Starting a quarantine tank/hospital tank

[cjeter]

Hi,
I am 4 weeks into cycling my 35 gallon tank with fish. I have 3 zebra danios and 2 gold pristella tetras. None of these fish are the first fish I bought. I just lost another danio overnight.
I have been performing 20% PWC's 3x/week. Using an API master test kit, my levels are: ammonia 0.25ppm, Nitrite: 0.25ppm, and nitrate: 5.0ppm. These have not changed in the last week.

I am eager to get some more pristellas, because the two I have hide all the time except to eat. One of the danios who appears to be a large female chases the other 2 danios around most of the day. I know these fish would do better in larger numbers, but from reading several sites and books, it looks like I should set up a 5-gallon quarantine tank and keep new fish there a couple weeks, rather than buying them and putting them directly in the main tank.
Is quarantining necessary? Is it still too soon to consider my tank fully cycled?

I feel like it will take forever to set up and cycle another tank, but I will do it if I have to. Any way to speed this up?

Thanks.

 

[Hubert90]

I quarantine all the fish I buy for at least 2 weeks. Those 2 weeks I'll be watching for any issues with the fish. And it's alot easier to treat a 10g then a 35g! U would firstly need alot more medicine and etc for the 35g. And also if one fish is sick and u treat ur whole tank! The healthy ones are also getting the medicine which isn't very wise. If u do introduce ur fish into ur main tank without quarantine and it's carrying some diseases, it means more work for u! And u can speed up ur quarantine cycle by seeding it ( use ur main tank media). Good luck

 

[cjeter]

! And u can speed up ur quarantine cycle by seeding it ( use ur main tank media). Good luck[/QUOTE]

Are my main tank numbers good enough to seed a smaller tank?


thanks.

 

[Rosenweiss]

Not quite yet. =] Your ammonia and nitrites will need to read zero. However, if it's been the same for a whole week, it's possible that you're reading the card wrong. Does it still look like .25 when you hold up the test tube to the light (natural light) instead of to the card?

 

[cjeter]

I tested again today. Ammonia not quite 0. Nitrites 0.25. Nitrates 5.0. Thanks for advising to hold up to natural light. We have compact flouresents. It made a difference. Will do a 20% water change after work.

 

[Rosenweiss]

I tested again today. Ammonia not quite 0. Nitrites 0.25. Nitrates 5.0. Thanks for advising to hold up to natural light. We have compact flouresents. It made a difference. Will do a 20% water change after work.

No problem. =] Best of luck!

 

[James_in_MN]

I am eager to get some more pristellas, because the two I have hide all the time except to eat. One of the danios who appears to be a large female chases the other 2 danios around most of the day. I know these fish would do better in larger numbers, but from reading several sites and books, it looks like I should set up a 5-gallon quarantine tank and keep new fish there a couple weeks, rather than buying them and putting them directly in the main tank.
Is quarantining necessary? Is it still too soon to consider my tank fully cycled?

I feel like it will take forever to set up and cycle another tank, but I will do it if I have to. Any way to speed this up?

Thanks.

You shouldn't have to cycle a QT or hospital tank.

The best thing you could do is put the filter meant for the QT on your cycling tank and keep it there until needed. That way, you can take your QT out of storage, fill it with dechlorinated water, put a heater in it and heat it to the main tank's temp, then move the filter from the main tank to the QT.

If you do the above, your QT tank can go from storage to fully cycled on the same day that you purchase any new fish friends.