Proper use of Quarantine facility

@Marco, feel free to add here, I took some liberties here:

@freerider I have come to the realization that plants need to be QT just as much as fish. Most of your algae is INTRODUCED to the tank from new plants. I would suggest another QT tank with a mild algaecide in it.

 

How about dipping the plant in a hydrigen perokside solution?

 

To be honest, I just recently read that Plants can actually introduce other pathogens as well. Anything that is porous can potentially harbour a parasite or bacteria for any number of days, and thus when adding this to your tank, the little hitch hiker gains access.
I have to be honest here though, my plant knowledge is extremely limited. . .I struggle to keep Amazon's and Valis alive so, go figure. . .
I would however consider using a Potassium Permangenate solution to rid plants of all nasties. I think @azurekoi or one of the many experienced plant guys can help us here. My concern would be whatever I use should be strong enough to clean the plant up, yet do no harm to it.
Hydrogen Peroxide is another option as Big suggested. Maybe even a strong salt solution dip?

 

Thanks for helping with the spelling there Marco. Hydrogen Peroxide,Hydrogen Peroxide,Hydrogen Peroxide....got it.

Anyway the same apply here:'My concern would be whatever I use should be strong enough to clean the plant up, yet do no harm to it.'
'

 

Yes, @Marco ... I dip my plants(and koi...) in a 5gr/100liter potassium dip before they go anywhere near a system of mine...whether koi going into quarantine or plants straight into tanks... About a 2minute dip at this consentration is more than sufficient...

Potasium permanganate is a great oxidiser - removes and kills allmost all nunu's... + doesnt harm your plants TOO badly - unlike salt dips that kills more sensitive plants(literally sucks the cell fluid from the plants cells,destroying them in the process)...

Use an old bucket - it will get stained(+your hands,so use latex gloves) - mix right amount PP with water and VERY IMPORTANT - let stand for at least half a hour before dipping your plants - the mixture first needs to homogenise/gas off - stirr frequently,make sure ALL the crystals are dissolved...

I have used this method for years on koi and plants - no idea how small tropical fish would react to such a strong dose - rather follow @Marco's quarantine procedure and dont see this as a quick quarentine cure for your fish,but know that it works a treat for getting rid of snail eggs and other nunus on plants...

 

Where can someone get hold of some PP??

 

Any chemist will stock it...Comes in 5 or 10gram bottless...less than 10 bucks... ask for Condy's crystals...

 

Hey ... I was just scanning the internet and I read that you should disinfect the net when you take sick fish out of your tank....how do you disinfect it and what do you use

 

Could use boiling water I suppose.

 

Great thread Marco

Great thread Marco. Every hobbyist should do this, not only serious hobbyist and breeders are suppose to do this without fail every time, except preferably in a different room (Breeders). BUT we tend to get complacent and then OUCH…..to late :sick:

We as a LFS get bitten quite often due to serious lack of space.
I for one would have loved to Quarantined all my new live stock, but where to find 500 square meter space for freshwater fish and 750 square meter for marines and someone to manage that AND still be able to sell at reasonable prices………. = pipe dream WHAT A PITY

 

You find it at peoples homes. Educate a customer about proper procedure when being fish and I believe you find the space and happy customers. I know telling people they might be buying sick fish is a bit weird but I think most serious aquarium keepers can appreciate it.

 

@Marco thank you so much for this post...

a few months ago i bought about ten wild caught malawi's and just about lost them all...bought more some weeks later and still have them...am doing a full QT of all my fish with @Altum help...

i plan on buying some more wildcaughts in about two weeks and will be well prepared..

this forum really helps with some of the issues that are really hard (costly) to figure and takes time...it has been an education and continues to be...

bless bless:bigsmile:

 

@dragon-thanks and at the same time its a pleasure, I really hope this has helped. With Altum there you are also in very good and capable hands! I have learned a great deal from him since I've known him.

 

I started my first tank a couple of months ago, & as everything was new, it effectively was a QT tank. Now that I want to get a couple more fishies I'm reading this with great interest. I have a couple of questions though.

What do you seed the sponge filter with?

The way I understand it, the QT tank isn't cycled because there are no fish in it. Doesn't that put the new fish in danger? Do you handle this by doing frequent water changes?

I don't often get new fish, so I can't keep a QT tank running all the time (or can I)? Would I set up a QT tank when I know I'm about to go on a spending spree

Thanks

Jenn

 

99% of QT tanks are much smaller than your display tanks, and simply using water from your display aquarium would suffice. It's a good idea to keep a filter running in the display tank, and just transfer it over to the QT tank when needed. (Hence it's seeded). NEVER NEVER NEVER put that filter back into the display tank before throwing out all the filter medium, and steralizing it completely.

How to steralize a filter (May seem a bit over the top...)- and assuming it's a small internal filter.

Throw out all filter media. Clean as much as you can by hand. Soak the filter in a 5part bleech to 10 part water for 24 hours... better if you can have the pump running. Then rinse the pump/filter really wall and put into water with a strong dechlor in, run for 48 hours. New filter medium, and put back into display tank to be seeded.

 

@Jenn,

Most people go about things the way you did. Theoretically the only problem with that is that although the fish were "QT'd, it effectively happened inside the main tank. This means 'anything' that came with the fish are now present in the main tank. This runs the risk of you doing everything right with new fish, but then introducing them to a possibly 'infected' arena puts them at risk of being infected by whatever you introduced in the beginning. Examples being worms and other internal parasites.

Using a QT tank properly will require you use a number of seeded filters. It is imperative that these filters are seeded in a fish free environment otherwise you would just run the risk of introducing and thus exposing these fish to pathogens originating from the fish used to seed the filter.

I do rely heavily on water changes during this time and as long as you keep the parameters in check, and do w/c with water with the same values, you will have no problems.

 

Thank you Marco.

That is perhaps the best written and most informative article on fishkeeping I have ever read, on a subject rarely written about.

Wonderful stuff.

Thank you very much, for taking the time and trouble to share this.

 

Really good article Marco, thanks for sharing. I'll be honest, I quarantine my fish for around 2 weeks, and probably don't follow all the procedures that you have mentioned. But it's good to practise some kind of precaution.

With regards to plants, I have often wondered the same thing. I know for a fact that I have introduced certain algaes to my tank via plants. Thankfully, the algae has subsided.
But just a completely arb question from an absolute novice: What would a strong salt water bath do to plants? In the first place, would it kill any nasties that might be hiding in the plants?
And then, would it harm the plants themselves?

 

I personally don't think a strong salt solution will kill the algae... it may kill some nasty parasite or unwanted bacteria, but I doubt it'll do much to the algae. I'd prefer to do a quick 5 minute bleech solution bath, however on weaker plants, and more sensitive plants it may be problematic than beneficial.

I've started to wonder if it isn't a good idea to QT plants in that algaecide I leant you. Put them in that for 2 weeks. THis will weaken/ kill algae, and give snail eggs the change to hatch and be removed manually.

 

I don't mind snails Munchies for my clown loaches!