# I bought a Quarantine tank, now what?



## NewfieFishGuy (Jul 27, 2006)

After reading tons of posts about quarantine tanks, I figured it would be a good idea and a good time to pick one up as the LFS had some awesome prices on kits (10g for $69). Anyway, I'm very new to the hobby and am currently getting my 32g up and running (10 days with fish) but it's not cycled yet.

So, the question is what's the process to start using it? I did go looking for an answer, but couldn't find one. I hope it's not too stupid of a question. 

The next fish to add to 32g with my school of neons will be a little school of corys. Should I add them to the 10g quarantine tank that only has treated tap water? Should I take a bunch of water from the 32g first? Something else?

And what do you do with the tank when's there's no need to have fish in it? Keep it empty? Full of water with a fish or two? What is the "standby" mode of a quarantine tank?

Thanks in advance!


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## judya (Jan 23, 2005)

You want to cycle and heat a quarantine tank just like a regular one. It only needs a little filter, just enough for the quantity of new fish. It can be barebottom though and minimally decorated, just enough cover to make the fish feel secure. The idea is to put new fish in the quarantine tank for a period of up to three weeks. Then if they have some ugly disease from the fish store, like ick, it will show up there and 1) they won't give it to your other fish, 2) it will be easy to treat.

Once you feel they are healthy, you can put them in a bag or clean bucket with their home water, gradually add the main tank water to acclimate them, then net them out (so no quarantine water gets into the main tank) and put them into the main tank.

Seems like a lot of work, but you will appreciate it when your main tank is healthy and thriving and you don't bring something in that will kill all your new fish and your old ones too. 

Also works as a hospital tank for any main fish tank fish that is sickly, breeding, isolation if you happen to get babies, etc.


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## judya (Jan 23, 2005)

You can keep it running if you want, so the filter stays alive. Then if a fish is sick, it goes into a cycled tank and not one that will add stress to the sick one by cycling at the same time.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2006)

Ok, if you get a sponge filter, get one made for like a 10g tank and put it in your 32g (no need to have it running) and then when you get new fish place it in the treated water in the 10g and then wait a few minutes and put the fish in (aclimate them first). Also just have a 50 watt heater and put it in when you get new fish. 

So to answer your question about when to set it up. When you get new fish set it up the day you plan to get the fish and put the heater in the tank and set it on 78F then when you get the fish take the sponge filter from your 32g and put it in the 10g and plug the sponge filter up to the air pump and then aclimate the fish then place them in the tank and keep them in there for two weeks and if they show no signs of illness or disease then you can put them in your 32g.

But to tell ya the truth, I never quarentine my fish as my lps very rarley have sick fish and if they do they don't allow fish to be sold from the tank so I never worry about infecting my tank. But if I got a fish from walmart (which I will never do unless its a betta in its own cup) I'd defiantly quarentine it.


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## NewfieFishGuy (Jul 27, 2006)

Ok. Sounds good. But one question, Judya.



> You can keep it running if you want, so the filter stays alive. Then if a fish is sick, it goes into a cycled tank and not one that will add stress to the sick one by cycling at the same time.


If you take all the fish out, won't all the good bacteria go away and I'll have an uncycled tank again once the ammonia runs out?


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2006)

Exactly. Which is why after you quartine the fish rinse it off in very hot water for alittle while and then after it drys put it back in your 32g and let the bacteria build back up and keep it in their till you get a new or sick fish.


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## NewfieFishGuy (Jul 27, 2006)

Gotcha. Thanks.


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## CaysE (May 21, 2006)

Durbkat said:


> Exactly. Which is why after you quartine the fish rinse it off in very hot water for alittle while and then after it drys put it back in your 32g....


Rinse the fish off in hot water? Dry it off????  :mrgreen:


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## judya (Jan 23, 2005)

The sponge filter, not the fish


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## Guest (Aug 1, 2006)

CaysE said:


> Rinse the fish off in hot water? Dry it off????  :mrgreen:


Duh!!! Dee Dee Dee


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## JamesB (Sep 6, 2006)

You can also simply keep the sponge in the quarantine tank and 'feed' it by dropping a few flakes of food in the tank every couple of days or, if you're lazy like I am, a cube of tubifex worms replacing it when you can't see any trace evidence of the worms anymore. That way there's something generating amonia in the aquarium and your problem is solved.

A friend of mine actually keeps a pair of male mollies in his quarantine tank, but he uses a 20 gallon. He has a divider in place so he doesn't have to worry about aggressiveness with the new fish. The mollies are happy as clams because the environment you want for your quarantine/hospital tank is pretty much what they want anyway. 82+ degrees, high salinity.

I'd imagine there are some times where he's had to relocate them or use a different aquarium for his quarantine, so prolly not the best idea... but feeding the filter takes minimal effort and is known to work well. I haven't done it with sponges but I did do it with a 10 gallon planted aquarium that went fishless for a month, worked like a champ despite the fact that I had to use more flake food than you would to make sure there was plenty of plant food.


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## robyn (May 29, 2006)

im also looking for a new QT tank and was wondering, cnt i just use water from my main tank and filterwool from its filter hen setting up the Qt tank to avoid having 2 cycle it?


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## mr.dark-saint (Aug 16, 2005)

What I do is this I have a filter that goes or will go in to the quarantine tank in the sump of my 125 gallon. The actual quarantine tank is dry and sitting in the back yard. When I decide to "get" new fish I'll set the tank up using the water from the 125 and pull out the filter from the sump and let the thing run for a few days or a week before I actually go and get the critters. After that the new fish waits two weeks or so in the quarantine. I'll introduce them to the new tank after that. 

Drain the tank and clean the filter (overnight sit in a bucket of water and bleach) then hose it out. I'll either let it dry out or bucket it in fresh water and wring it with some Amquel and placed back in the sump (after it dries it goes in the sump, either way it'll end up in the sump). 

Occasionally the quarantine tank will sit (set up) waiting two or three weeks without a new addition:-( . It hurts seeing a tank with just water.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I keep my QT tanks empty also, (I keep extra filters in other tanks) It keeps my from putting fish in them.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

I read tyhat you can add a few drops of ammonia to any tank sitting fishless too so that the biofilter will keep alive. Anyone heard of this method?
Ya who wants an empty tank sitting around-- there should be a fish in it!


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## SvenRhapsody (Feb 3, 2006)

Get some MTS and you'll soon have such an infestation that you'll never have to cycle that tank again. Either they poop tons when you're feeding them or they slowly die off when your not. Either way they keep my unused tanks cycled for very long times.

I certainly don't have the experience that some members of the forum do, but I'd hesitate to put the filter media from my quarantine tank back into any "good" tank. As was suggested above, I'd bleach at the minimum. Encysted forms of parasites and bacteria are amazingly resilient though and might well survive just about any treatment in some instances. That's just speculation though. If it's working well for others then give it a try.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I'm with you Sven, You keep the extra sponge filters in your main tank, then transfer them and fill the empty tank with clean water. 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia water is the best cure, so I don't recommend moving tank water to avoid cycling, thats what the sponge filter is for. I used to just let my quarrentine/hospital filters dry out, but now I'm bleaching them. Seems to be somewhat hard on the foam, though. Maybe I should just buy new ones.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

> there should be a fish in it


 NO that defeats the purpose of having a hospital/quarrentine tank around. If I leave it set up, I always end up bringing home something new from the AAAA meeting and then I don't have a place for a sick fish, holding mother, or leaf covered with eggs.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Exactly!Out of sight out of mind to put in a fish!


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## locojay (May 22, 2006)

I almost started a new thread but the search button brought me to this one so I figured I'd resurrect it.

I have a 10g with 4 neons in it that I'm about to vacate. The neons will go into my 20g and I want to use the 10g for an isolation tank. I still have a little bit of stocking to do in the 20g and then I have a 55g kit still in the box that I'm going to get started.

Based on what I've read here I plan to vacate the 10g and leave it running exactly how it is. Within 2 to 3 weeks I'll purchase another fish, isolate it for 3 weeks, introduce it to it's home and repeat. This way I'm making an addition to my main tank about every 5 weeks.

Will my isolation tank stay cycled with this 3 weeks occupied, 3 weeks empty routine for the next 6 to 9 months?

Once my 55g and my 20g are stocked then I'll probably break down the isolation tank and store it for future use, keeping a filter for it in my sump. Hopefully it will be a long time before I need it again.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

if there is nothing living in the tank to produce ammonia then the bio filter dies.
Or fish flakes. somehting has to feed the bacteria.!


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## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

Why not make the quarantine tank into a planted tank? Put a good light in there and lots of plants and some shrimp and malaysian trumpet snails... If you can resist the urge to stock it with fish, that is 

Zoe


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## locojay (May 22, 2006)

mousey said:


> if there is nothing living in the tank to produce ammonia then the bio filter dies.
> Or fish flakes. somehting has to feed the bacteria.!


I understand that the bacteria will die if it's not fed, but I'm wondering: How long does it take before it starts dying? Is 2 weeks too long to leave the tank unoccupied without adding any flakes or amonia? Sorry if I was unclear before.



Zoe said:


> Why not make the quarantine tank into a planted tank? Put a good light in there and lots of plants and some shrimp and malaysian trumpet snails....!


I like this idea alot! I'll probably end up doing that after both tanks are stocked. I thought about trying live plants in my 55g but decided not too, figured I'm going to have enough work making sure all the fish are ok. Seems to me like it would be cheaper/easier to experiment with live plants in the 10g.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

aFter 3 weeks without food, the some bacteria will will remain so it wont be like a new tank, but you do risk an ammonia, followed by a nitrite spike when you add fish. If you do it this way add some prime to the quarrantine tank with the fish to deal with the "mini-cycle". If you feed the empty tank, then you need to do a big waterchange before adding the fish to deal with the nitrate build up. Even if you don't feed it, you should change water sometime between the removal of the old fish and the addtion of the new.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Sounds good. You can feed food grade ammonia into the QT when its not in use to keep the bacteria from dieing. Be sure it has no color addatives or perfumes.


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## Humpy (Oct 15, 2006)

So I got a 10g tank from my bro, and i put some water in it and hooked up a filter. Then i put this fish in there that he had in with his turtle. I think it is some kind of tetra. So would it be okay for me to leave that fish in there to keep some of the bacteria alive and use it as my quarantine tank? Then i would just change the water before i brought home any new fish?
Now my tank has no hood or light. Will it be okay to use as a quarantine tank if it has no light?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

> if it has no light?


yes, the light is for us not the fish


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## Humpy (Oct 15, 2006)

well i went and got a 20g tank with the filter heater and light. Now i am going to use this for quaratine insteadbut i dont want to have to set it up and take it down all the time, and it will be too tempting if the tank is always empty to put some new fish in it. 

Would it be okay to put a few little peacful fish in there to produce ammonia to keep the bacteria alive?
I will still keep a filter sponge in my bigger tank and switch them when i get a new fish, but hopefully this way I can just leave the tank setup and not lose the bacteria. Also if my fish get sick and i quarantine them if they infect the small fish in there, all the fish will get treated anyway!
So will it work keeping a few fish in my quarantine tank?


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