QT Tank Questions

[Super_Blueberry]

I think my Black Molly fry are getting big enough that they can be introduced back to my 55g from the 10g that they have called home for the past 7 weeks. I'm going to start trying to feed them flake food and see if they eat it. Once they do, into the 55g they go....unless some of you think that is a totally bad idea.

Anyway, once the 10g is empty, I plan to use it as a QT tank for sick and new fish, but I have a couple questions about that, mainly what do I have to do between residents? I know Ich can't survive w/o a host, so if there is a long enough period between having fish in there, any Ich should die off. What about other diseases, and/or parasites? When I take fish out, what can I do to ensure that the next fish in there won't be exposed to what the last fish had. I would think that once the last fish was taken out, he was taken out because whatever he was in there for should be gone, so the water should be more or less ready for the next patient. Am I right? or should I break down the tank, boil the gravel/plastic plants, let everything dry out to make sure everything is dead, (unfortunately that would include any bb), then rebuild when I need to? I realize its more work, but I don't want the next fish to end up dealing with 2 issues when hes already stressed. What is the best course of action?

 

[ejaramillo01]

I don't have experience regarding the fry.
With the QT tank, in my experience, I always have the QT tank empty and clean, no water, nothing. I always keep an extra filter running (small, just the size of the QT tank) in my big tank. So when I need to move a fish to the QT tank (10 G), I just add 50 % of water from the big tank, and 50% from the tap, I add PRIME, and I move the small filter.
So then the QT tank will be ready, I recommend you to have the QT tank with no gravel, maybe some fake plants just to provide comfort to the fish, but no gravel, so it is easy to start up or shutdown as needed.

Just an idea.

 

[Super_Blueberry]

That's a great idea with the filter. I was thinking of taking some floss from the main tank to jump start, but having the whole filter running in the main not only keeps it ready for the QT but is extra filtration for the main the rest of the time. Genius!

 

[jlk]

Just a note on the qt tank. Running a filter on your main tank for it is the easiest option but you will have to be wary of what you may be dealing with in your qt. You do not want to transmit disease back to your main tank via the filter. Qt'ing a new fish that remains healthy after his qt period- no problem transferring the filter back. If you have a fish with columnaris (contagious bacterial disease) or another serious illness, you will need to disinfect everything & the replace the media before returning it to your main tank. Also be careful to disinfect anything used in the qt (net, water changer, buckets, etc) before using it in your main tank or keep a seperate set of equipment to only be used on qt tank. Hope this helps!

 

[ejaramillo01]

Just a note on the qt tank. Running a filter on your main tank for it is the easiest option but you will have to be wary of what you may be dealing with in your qt. You do not want to transmit disease back to your main tank via the filter. Qt'ing a new fish that remains healthy after his qt period- no problem transferring the filter back. If you have a fish with columnaris (contagious bacterial disease) or another serious illness, you will need to disinfect everything & the replace the media before returning it to your main tank. Also be careful to disinfect anything used in the qt (net, water changer, buckets, etc) before using it in your main tank or keep a seperate set of equipment to only be used on qt tank. Hope this helps!

Well said!