I am setting up a quarantine tank for some new fish I plan on buying and I have a few questions. Right now my some of my fish have ich and the reef tank is being treated. If I take some of the water from that tank and put it in the quarantine tank will the new fish get it? I am setting this up so can keep the new fish seperate from my existing fish so no more disease comes in my tank and at the same time I can correct my ich problem I already have. I figured this would take a few weeks so I would kill two birds with one stone. My second question is in the quarantine tank do I need any crushed coral or sand on the bottom of the tank or could I just have a filter and a light on a glass bottom tank? These are probably dumb questions but I am new to the quarantine tank.
quarantine tank question
- Thread starter bayondai
- Start date
Perfectly valid questions:
For now, don't transfer infected water for use in the Q tank. Bare bottom for quarentine/hospital tanks since it makes removing medication and maintaining controlled sterility easier. Don't brightly illuminate this tank, and it's best to surround the tank with dark blue backgrounds to reduce the stress of the fish (all around is best).
I would recommend you wait until you have the Ich under controll before you buy new fish. Assuming the problem will go away in a few weeks isn't sensible; sometimes it takes months, and sometimes Ich wins (I'm hoping that's not the case for you). Of course, you could always house your new fish in the Q tank for an indefinite amount of time, but that's not ideal.
For now, don't transfer infected water for use in the Q tank. Bare bottom for quarentine/hospital tanks since it makes removing medication and maintaining controlled sterility easier. Don't brightly illuminate this tank, and it's best to surround the tank with dark blue backgrounds to reduce the stress of the fish (all around is best).
I would recommend you wait until you have the Ich under controll before you buy new fish. Assuming the problem will go away in a few weeks isn't sensible; sometimes it takes months, and sometimes Ich wins (I'm hoping that's not the case for you). Of course, you could always house your new fish in the Q tank for an indefinite amount of time, but that's not ideal.
A couple of thoughts in concert with the previous posts...
I'm curious how you are treating your reef as well, spill the cat...
The Q-Tank can use water from your larger system, but you'll want to innoculate it with copper. To do so properly, you need a copper test kit and CopperSafe.
Ich has a lifecycle that includes dormancy, free swimming larvae, and reproduction/attachment. By the time you notice ich on the fish, it is well into its lifecycle, and a lot of damage has already been done. Visible ich on the fish's skin, only hints at the ich raging inside its gills. Fish usually succumb from suffocation from ich.
One effective, yet radical technique for treating ich in a living reef is hypotonic shock. Taking your alinity from 1.023-25 down to 1.013-5 in a matter of less than an hour can cause enough osmotic shock to the ich larvae and cysts that they burst and die. At least ten days at lower salinity is required. Vacuuming out substrate is also recommended because it harbours a great deal of the dormant ich.
The trick is to bring salinity back up to normal very slowly over the course of several weeks. Best way is to mach existing salinity of the system with make up water. For 1.015 add 1.015 make-up water. Eventually, you'll reach normal this way.
My quarantine procedure is to actively treat with copper while in quarantine. I'm sure some folks are getting their flamethrowers at the ready... When I do water changes on my main reefs, I put the "old" water into my Q-tank.
I'm curious how you are treating your reef as well, spill the cat...
The Q-Tank can use water from your larger system, but you'll want to innoculate it with copper. To do so properly, you need a copper test kit and CopperSafe.
Ich has a lifecycle that includes dormancy, free swimming larvae, and reproduction/attachment. By the time you notice ich on the fish, it is well into its lifecycle, and a lot of damage has already been done. Visible ich on the fish's skin, only hints at the ich raging inside its gills. Fish usually succumb from suffocation from ich.
One effective, yet radical technique for treating ich in a living reef is hypotonic shock. Taking your alinity from 1.023-25 down to 1.013-5 in a matter of less than an hour can cause enough osmotic shock to the ich larvae and cysts that they burst and die. At least ten days at lower salinity is required. Vacuuming out substrate is also recommended because it harbours a great deal of the dormant ich.
The trick is to bring salinity back up to normal very slowly over the course of several weeks. Best way is to mach existing salinity of the system with make up water. For 1.015 add 1.015 make-up water. Eventually, you'll reach normal this way.
My quarantine procedure is to actively treat with copper while in quarantine. I'm sure some folks are getting their flamethrowers at the ready... When I do water changes on my main reefs, I put the "old" water into my Q-tank.
I tried using a few medications. First I tried kick-Ich which did nothing. Then I tried Herbal Ich-Attack which worked a little but then the ich came back full force. The last thing I tried was something called green something. I forget the exact name but that didn't really work either. I used each medication as described on the box and after it was done I would do a water change. After all of this finally my cleaner shrimp realized that the fish had ich and within the last two days he has almost completely eaten it all off of the fish. I think I am going to wait a few months and then set up the quarantine tank with my tank water for the new fish I buy. I figured I would keep them there for three weeks and if they are ok then I'll put them in the main tank. Looking back it probably wasn't a good idea to use three differnt medications, but I was in a panic state at that point becasuse I was loosing fish left and right. Nothing has died in the last few days and my fish that did survive are looking a lot better.
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