Setting up a quarantine tank

Hi guys,

I've decided to repurpose the li'l toilet as a quarantine tank. I want to get more feesh but want to reduce any risk as much as possible.

I have spare nets and equipment and a large bottle of chlorhexedine disinfectant that I will keep a solution of in a bucket to cater for hygiene discipline, but I have a number of questions

1) Is it necessary to have some sort of mature, cycled filter for it? Or is plain mechanical filtration with frequent water changes sufficient?
2) Is it advisable to keep it bare-bottom?
3) I've read that many parasites don't survive a water temperature of 29-31 degrees celsius. Is it advisable to crank the heat on the QT after the introduction of the new fish?
4) I don't own any fake plants or other tat (and it's unlikely I'll buy any), ideas for creating shelter appreciated.
5) Are UV sterilizers worth the effort and expense?
6) What meds should I invest in? My understanding is that malachite green has been outlawed for sale, however my LFS stocks their own mix they call "magic muti" which I assume contains malachite green and perhaps methylene blue.
7) Should I dose the water with meds as a matter of course, or only if I notice anything?


Thank you!

 

Why the QT tank if I may ask ? What else are you planning on stocking the ADA with ? I personally wouldn't bother with a freshwater QT unless I had a really large tank with some of the larger and rarer fish in the hobby. Most of the time the extra stress of QT will do more harm to the fish than good.

If you do decide to still do it, I wouldn't over think it. For decor, a few ceramic pots would work well as caves and shelter for fish. Barebottom is also the way to go. You don't want a substrate that could potentially absorb meds and release it at a later date.

In terms of meds, I wouldn't buy now. If something comes in with an issue, get what you need to treat it. It's not a marine tank where the pathogens are massively dangerous and or fast acting.

Just my humble opinion !

 

Would suggest a mature filter, or just add sponge or bioballs from a current tank whenever there is fish in. Seachem Paraguard is a good med to have on hand, works on white spot (at 3x recommended dosage) and safe with shrimps and plants even at the higher dosage. If you want to deworm them as well, have some Praziquantel and Metroplex on hand. Haven’t really seen any other diseases on captive bred FW fish, probably also need an antibiotic like Kanaplex if you plan to get wild caught fish. None of these meds should affect the biofilter either. Barebottom probably best as I’m sure some substrate will absorb meds. Pieces of PVC pipes and even hardy plants like Anubias are good decorations. This was mine recently for some amazon puffers and wild caught chiloglanis:

 

Thanks guys. After mulling the advice over I decided to just go for broke this time. The fish I chose today were selected straight from the LFS's quarantine room and had been there for two weeks. I did lose a single, weak fish during acclimatization but it was already parking off at the surface before it was netted for sale, but it came home because it would have been the last one left in the tank; also I had a sliver of hope that it would recover with some food and TLC. I was not so lucky but it wasn't unanticipated. I can only hope that I get lucky with the rest and that no nasties came along for the ride.

 

I wanted more barbs (I got lucky and got the last four sumatran barbs left at my LFS - I now have a round 10), more neons and some fish to add movement to the mid-to-upper water level. It was a toss-up between danios and guppies but I went with the danios because icba to deal with livebearer fry and the inevitable population explosion.