Quarantine Tank.

[kniesh]

Hi guys, I was just wondering, I have a few spare tanks I could set up as quarantine tanks and I am looking to do so. One thing I have never bothered with in the past for some reason but I think it's time now as my collection grows. I found myself with a few questions. Sorry if they seem daft but I just have never contemplated one so know next to nothing about them.

1. How do you keep it cycled if there are no occupants (seems like a daft question I know)
2. What size would you say is ideal for the occupants of my tanks?
3. What type of meds should I keep handy for emergencies? With the possibility of going oput and buying the specific med needed afterwards.
4. Is a little salt ok if you are not planning any long termers in there?

Any other suggestions very much welcome aswell, thx in advance.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

for a q/hospital tank you have some options to keep it cycled

you can either fishless cycle it and keep adding ammonia daily, no risk of cross contamination but a ball ache as you may not be using it all the time.

you can get a group of something hardy and easy to keep like some platys and put them in there to keep it cycled, make sure you leave room for them in one of your main tanks so you can put them back when you need to.

the easiest way IMO is to run 1/2 small internal filters in another tank constantly, then when you need to use the Quarantine/hospital tank you transfer over the media or just the whole filter(s) and hew presto, instantly cycled tank.

you really need to make sure it's big enough for your biggest fish at full adult size. if you bear in mind it's hopefully not going to be in there for more than a week or so it doesn't need to be huge, but enough room for turning etc.

we always keep pimafix, melafix and king british ws3 in the house, that combined with water changes will sort out most common problems, anything more specific it's probably best to get as needed as meds have a shelf life and there's no point buying everything only for it to go off and get thrown away, or more likely sit in the cupboard then get used when it's out of date which potentially is bad.

i wouldn't add salt to it for everyday, tailor it to the fish you are going to put in there, if you go with the third method of keeping it cycled you don't even need to have water in it except when it's in use.

 

[kniesh]

Thx, I always use that third method when I am setting up new tanks dont know why I never thought of it myself. Thx again.

 

[Don Trinko]

I use a corner filter with no charcoal in my sick tank. (Iuse gravel in it to hold it down and for bacteria) I keep malachite green around because ick is very common. I almost always had an older guppy in there but I got rid of all my guppies and have not had ick since then!
Salt is also good for a variety of diseases and to help if your nitrites get high. ( could happen in a previously cycled but unoccupied tank) Don T.