Petmanacs.com
Pets Articles Complete List of Pet Articles @ PetManiacs.com | Home

SHOP for PET SUPPLIES
Birds Cats Dogs
Fish & Aquatic Pets Reptiles & Amphibians Small Animals

How To Set Up A Quarantine Tank For Tropical Fish


Do I Need A Quarantine Tank?

Ah, yes, the often dismissed but very necessary part of the tropical fish hobby, the infamous quarantine tank. Do you really need one to be successful in this hobby?

For freshwater fish you may be able to get by without having one. Freshwater fish are generally more suited to captivity because they are usually tank raised and don't seem to break out in disease as readily as their saltwater counterparts. However, if newly acquired fish do come down with something, you will surely wish that you had one ready to go. One newly bought fish that is introduced to your main tank can easily wipe out the entire tank population. Better safe than sorry, right?

For saltwater aquarium keepers, I would say that you definitely need a quarantine tank. Marine specimens are mostly wild caught and not used to being kept in captivity. Their journey to a dealers tank is usually much longer and much more stressful for them. Stressed out fish will usually come down with some kind of disease if they don't simply die from the whole ordeal. Saltwater fish keepers will usually have other things in the main display tank such as invertebrates and live rock, that they don't want to expose to the harsh medicines necessary to treat one or two fish. Some medicines can wipe out all of the invertebrates in a tank, so be sure to research any medicine before using it in your tank.

Quarantine Tank Setup
You don't need to go all out here. A simple 10 - 20 gallon aquarium will suffice for most people. If you have larger fish then obviously you want to get a bigger quarantine tank. All you really need is a bare bones setup with the following equipment:

  • Some type of filtration (a hang on the back of the tank power filter will work, just use filter floss without the carbon since carbon will remove medication from the water, being counter productive)
  • Heater
  • A powerhead and/or an airstone for increased surface agitation
  • Test Kits for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate
  • Fish Net - don't use the same net for your main tank
Fill the quarantine tank with water from the main tank and then turn everything on in the quarantine tank.

Freshwater & Saltwater Fish Quarantine
For newly acquired fish you will want to acclimate them to the water in the quarantine tank and monitor them very closely for a period of two to three weeks. Monitor the water parameters with your test kits and check for signs of parasites or bacterial infections.

If the newly acquired fish does come down with something you will need to use the appropriate medication and you will need to keep them in quarantine for a further two weeks to make sure that you have indeed treated them effectively. If after a few weeks no problems develop, you can then acclimate them to the main tank water and then introduce them.

If a fish comes down with something while in your main tank, just net them and plop them into the quarantine tank. There should be no need to acclimate them because you used water from your main tank. If you didn't use water from the main tank you will need to acclimate them to the quarantine tank water. Diagnose the problem/disease and treat appropriately. After the disease clears up you will still want to keep the fish in quarantine for a week or so monitoring the water parameters with your test kits the whole time.

More On Saltwater Quarantine
Always have some extra saltwater ready in case you need to perform an emergency water change. Remember, you want to monitor those water parameters frequently (daily or at least once every two days). Many saltwater hobbyists always have saltwater ready just in case. You never want to mix up saltwater and add it right away. Freshly mixed saltwater can be fairly toxic to fish, in turn causing you more problems.

Conclusion
Freshwater hobbyists may get away with not using a quarantine tank, but saltwater hobbyists would be crazy not using one. Save yourself some money, headaches and especially the fish by having a quarantine tank. The fish in your main tank will thank you for it.

For more tropical fish and aquarium information, please visit FishLore.com - Freshwater & Saltwater Tropical Fish & Aquarium Information.

Mike is an editor at FishLore.com. Designed for beginners, FishLore.com provides tropical fish information, how-to guides, articles, fish profiles, FAQs, forums and more!


MORE RESOURCES:
familypets - Google News
Family pet dies in frozen Macclesfield pond as fire crew wait for help - Manchester Evening News

Family pet dies in frozen Macclesfield pond as fire crew wait for help
Manchester Evening News
A family watched their dog dying in a frozen pond while Macclesfield firefighters stood by ? because they didn't have a raft or water rescue training. The Oldfields lost their beloved King Charles spaniel Alfie, pictured, after he fell through the ice ...

Rustlers butcher family's pet - Gisborne Herald

Rustlers butcher family's pet
Gisborne Herald
A MATAWAI family is left heartbroken after the deer they called Rosie, and hand-reared from birth, was shot and killed on their property over the weekend. Caroline Rau said Rosie was a much-loved member of their family, so tame she slept beside her and ...

A Beloved Family Pet Dies. What Does a Mother Tell Her Children? - Voice of America

A Beloved Family Pet Dies. What Does a Mother Tell Her Children?
Voice of America
07 February 2012 A Beloved Family Pet Dies. What Does a Mother Tell Her Children? TO DOWNLOAD the MP3 of this story, click on the MP3 link in the upper right corner of the page. Double-click any word to find the definition in the Merriam-Webster ...

House fire kills family pet - This Is Cheshire

House fire kills family pet
This Is Cheshire
AN overheated laptop is thought to have started a blaze on Fletcher Street, off Wilderspool Causeway. Residents managed to escape the flames but their pet cat died. Firefighters were called at 5pm yesterday, Wednesday, after the blaze started on the ...

and more »
Family's pet mauled by pit-bull type dog - Lake County News Sun

Family's pet mauled by pit-bull type dog
Lake County News Sun
BY DAN MORAN dmoran@stmedianetwork.com February 7, 2012 8:02PM Diane Hewitt gets a kiss from her bichon maltese Cindy, 9, in their driveway on Rice Street in Waukegan. Cindy has scars on her neck and other areas from being attacked by a pit bull.

'She killed the family pets': Frances Bean Cobain slams mum Courtney Love's ... - Daily Mail

Daily Mail

'She killed the family pets': Frances Bean Cobain slams mum Courtney Love's ...
Daily Mail
By Mike Larkin Frances Bean Cobain accused her mother Courtney Love of causing the death of their family pets in a newly revealed testimony. The 19-year-old filed a restraining order against Love in LA superior court in December 2009 after they got ...
Frances Bean Cobain: Courtney Love 'killed the family pets'New York Daily News
Courtney Love's accused of killing family pets by daughter?Gather Celebs News Channel
Frances Bean Cobain: Courtney Love killed the family petsZap2it.com (blog)
Loudwire
all 140 news articles »
Francis Bean Cobain Says Courtney Love Killed Their Family Pets - RTT News

RTT News

Francis Bean Cobain Says Courtney Love Killed Their Family Pets
RTT News
(RTTNews) - New legal documents have been leaked in which Francis Bean Cobain accuses her mother Courtney Love of killing their family pets. In 2009, Fancis filed for a restraining order against her mother and claimed in the documents that Love's ...

and more »
Family pet recovers from mauling - The Daily Iberian

Family pet recovers from mauling
The Daily Iberian
Watching 4-year-old shih tzu Sophie jump around the kitchen and living room of her New Iberia home, it's hard to imagine the horror she and her owners faced only months ago. Roger Snyder took Sophie, whose full name is Sophia Marie Snyder, ...

Coyotes kill family pets - WSB Atlanta

Coyotes kill family pets
WSB Atlanta
Channel 2's Michael Buczyner went to the Riverside subdivision on Smith Street, where one resident described his close encounter with a coyote. Barry Batts said he took his dogs and cat out in the morning when a coyote stared him down.

Family Pets Killed in Keller House Fire - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Family Pets Killed in Keller House Fire
NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
Most of the family's pets, two cats and a dog, died from smoke inhalation. A second dog, a golden pomeranian, is missing. The fire is believed to have started in the living room, though investigators have not yet determined what started the fire.
House fire kills at least four petsTehachapi News

all 6 news articles »
RSS integration by RSSinclude


PetManiacs.com's Free! Pet Classified Ads
Click here to Post your ads | View by Location | View by Subject
Click here to Post your ads | View by Location | View by Subject


Pet Website Owners Wanted



SHOP for PET SUPPLIES
Birds Cats Dogs
Fish & Aquatic Pets Reptiles & Amphibians Small Animals


Pet Maniacs home | site map | Pet Article List
© 2006