Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: barneyadi on July 04, 2020, 07:57:37 PM
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Hi All
So have finally decided what i want to put in my two empty tanks. So first lot of fish for each tank i will put straight in but then others i will need to quarantine.
So how big a tank should i use for quarantine/hospital tank, and how long should the fish stay in quarantine?
Thanks
David
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A quarantine tank needs to big big enough for the biggest fish you intend, and for a whole shoal of shoaling fish as it is better to add the whole shoal at once rather than a few now and a few later.
It will need a filter and a heater. Some decor, preferably plants, and floating plants will help them feel less stressed.
They should be kept in the QT for at least 2 weeks. Don't treat the tank but monitor the fish and treat if they show symptoms of a disease. Heat at 30 deg C is better than medication for whitespot.
Some people do recommend treating the fish with two anti worm medications in quarantine - first levamisole for round worms, then praziquantel for flat worms. This means keeping the fish in the QT for quite a while as the first med must be redosed 14 days after the first dose, then removed from the water before using the second med which also needs 2 courses.
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As you've done fishless cycles on both tanks, and (presumably) been topping up ammonia since then as required, this means that theoretically you could put all the fish in the tanks immediately, assuming that you're able to get them all at once from the LFSs.
[You may know this but thought I'd remind you if not.]
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As you've done fishless cycles on both tanks, and (presumably) been topping up ammonia since then as required, this means that theoretically you could put all the fish in the tanks immediately, assuming that you're able to get them all at once from the LFSs.
[You may know this but thought I'd remind you if not.]
Have just been doing the 1ppm top up every 2 days so probably best just to add 1/3 of stock at a time. Unless I'm wrong (highly likely)
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You can still add up to 75% of your proposed stock at once as long as it's within the next couple of weeks. The bacteria you have grown take a few weeks to go dormant, then a few months to die off.
In theory, you can add all of them now but I don't like to go that far. And there are some species which do better in a mature tank (on which has been running for 6 months) so you'd need a quarantine tank for these.
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Thanks @Sue
When looking at fish should i look at ph or hardness? I ask as my PH is 7.4 but hardness is 125ppm. So on some fish, Dwarf Pencilfish for instance the ph range is 4-7 but hardness is 18-179ppm. So do i need to be in both rangness or is one more important than other?
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Hardness is best / most important.
[Sorry for short response - dinner ready...]
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I agree. Hardness is more important than pH. If the hardness is within the fish's range the pH can be slightly outside their stated range.
Dwarf pencilfish will be fine in your water.