Quarantine Tank- When do you use?

[tmnterminator]

Ok, I completely understand the merit of having a small tank set aside (properly filtered/cycled) for the purposes of nursing a sick fish. My questions are these:

1) Do you ALWAYS take out a sick fish and put him in a QT to medicate, or do you sometimes medicate the main tank? Which circumstances are acceptable?

2) Do many of you use your QT with every new fish purchase prior to putting them into the Main tank? How long do you leave them in there? Do you use any preventative medications (kinda like a vaccine or flu shot) in the QT so that they are healthier in your main tank? Which meds are good for that?

Overall, I'm also thinking about the stress itself of being netted multiple times (1st at the LFS, then into/out of QT, then into main tank for instance) and if its worth it to QT them first or not, just to minimze handling.

Sorry for so many questions but I'm trying to do things right! Thanks

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

1) Do you ALWAYS take out a sick fish and put him in a QT to medicate, or do you sometimes medicate the main tank? Which circumstances are acceptable?

i dont personally have a QT tank, but it depends on the type of sickness. if a couple fish all of a sudden have ich, i would medicate everyone in the tank since the ich may be free floating in the water, and infect the other fish anyways. if 1 fish was beaten up, i would move it to a QT tank, that way i wouldnt have to dose the entire tank with mealfix or something.

2) Do many of you use your QT with every new fish purchase prior to putting them into the Main tank? How long do you leave them in there?

people who have QT tanks usually do QT most fish. also, a month in the QT tnk should be long enough for any symptoms to show.

Do you use any preventative medications (kinda like a vaccine or flu shot) in the QT so that they are healthier in your main tank? Which meds are good for that?

i personally wouldnt unless the fish was showing symptoms of a sickness.

Overall, I'm also thinking about the stress itself of being netted multiple times (1st at the LFS, then into/out of QT, then into main tank for instance) and if its worth it to QT them first or not, just to minimze handling.

Sorry for so many questions but I'm trying to do things right! Thanks

i think it would be worth it to QT your fish. overall, you can stop any new sicknesses from entering your tank, and if a fish is sik, you can go ahead and treat it.

 

[VirgoWolf]

I agree with everything she just said. I quarentine all new fish, although I haven't seen the need to pull a fish out of my tank to treat since most of the common things are spreadable, it's best to just treat the whole tank just in case. As yahoo mentioned, a case of a beaten fish is a great time to remove for quarentine, not only for dosing, but also to prevent any further stress and/or damage.

Every time I get a new fish from the LFS or someone I don't know, it's at least a month in the QT tank before they join the others, if I get them from other MFT members or close friends, sometimes I'm a little more lenient about it. I have lost too many fish from improper quarentine, it's just not worth the risk to me. Expecially after loosing the butterfly Koi my hubby got me for our anniversary, that was unexpected and unavoidable (Koi aren't easy to quarentine indoors, so I threw the new one in with our other 2 and we lost mine) and it SUCKED. I've lost whole tanks of fish by just adding 1 or 2 fish from the LFS, so yeah, definitly worth the effort to QT. Netting them isn't enough stress to worry about, I'd definitly rather stress them a bit by netting than loose the whole tank.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

What I've heard about the stress is from SW, but it may apply to freshwater also. When the fish is in QT, it allows it time to adjust to your water and schedule (and in the case of SW, being in a tank). That way, you don't throw the really stressed fish from the LFS into the tank with a bunch of other fish that want to check it out... it gets a while to chill out after being transported. Then the water is exactly the same and it's a really quick net and release when it's moved into the main tank.

 

[jd_energy]

I am going to set up a 10g quarantine tank after my bout with ick, I think it would be better to QT all new fish so that you don't have to treat your main tanks and expose your other fish to illness. I will cycle it and probably keep a few danios in it to keep it cycled.

 

[tmnterminator]

Ok that all sounds good...i think I will set up one and see how it goes...thnx!