Setting Up A Quarantine Tank

[dazbud]

Yesterday I come across a really cheap 13L kids aquarium set. £12 for everthing included, I have a spare 25W heater. Since I always seem to get baterial problems/infections soon after adding new fish, I thought I'd buy this little extra tank as quarantine tank in readiness for future purchases.

I don't really want to keep it going all the time because I don't buy new fish that often. I'm not sure how to use the tank. so suggestions welcome. My plan is ...

1. Its a very small quarantine tank, but I would only be purchasing small community fish anyway.
2. Any new fish I do get would benefit from a 3 day precautionary course of Esha2000 (general parasite, baterial and fungus treatment) and Esha Exit (specific whitespot and velvet treatment) before introducing them to the main tank.
3. Keep the quarntine tank bare so I can see whats going on.
4. Fill it when needed with tank water from the main tank.
5. plus an old sock full of gravel from the main tank.
6. It came with a sponge filter driven by an airline. Underneath the sponge is a small compartment that came packed with about 6 activated carbon chips and a few stone chips. I thought I'd remove these, (since no need for carbon when using meds), and replace with gravel from the main tank (hopefully containing established bacteria). Hence instant cycle?
7. While the quarantine tank is in use, test water daily and replace to keep check on amonia, nitrate and nitrite?

Am I on the right track with this plan?

 

[slimeneo]

Eh, someone can correct me if I'm wrong but, I don't think the bacteria is in the gravel; it's mostly in the filter. So you'd probably be safer moving part of your mature filter media to the small tank.

 

[fluttermoth]

[*]Its a very small quarantine tank, but I would only be purchasing small community fish anyway.
That's fine, just keep up the water changes so the nitrates don't climb too high

[*]Any new fish I do get would benefit from a 3 day precautionary course of Esha2000 (general parasite, baterial and fungus treatment) and Esha Exit (specific whitespot and velvet treatment) before introducing them to the main tank.
No, never treat fish if they don't have anything, specifically, wrong with them.

[*]Keep the quarntine tank bare so I can see whats going on.
Fish don't like bare tanks. Get some (new!) small terra cotta flowerpots and some plastic plants that you can easily sterilise (by soaking in hot salt water and then drying out completely) or they'll be very stressed. Keep it bare bottom if you like.

[*]Fill it when needed with tank water from the main tank.
Yep, that's ok, but new water would be just as good.

[*]plus an old sock full of gravel from the main tank.
No, not worth the bother; as slimneo says, nearly all your bacteria is in the filter, there wouldn't be enough in your substrate to cycle a tank.

[*]It came with a sponge filter driven by an airline. Underneath the sponge is a small compartment that came packed with about 6 activated carbon chips and a few stone chips. I thought I'd remove these, (since no need for carbon when using meds), and replace with gravel from the main tank (hopefully containing established bacteria). Hence instant cycle?
Not really. I'd put the sponge in the filter in your main tank now. Then, when you need the QT, you can just take it out and set up the little tank and it will be ready to go.

[*]While the quarantine tank is in use, test water daily and replace to keep check on amonia, nitrate and nitrite?
Yes, definitely. You may need to do extra water changes while the bacterial colony expands to cope with the amount of fish you're quarantining.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I have a similar sized quarentine tank. I bought a very basic fluval filter and would just keep it running in my main tank... when its needed remove it and stick it in the quarentine tank. If you deal with an illness, I'd wash the filter and replace the sponges and recycle it again in the main tank (as not to bring over any illness with the filter afterwards). Anyhow, thats what I did.

 

[dazbud]

Thanks for taking the time to add advice

Regarding treating when no symptoms present, Esha2000 does state on the box that it can be used as a preventative measure during quarantining. What are the dangers of doing this?

Will certainly follow the advice about putting the sponge in my established tank between uses of the quarantine tank. I take it that the spare sponge must go in the filter as opposed to just sitting in the corner of the tank somewhere?

Regarding the sock with gravel in, I'll ditch this idea. But I had read on this site sometime that the bacteria are 'sticky' and will stick on everything including the gravel?

 

[fluttermoth]

Thanks for taking the time to add advice

No worries, it's what I'm here for

Regarding treating when no symptoms present, Esha2000 does state on the box that it can be used as a preventative measure during quarantining. What are the dangers of doing this?

There are dangers, in that anything else in the tank (parasites, bacteria) may manage to develop resistance to that med. Also and more to the point, why medicate if there's nothing wrong? If you see any problems, then treat hose with the appropriate med. If you're buying wild caught fish, like discus or angels, it may be worth worming, as a preventative, but in other circumstances it'll do no good at all, except for making Esha money, of course, which is why they tell you to do it!

Will certainly follow the advice about putting the sponge in my established tank between uses of the quarantine tank. I take it that the spare sponge must go in the filter as opposed to just sitting in the corner of the tank somewhere?

Yes, it needs to be in the filter.

Regarding the sock with gravel in, I'll ditch this idea. But I had read on this site sometime that the bacteria are 'sticky' and will stick on everything including the gravel?

That is true, but the amount you'd have on a static surface in the tank, as opposed to the filter where there's a regular flow of water, will be minimal; certainly not enough to help in a cycle.