Quarantine New Fish

[sausagewinkle]

Just interested as to how others quarantine new fish they are adding to their aquarium. How long, what size tank etc??
Or do you just add them straight to the tank??

I personally have never quarantined new ones and just added them straight away..........

 

[ZoddyZod]

Straight to the tank for me, dont have a spare tank to keep them in for any length of time. I find the best way to mitigate this risk is to buy from a source you trust. If the livestock looks generally healthy and you see no signs of death or illness in the holding tank, that should be a good indicator that they aren't carrying something nasty.

 

[lilfishie]

i'm the same, don't QT but only buy from places i trust

 

[KittyKat]

Depends on origin. For quarantine to work effectively, it needs to last 4-6 weeks.

 

[Duz]

I'm the same as lilfishie and ZoddyZod, I don't quarantine the fish but I always buy from the same shop which I have started to trust over the past few years.

 

[ZoddyZod]

Depends on origin.

very true. If you are going to import fish or even get them posted to you, there's no way of checking them prior to introduction - which increases the risk you take.

 

[soybean]

Straight in the tank for me. I usually buy from a place I trust to have healthy stock. If I'm buying from anywhere else I ask how long the fish have been in for - I won't buy brand new stock. I don't have the space for a QT tank, and if I did have room for another tank, it wouldn't be sat empty of fish!

 

[Rynofasho]

The one thing I dont understand about a QT tank is that people just put them up and throw fish in there, but they aren't cycled. If you don't have a constant stock of fish in there to keep your filter 'fed' then how can it stay cycled, and aren't you taking a decent risk throwing them in an uncycled tank in the first place? I have a 10 gallon that I fishless cycled and now I have a small stocking in there, and I figure that if I get new fish, I'll move all of them to the main tank for the time being and then when I'm ready to move the QT'd fish to the main tank, move them back (although I'd be sad to do it).

 

[BigbruiserAl]

People run a spare filter in there main tank, or just the extra media when needed your put the media in the hospital tank and your ready to go. Its the media that needs to be cycled not the tank

 

[Rynofasho]

Never thought of the spare filter idea. Good one!

 

[KittyKat]

If I need to set up a temporary tank (fry, quarantine, whatever), I use media from my external filters.

 

[Rynofasho]

Ohhhhhhh. I only have an HOB, and considering they are all different shapes and sizes, the media isn't necessarily transferrable. I suppose you could always try to make it fit though

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I have a spare filter running in my tank at the moment... see sig picture. The sponge filter to the left is the QT filter. I'm still working on the best way to have it stay in my tank, but for now it is hanging there - one of my cories has really taken a shine to it and enjoys sitting on top of it and resting. So it is ornamental as well as functional.