Michigan Cichlid Association
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Maize-N-Blue-D on February 09, 2013, 07:40:19 AM
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This may sound stupid, but is this something that everyone should do? At this point in time, I have only one tank going. I do not have the luxury to quarantine a fish! Sounds like I should go out and get a 10 gallon set up just for this purpose!
Plus I only purchase fish from a LFS that (seems) IMHO to have healthy fish. If I see any fish that looks like it may be sick, I immediately walk out of that store, unless it is a tank that is marked "NOT FOR SALE". Only then do I know that that LFS is reputable enough.
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I never quarantine. I've set up quarantine/hospital tanks in the past and they always just end up as another display tank.
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I never qt either. No issues yet if a fish looks ill I dont get it
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there is a few schools of thought here. 1. why do you need to. i have a 300 gallon show tank. that have over 50 african cichlids in it there value is large if only for me why risk all them getting sick. but adding fish after quaratine can throw the balance off anyway. i just bought 2 large peacocks and 4 bumble bees from the pet vendor. the peacocks i knew was coming from his show tank, so i felt they had no problems. everything i bought from wet thumb or the oyers i never quaratined. i saw the living conditions and saw the fish healthy. never had any problems. 2. where i would is if i had got wild caughts or f0 in and i introduce them to an established colony of lets say trophs and when i say f0 i mean coming from the lake. not something someone had in there tank like 3 years and decided to part with them. but if i am getting f0 i dont want them to be stressed by the current tankmates. so they would probably get their own tank. i think the most important thing people overlook is the stability of the water conditions ph, ammonia, nitrates and temp and if they change much. after all that my 2 cents is i usually dont. but i will if they are wild caught. not cause they cost more but the fish may have parasites from the lake or river that yours cant handle.
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I have never done this but just read another post where it was recommended ... Just thought I'd ask to see who out there is doing this..
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I have a quarenatine 10 gallon tank, but I only use it for fish that look sick, or stop eating, etc.
I then take them out to watch them closer and if there is something wrong, hopefully it wont get to the other fish.
As far as bringing a fish home, they go right in the tank. If I have doubts... I dont bring it home.
I think every house should at least have a 10 gallon tank tucked away for emergencies.
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So with no substrate and running on a sponge filter ?
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So with no substrate and running on a sponge filter ?
Thats how I do it. I also have a penguin hang on the back with no carbon in it. For my hospital tank... I want it as clean as possible.
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Hey Riche - I need a 10 gallon tank as well. Just add it to my list for pickup on Monday...
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I have two 55g tanks at the moment. One is a peacock tank which I got all 12 fish from a very good online Cichlid shop and stocked all those fish all at once. So since they all came from the same place and were stocked at the exact same time there was no need to quarantine anything because it was like they were basically quarantined together. My other 55g tank I stocked over about a 3 week period, with Mbuna from three different, yet clean and trusted local pet shops.
The Mbuna tank which had no quarantine of the fish I have had one beautiful $30 Mbamba bay male die suddenly of bloat. One yellow lab die of unknown reasons (read my other thread) and still have one yellow lab that has a swelled belly yet is doing "okay" still.
I'm VERY careful about water parameters. My PH, is rock steady and other parameters are very steady, I do PWC twice a week, so the strange illness in some of the fish is not from anything to do with my water parameters. My Thoughts are that it is to do with not quarantining the fish. Can I prove 100% that is the reason? No, but it seems to be the reason if you ask me.
I now have a 20g which is now my quarantine tank and every fish I buy from anywhere no matter how trust worthy will now be quarantined for at least 3-5 weeks. IMO I learned a hard yet valuable lesson.
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I can echo Steve's experience. I had no issues with fish - bought from various LFS and except for 'feeder' fish all did pretty well. Then I bought a platy from Petco (for my wife) and the whole tank got ich. So I tried to do better about QT for a while. I got lazy about it and right after Christmas bought several catfish from Pet Supplies Plus. Apparently one of the species of catfish had a nasty strain of columnaris or something else. Since I hadn't encountered it before, I thought it was ick at first, and treated it accordingly. Wrong diagnosis + other fish being susceptible because I hadn't kept up on tank maintenance over the break = disaster. I lost all four of my Australoheros oblongums as well as half the catfish.
So, I am definitely working to make sure I have a 10g on hand to QT new fish. Specifically those I'm not sure about (e.g. from PSP/Petco/Petsmart). And I try to have a designated net and bucket to use with sick fish so I don't cross contaminate.
IMO, It depends a lot on where you get your fish and whether you sometimes take the risk of buying a fish that may have a minor disease (e.g. run of the mill ick) because it's hard to find.
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I don't but fish from the big stores, and avoid anything else I can.
Shop local, privately owned everyone!!!!
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when ever i buy fish at a "chain store" that are on sale and I cant pass Up I put them In a bare tank for a few days just to be safe
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I don't but fish from the big stores, and avoid anything else I can.
Shop local, privately owned everyone!!!!
Hard to argue with that great advice!
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I don't but fish from the big stores, and avoid anything else I can.
Shop local, privately owned everyone!!!!
Hard to argue with that great advice!
Mine all were from local privately owned shops, still caused problems though.
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Here's a question: Is a 10 gallon tank really big enough for a quarantine tank? I suppose it would be alright for some species, but if you bought say a group of 5 Peacocks for example wouldn't the stress level having them in a 10 gallon tank for 3 weeks do more harm than good? Just something to consider......
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Here's a question: Is a 10 gallon tank really big enough for a quarantine tank? I suppose it would be alright for some species, but if you bought say a group of 5 Peacocks for example wouldn't the stress level having them in a 10 gallon tank for 3 weeks do more harm than good? Just something to consider......
Um yeah your qt tank needs to be large enough for the species and size of the fish your putting in there that is kind of a given.
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Here's a question: Is a 10 gallon tank really big enough for a quarantine tank? I suppose it would be alright for some species, but if you bought say a group of 5 Peacocks for example wouldn't the stress level having them in a 10 gallon tank for 3 weeks do more harm than good? Just something to consider......
Um yeah your qt tank needs to be large enough for the species and size of the fish your putting in there that is kind of a given.
That's what I was getting at. Everything in this thread says "10 gallon quarantine tank" and it's a Cichlid forum. That being said, I would think something along the lines of a 50 breeder would be the minimum size for Cichlid keepers.
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Here's a question: Is a 10 gallon tank really big enough for a quarantine tank? I suppose it would be alright for some species, but if you bought say a group of 5 Peacocks for example wouldn't the stress level having them in a 10 gallon tank for 3 weeks do more harm than good? Just something to consider......
Um yeah your qt tank needs to be large enough for the species and size of the fish your putting in there that is kind of a given.
That's what I was getting at. Everything in this thread says "10 gallon quarantine tank" and it's a Cichlid forum. That being said, I would think something along the lines of a 50 breeder would be the minimum size for Cichlid keepers.
And it's mighty hard to leave a 40 or 50 breeder sitting empty. :)
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That's what I was getting at. Everything in this thread says "10 gallon quarantine tank" and it's a Cichlid forum. That being said, I would think something along the lines of a 50 breeder would be the minimum size for Cichlid keepers.
I mentioned mine was a 20L not a 10g ;) I think the 20L is gonna be fine for most average sized/young cichlids for a few week quarantine period. Once I get the big tank I have waiting for me then I'll probably pick up an old used & abused 55g to use as a quarantine tank since I plan to do Haps in that tank.
And I say "used & abused" because like linuxrulesusa said its hard to leave a good size tank unstocked so that way I wont be tempted to set up another good tank lol
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Here's a question: Is a 10 gallon tank really big enough for a quarantine tank? I suppose it would be alright for some species, but if you bought say a group of 5 Peacocks for example wouldn't the stress level having them in a 10 gallon tank for 3 weeks do more harm than good? Just something to consider......
Um yeah your qt tank needs to be large enough for the species and size of the fish your putting in there that is kind of a given.
That's what I was getting at. Everything in this thread says "10 gallon quarantine tank" and it's a Cichlid forum. That being said, I would think something along the lines of a 50 breeder would be the minimum size for Cichlid keepers.
And it's mighty hard to leave a 40 or 50 breeder sitting empty. :)
Exactly.
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That's what I was getting at. Everything in this thread says "10 gallon quarantine tank" and it's a Cichlid forum. That being said, I would think something along the lines of a 50 breeder would be the minimum size for Cichlid keepers.
I mentioned mine was a 20L not a 10g ;) I think the 20L is gonna be fine for most average sized/young cichlids for a few week quarantine period. Once I get the big tank I have waiting for me then I'll probably pick up an old used & abused 55g to use as a quarantine tank since I plan to do Haps in that tank.
And I say "used & abused" because like Online linuxrulesusa said its hard to leave a good size tank unstocked so that way I wont be tempted to set up another good tank lol
I have a used 55 for sale.
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I have a used 55 for sale.
Yeah I saw that, pretty darn good price too trust me I've been tossing around the thought of using it as my quarantine tank for the big tank and almost got a hold of you earlier today about it. You guys are bad influences you know that right :o
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I have a used 55 for sale.
Yeah I saw that, pretty darn good price too trust me I've been tossing around the thought of using it as my quarantine tank for the big tank and almost got a hold of you earlier today about it. You guys are bad influences you know that right :o
When I joined MCAS I had 1 tank. That was about 12 or so years ago. I am down to 13 currently. I've made some great friends and learned a lot about fish in that time. I prefer to think of it as sharing the love.
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Right now, I can easily use a 10 gallon for a hospital tank. I have a sponge filter in it and a hang on (witout carbon). So, it has a ton of filtration to keep it super clean.
I want the smallest tank possible for a hospital tank. That way I have to spend the minimal amount on medication... smallest water changes, smallest amount of salt to add, etc.
I may have to bump it up later when fish get bigger. But, at that time... I hope to not have to use a hospital tank much at all.
Also... I got the 10 gallon tank with a glass top for $10 I think. Air pump for $3. Bought a new sponge and the hang on filter I had around the house.
I used to have 20 gallon for a hospital tank... that turned into a grow out tank. So, I put another 20 gallon under it on the stand. Now thats a grow out tank. So, no more tanks that have any possibility for anything else but a hospital tank.