Changing Residents in QT

[biondoa]

Turns out that I will be taking some fish out of quarantine fairly soon to go into the display tank, but I want to add some new ones into the QT almost immediately after. There have been no problems with the current residents, so my question is, how much of a cleaning should I do prior to adding new fish to the quarantine.
Do I need to take it down completely, or just do a 40-50 % water change? The filter is well stocked with beneficial bacteria which I want to keep active. Just not sure how much cleaning to do.

 

[FreshyFresh]

If it's a bare bottomed QT, I'd just do a large water change on it and squeeze out the filter media until it's clear, in the process.

 

[biondoa]

thanks Freshy, but it is not bare , it has gravel . What do you think?

 

[tanker]

Why is there gravel in a "Q" tank? Fake plants for security, heater, filter, ect is all you need. But if the previous residents were/are OK, then just a WC would be all you need.

 

[biondoa]

Thanks Tanker. I know. Crazy to add the gravel. I just couldn't stand looking at the bare glass floor. Yes , all is ok , but it has only been two weeks, so I will give it a little more time.

 

[FreshyFresh]

If your going through the QT process, you might as well do it for 4-6 weeks at a minimum. If all is well after that, move them to your display tank, do a water change and filter squeeze on the QT and add more fish to your QT.

 

[biondoa]

That is my plan Freshy. What do you think about adding some water from the DT to the QT in the next week?

 

[Duckie]

Sounds like a good plan. It is something like a slow drip acclimation. It will reduce the stress going from QT to DT. Would really suck if the fish been good and healthy in QT tank only to be shocked and get sick from moving to DT tank due to slight differences in chemistry.

 

[FreshyFresh]

That is my plan Freshy. What do you think about adding some water from the DT to the QT in the next week?

You could, but the water chemistry should be the same between the two tanks, given the same amount of maintenance, using the same water source, etc. I'd just make sure the water temps are w/in a few degrees of each other and net them over to the display tank.

 

[tanker]

What do you think about adding some water from the DT to the QT in the next week?

Why would you want to do that? There is no benefit of using old water.