The Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of Quarantine-discussion thread

kveeti said:
Great article, Harlock. I also have a separate bucket and cheap WalMart gravel vac for my q-tank, I didn't see those mentioned there with the supplies along with the net, etc.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the compliments, both of you. Heh, you can purchase the extras. Did I mention I was cheap? I siphon and fill my main tank first, then use the same Python to siphon and fill the Q-tank. After that it's a simple matter of having a 5 gallon bucket with a bleach solution in it. I siphon it through (5 gallons through a Python takes hardly any time) and then fill it with a couple of gallons of water with more Prime than normal and siphon it. This, plus drying kills anything in it.
 
Great post indeed Harlock, extremely useful. I have a QT, but I've never had to use it yet since I stocked my entire tank at once (combination fishless cycle +Bio Spira) and haven't had any sickness.

My question for you in addition to all the great stuff you've already provided is this...

I put gravel, clay pots and artificial plants in my QT, can I clean it by adding bleach directly to the tank or must I remove everything and clean them separately?

If you could expand on this part of the topic a little bit I think it would be extremely helpful.

Thanks!
 
Some of us who are particularly neurotic and/or have central systems/circulating ranges quarantine everything, not just fish. If it is alive, it is QT'd. To do otherwise is just not worth the risk.
 
RTR said:
Some of us who are particularly neurotic and/or have central systems/circulating ranges quarantine everything, not just fish. If it is alive, it is QT'd. To do otherwise is just not worth the risk.
Click to expand...
Heh, I was thinking specifically of you, RTR, when I said, "When should I use a Q-tank? Always. Anytime you bring home something new to put into your tank you should use quarantine." emphasis added.

If I ran a central circulation I would be crazy with the QT!
 
Top drawer, Harlock.

When quarantining plants, how would I know if there was anything that might be detrimental to fish or other plants? Also, quarantining plants is useful in avoiding snail infestations that can be near impossible to get rid of in a main tank filled with plants and landscaping.
 
Awesome, Harlock.

For a small difference of an opinion(on an otherwise wholly agreeable stance) is that instead of using gravel, to modify a few plastic plants to have suction cups on the bottom.

Gravel is hard to clean well after medication or disease outbreak. Often the best solution would be to throw the gravel away. Why not, not even use it?

This is a pic of my QT.



Also, a point that I picked up on one of RTR's articles, is to do partial water changes in the QT using water from the main tank leading up to introduction of the new fish. This will help ensure that the water parameters are very closely identical.

Good job on the great info!
 
Last edited:
I use gravel to make the fish more secure - many fish are much spookier in bare-bottom tanks.

Then of course some of us also have snail breeding tanks, and have snails in all their planted tanks - except of course the puffer tanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom