Quarantine Tank

[Kombat]

I read a lot about the need for a quarantine tank for sick fish and for new fish. What I don't get is how do you maintain it, or keep it cycled? If it's a true quarantine tank then fish will rarely be in it. HOw is it kept cycled so you can put a fish in it at a moments notice when one gets sick or when you get some new fishes?

Thanks,
Karl

 

[Gourami Lover88]

just keep a small internal filter like a fuval or whisper in your main tank and when you need the quarintine tank just move the filter and your all set.

 

[love cichlids]

You have to have an extra heater, filter, air pump, used filter media, used gravel and that will help. Keep an eye on the water perimeters and do frequent water changes if needed. I have put my fish in plastic bins that hold up to 15 gallons and that has worked fine.

 

[smmetz]

I think that's a great question, looking forward to hearing the answer from someone who knows. My guess is that you have to keep a few fish in it at all times, and then transfer them to another tank when you need to use the tank for a quarentine tank.

edit: looks like 2 people beat me to it (I got distraced while posting.) Both had better ideas than me!

 

[Tolak]

Keep a small filter appropriate for the size of the quar/sick tank running on your main tank. Keep the quar/sick tank empty. When needed add dechlored water, a heater & the small filter, which is now cycled, from the larger tank. It's then ready for fish.

 

[Sp00ky]

OK, excuse my ignorance hear, but i think i may have found a problem with keeping a small filter in your main tank. Heres an example.

Your main tank gets hit by a bought of... say... Fin rot. The water is obviously now polluted with this disease, but not all of your fish are affected, however you treat the whole tank. But theres a prized, say, betta male or fancy guppy or something in there that needs some extra special care, so you move him to the quarantine tank. Now if you also move the filter with him, are you not just X-contaminating the tank with this action and just allowing the disease to hang about in the hospital tank waiting for the next new fish to come along and attack?

Or am i missing something here?

 

[whip]

Another possible problem. What do you do with the small filter after the quarintine? If you put it back on the "main" tank, you risk bringing back the disease.

 

[Tolak]

Do a search on this forum for biological exclusion. This will explain how you can take a filter from a tank that may be at the beginning of an outbreak of a disease, and add it to another tank with little worry of transferring that disease. The amount of bacteria in mature filter media gives nearly total biological exclusion.

If you have a fish that is done with quar, and you are putting that fish in another tank, put the filter in that tank as well. If the fish dies during quar, rinse the filter & media in tap water, which will kill the bacteria, add to the main tank to recycle.