The importance of Quarantine

Hey guys, and girls

I have been thinking about this for quite some time now. Quarantine. Why is it important? Why is there a need for it? What do we need for a Quarantine tank?

There is no short answer to this question, and there are many ways of quarantining your fish. Let's start from the beginning.

Why?

Well, firstly, the Why: Go to any pet store in your area. They have fish that look healthy, and they have fish that do not look healthy. The most common disease is white spot or ICH. Then you get more nasties like Velvet, parasitic infestations (Flukes, etc). Would you want these bugs in your main display tank? The answer is a resounding: hell no!!

The LFS's generally have multiple tanks running off of one or 2 filtration compartments. So the risk of spreading diseases between all of the tanks is quite large. But you have the power, and the knowledge, to not let infections spread to your main display tanks. It's easy to do, and you need to have patience. Your fish in your display tanks are your pets, and you love them. So why risk their lives over a couple of neons? The answer is in Quarantine.

By placing all your newly bought livestock in a quarantine environment, you have the power to not spread any disease into your main display tank. It also allows you to treat infected fish in a safe environment when some medications will take out your beneficial bacteria in your tank and cause a second cycle to take place, increasing the odds of losing your beloved fish. Plants can also be killed off by certain medication. So by having a sufficient Quarantine practice, you will lessen the risks of ever having to treat your main display tank with nasty chemicals.

HOW?

It's very easy to set up a Quarantine tank. All you need is a standard 2 ft tank. Obviously if the fish you wish to quarantine is big, then you'd use a bigger tank. But I'd say a 3ft tank is adequate, even for some bigger fish. It's not a permanent home, only temporary.

Keep a small sponge filter running in your main tank. This is much easier if you have a sump. When you need to set up the Quarantine tank, add the filter to the filled tank. Doing it this way, you will not go through a cycle and the fish can be added to the tank immediately after setting it up.

The tank does not need lighting, as this will further stress the fish. Just add a few pots, or PVC pipes into the tank for a place that the fish can hide. This makes the fish more comfortable and less stressed. You don't need to add a substrate either. Just make the tank bottom dark. Paint the polystyrene base black.

Adding salt to the water is sometimes beneficial for the fish. Especially when there is a chance the fish may have some white spot, but if you cannot accurately test for salinity levels, then rather don't do this. Also, if you are adding salt, make sure you raise the salinity VERY slowly. The sudden change in salinity could potentially cause the fish to go into osmotic shock and die. You can drop salinity quicker than you can raise it, but to be safe, a small salinity change over the course of a few days is generally better for the fish.

Also, making sure that the PH and alkalinity is the same as your display tank will help too.

Always be aware of your ammonia and nitrite levels in your Quarantine tank. Doing daily water changes will help this. In a 40l tank, I'd do daily 15 liter changes. Also a handy thing to have is the Seachem Ammonia Alert badge. It will tell you of any ammonia in the tank.

Always remember that you need to acclimatize new fish to your tanks. Whether is is in your Quarantine tanks or in your main display tanks. I use a dripping method. I'll do an article on good acclimation practices soon.

So, the list of equipment needed is:

1 x tank (2ft for small fish 3ft for bigger fish)
1 x Sponge Filter (preferably matured in a display tank)
some PVC tubing for caves
Some pots for caves
Maybe a small bag of salt (just in case)
Seachem Stability, Microbelift Special blend, or something similar
Seachem ammonialert
Heater

This shouldn't cost more than R400. To lose all your fish in the tank, could cost more than this.

So now you have a Quarantine tank running. Now what?

Well, any time you buy new fish, you place them into quarantine. You watch them for a few weeks to see if they show any signs of illness. If they start showing signs of illness, then you need to correctly diagnose it. See what treatments will work for what fish? What fish are sensitive to treatments? These are the questions to ask. Some fish are sensitive to copper based treatment, like Loaches. So you cannot treat them with copper. Copper is one of the main treatments of ICH. Personally, I would not dose any form of copper into a display tank, or a Quarantine tank. Copper gets absorbed into rocks, silicone and a few other items commonly found in a fish tank. It then slowly releases back into the tank, over time.

In my experience, the best treatments are dips. Place some water, with the treatment into a separate vessel or container and dip the fish into this. Depending on the treatment being used, you should leave the fish in the dip/bath for up to an hour. Then return the fish to quarantine. The salt bath, is very easy to do in this way. And you will usually see some of the ich parasites in the dipping vessel.

The main thing you want to achieve is healthy fish, that can SAFELY be added to your display tank. The recommended minimum Quarantine period is usually 6 weeks. But this is for good reason. The life cycle of white spot. Ich is very difficult to remove from a stocked aquarium, unless you remove all the fish from the tank and let the ich die off naturally. Treat the fish in the Quarantine tank, make sure they are ich free, and then add them back to your tank. (This goes for other diseases too)

I can guarantee you, that you will have a much healthier system, and a lot less stress about potential disease outbreaks, if you follow the Quarantine procedure before adding fish to your tank.

Trust me. I lost over R4000 worth of fish because I didn't do it.

It's not just a marine thing. I think the same should apply to fresh water as well. Just remember that most shops get their shipment of fish, then they pop them in tanks and sell them immediately. There is no quarantine done by any of the shops. You take the risks. Why not try and lessen the risks? For your own tanks well being.

I hope that at least one person will take this seriously.

Sean

 

Sean,

May I add something here? (something you overlooked.)

When you are finished with the QT process, you obviously want to keep the sponge filter going... however now there is the problem of it possibly putting illnesses back into the main tank... so rather wash it very well with a bleech solution, soak it in declor for 24-48 hrs, and then put it back into the main tank to reseed.

Personally, I keep the sponge filter dry, and when I need it, I place it in the QT tank and add seachem stability or Microbelift special blend... and just keep up with daily waterchanges.

Nice article.

 

True. Yes, I did overlook that part. Also, drying out the QT tank and sterilizing it would be best as well.

 

Good advice thanks guys

 

Thanks for a great article

i am sure that this will benefit many people. always quaranteen new fish!

 

Thanks for the great info guys

 

Thank you for this article.

 

Would it help to keep the quarantine tank running with one or two fish in it, doing routine water changes etc and maintaining the bacteria colony in the sponge filter?

 

An easier way of going about this is to run a sponge filter in your main tank or sump, so it is always ready to go should a new fish arrive, or one of your fish get sick. Just pop it over when ready.

Having fish in the tank runs the risk of them picking up something from the new/sick fish, which is an unnecessary stress on them. Plus you can never guarantee compatibility.