
2. Ask how long they've been in there
3. Transfer with as little water as possible
4. If you buy fish frequently expect to deal with ich every now and again

 

[TOMatt]

I think it can depend on the reliability of your LFS.

I have the same disagreement with my wife every once in a while. I've got an old 20gallon tank that I bring out and use as a QT tank when I buy new fish. I have lots of media in my 50G tank filter, and move some of it over to the 20g (with an old HOB filter hooked up), and quarantine my fish for 2 weeks. After the 2 weeks, I move them to the main tank and dismantle the 20G until I need it again (moving the media back to the 50G filter).

I've never bought sick fish from my local independent fish store, so I don't know how necessary the QT tank is. But given that it only gets set up for a couple of weeks when I buy more fish, the wife isn't so put off.

If I had to get rid of the QT tank, I would just be more careful of where I buy from (not the massive chain stores that don't seem to care about quality and health), and just be careful not to spill bagwater into the main tank when I scoop the fish from the bag.

 

[mrvincent]

Ich is most popular disease. I got ich 4-5 times in my life, sometime it's hard to eradicate completely without harming plants and inverts.

Infected fish can look very healty, and 2-3 days after, all your fishs are infected.

QT tank is very helpfull, you need less medication/salt to threat... I have a 29g main tank, but I keep a 10g cycled on the side.

You can use your QT tank to breed too.

 

[Masha]

From this, it sounds like if I can find a place to store my smaller tank, I can get it up and running when I need a quarantine tank, even if it's standing on the floor.
Worth it.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello Masha...

In my years in the water keeping hobby, I've never kept a separate tank to quarantine new fish. But, you need to know how to chose the right fish and know how clean the place where you get them is. I also dose a little standard aquarium salt in all my tanks. It helps maintain a healthy immune system for your fish and healthy fish are rarely, if ever going to be affected by a parasite. The salt also discourages the growth of most fish pathogens.

I'd say keep the large tank. Change out half the water in it every week and dose a teaspoon of standard aquarium in every 5 gallons of your replacement water.

Add some plants like Anubias, Java fern and some of the mosses. Include Brazilian water weed and Pennywort and your fish will be fine.

B

 

[Masha]

Part of my problem is that I don't really trust many of the local places I could get fish from. Some of them are so bad I'm not going back, I'm tempted to report them to the SPCA. Not just the fish, the other animals there suffer too. I find myself wanting to buy the fish in order to rescue them, it's so bad.

I'm going to drive out to a shop in Fishhoek when I get a chance - about an hour's drive away, it has a good reputation.

I've already got a fair amount of java fern and moss - hoping to learn a bit more about keeping plants in my larger tank