The importance of a Quarantine tank

This is mostly for the beginners of the forum, but I think we can learn from one-another's mishaps. I by no means consider myself anymore more than a beginner, as I have only been keeping fish for a year, but I trust you will take my cautionary tale to memory.

Starting out keeping fish can be daunting, and exciting. Without the proper care, and proper following of the basics, it can become a very dis-heartening hobby.

I recently lost 2 thirds to 3 quarters of my community tank fundimentally due to a disease. I intially had Anchor Worms, which I was treating for, and when an outbreak of fungus started, I started treating for this as well in conjunction to to the Anchor Worm med. The combination of the meds resulted in the losses.

I USE to follow a more "primitive" way of introducing fish to my community tank. The fish would arrive bagged, and over a course of 2 hours, I would slowly fill the bag with the current tank's water, and eventually release the fish into the tank. I NEVER kept the water from the pet stores, and generally discarded this.

I believe strongly that the Anchor Worm was introduced to my tank through the introduction of an infected fish from a local LPS. (I cannot point any fingers at any LPS, because I use so many as my supplier)

Guys, a simple R200.00 1foot quarantine tank set up with a sponge filter, and a 50w heater would have saved my fish's lives.

We all spend hundreds, if not thousands on fish, and then complain when they die due to diseases we introduce.

I will now have a QT tank set up next to my display tank for when new fish arrive. Fish will be quarantined for a space of 2 weeks and checked for ay diseases before introducting them to my community tank.

I have also read that this is good practise with plants as well, and you would then possibly need to put a small light in the QT tank.

The 50W heater will run on minimal electricity, and the sponge filter can be T'd off your main tank's air supply.

Take it from someone who lost a lot, the QT tank is something you CANNOT negotiate on! I am a believer that a QT tank is as vital to fish keeping as a filter is in the main tank. (PERIOD!)

 

Thanks for this Zoom! I'm going to get myself a quarantine tank on pay day. It's very important to our fishies lives.

Sorry you had to go through so much trouble before getting the Q tank though.

 

Good Advice Zoom .

 

It as a pity the well sometimes learn these lessons all too late. Sorry for your loss Zoom.
I am sure that you will be back up and running in no time.

 

Great advice Zoom... It's amazing how little mistakes are such incredible learning curves in this hobby.

Put all the losses down to School fees. Don't worry, one day, we wont kill as many fish as we do now...

 

A QT tank doesn't guarantee cross contamination won't occur, there are other factors as well. Must see if I can find the thread on Simply Discus.

Basically a guy had breeding stock of Discus in excess of 50 specimens in his fish room. He ordered new brood stock which came from the east which were put into QT. Disease was carried between nets and water change containers and he lost all his stock within a week. Hectic stuff

 

thanks for the excellent advice Zoom

 

I'm not saying it's foolproof... just saying it's a necessity!

 

Thanks zoom, prevention really is better than cure. It's easy to forget about the basics sometimes.

 

So true Zoom. You just don't know when something is going to attack the tank. Is there a thread about a quarantine? If not lets start one for the newbies like us.

 

That is where my problem started...I ended up putting stock in my QT, then I had to setup another and so forth...drew the line at 9 tanks...but have cut back to 3, with a QT (Which I now have some guppys in... it's a vicious circle!)

 

Yeah.. I ran into the same problem... QT tank became a NANO planted tank... MTS

 

Luckily my populations are stable and I don't foresee getting new fish anytime soon...touch wood

The only tricky bit will be if any of my current population gets ill...but I do have a number of extras and am sure I can set something up in no time if needs be...just have to hide it form the missus...

 

Then you are not a true aquarist..... you can NEVER not buy new fish soon!!

 

When you run out of room for more tanks and your current tanks are full you HAVE to learn to control the urges when entering a LFS - for the sake of the fish. It also has a rather good effect on the thickness of your wallet as well :blink1:

A quarantine tank is ESSENTIAL and should not be ignored. You also ideally want a separate net and cleaning equipment which is used only on your QT, in order to not spread disease that way.

 

LOL!! I still have so many "themes" I want to try... but self-restraint is the order of the day here... as it is I can hardly resist all the classifieds that get posted...it's like a taxi, always room for one more...

But for now I'll focus on brushing up on my aquatic flora...

oh and then there is the missus (luv her to bits but she just don't understand :bigsmile

 

Zoom,

Thank you for this great info. You realy are a true inspiration to many of us here. You are always willing to share info. Thank you once again for all your efforts.

 

i learnt the importance of a quarantine tank when my fish got white spot. i had a extra tank but did not have any filters or a heater. so everybody plz make sure you have a quarantine tank