Quarantine/Hospital Tank - What water to use

[finksmart]

Should I use water from the main tank or fresh saltwater?

 

[georgelc86]

I personally use the tank water because it serves a dual purpose. One I dont have to acclimate the sick fish to new saltwater, I can just transfer quickly. Two the water I am removing forces me to make new water for the main tank thus performing a water change in the process. Once the transfer and replenishment is done in a day or two I due a water change on the hospital tank.

 

[D1J8Z]

plumb it together or just get the levels as close as possable Temp too


I do not agree 100% with taking water from the main display but obv its something you can do but how big is your tank and how big is the hospital tank your trying to set up and is it needed asap

 

[crox99]

plumb it together or just get the levels as close as possable Temp too


I do not agree 100% with taking water from the main display but obv its something you can do but how big is your tank and how big is the hospital tank your trying to set up and is it needed asap

I wouldn't plumb my QT to my DT. Use water from your DT (from a water change is fine) so like georgelc86 said you don't have to reacclimate the sick fish and make sure that if the filtraton isn't great you keep up with the water changes on your QT.

 

[jejton]

plumb it together or just get the levels as close as possable Temp too

This would defeat the purpose of using a quarantine. Since the water supply is shared, so are all the pathogens, pollutants and medications.

 

[D1J8Z]

well in the sense of a quarantine that would be perfect depending on how big your main display is its extremly hard to catch a fish to medicate seperatly anyway

 

[jejton]

But thats what the OP was asking about.

 

[georgelc86]

Plumbing the tanks would be kinda cool as long as you have ball valves to cut the supply. But then you have a QT hard plumbed to the DT, weird. Anyway, I use my method because it eliminates another source of stress (water parameter stress) from what the fish is experiencing. I think a big part of nursing a sick fish back to health is to eliminate as many stress factors as possible. With using the DT initially, you already have all perameters in place in the DT --> QT transfer. It allows immediate hospitalization if need be and keeps the focus on medication/observation than on worrying about acclimation and parameters. If you break it down to basics, you have to get the fish out of the DT before you can do anything else and if you have to get it out in a hurry why wait for a half hour to get your salt probably mix. Where as in that same half hour you can get your QT going, have a salt batch mixing, your getting the fish to the QT, observe and treat if necessary and when your batch is mixed, mind you its not aged at this point of course, you now have your top off water for the DT and maybe some extra left over you do a partial change to the QT. Even if the QT has brand new water in it the pathogens are going to run there course anyway.

 

[KathyC]

Should I use water from the main tank or fresh saltwater?

Unclear if you are looking to QT new fish or a sick fish, but either way the water should be as pristine as possible, so IMO new SW should be used.

I also believe plumbing a QT to a DT tank is an extremely poor idea due to the potential for transfer of disease and defeats the purpose of having a QT entirely.


Are you looking to set up a QT for a specific reason?

 

[finksmart]

What's new, I'm removing all the fish from the main tank to treat ich. =T

 

[georgelc86]

Marine Ich, new water old water, I honestly don't think its going to make a difference. It's still going to go through it's life cycle whether or not the water is new or old. Will want to do a water change everyday, yes. At this point Fink it's a matter of what you want to do. I say just use the water from the disply to get the QT going and perform water changes over the next I think 14 to 21 days. I think that is the life cycle of Marine Ich. In most if not all cases hyposalinity has worked. But that is a can of worms I chose not to open because my life insurance doesnt cover me for MR Fire & Brimstone injuries.

 

[KathyC]

But that is a can of worms I chose not to open because my life insurance doesnt cover me for MR Fire & Brimstone injuries.

lol..good one

Fink..I'd go with new water, just match temp & salinity before you move them. Best to provide them with an environment as ideal as possible.

If the ich is bad, I'd treat with Chleated Copper (be SURE to have a test kit for it so you know you are providing the correct (read effective) dose.
You will need to keep up with water changes since you have no way 'cycle' the QT tank, you'll need to test the copper level each time you do a water change and adjust the dose as necessary.

If the ich is very mild, then use Hyposalinity as treatment. Obviously you will need new water for this also.

Also...add an airline line (with an airstone) if at all possible to provide extra oxygenation as ich does it's killing in the gills of the fish.
Feeding with garlic will make eating more desirable (though I'll never understand why..) and will help boost their immune system = healthier fish more able to fight the ich.

I'm sure you already know this but you must keep your DT free of all fish for 6-8 weeks to beat this.

\Best of luck to you & please keep us updated!!

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

1. Use salt water.
2. Plumbing a QT with the DT is like throwing the fish into the DT without QTing. If you're gonna plumb it together you may as well play roulette and just skip the qt and throw it right in the display tank. Keep in mind that this has been the reason for many a tank death.
3 Ich sux, QT Treat with copper like Kath said and test copper levels daily to make sure the levels are safe.
4 take a mix of tank and new saltwater and mix them together (treat it as a wc for the DT) and make sure the parameters of the water in the QT come as close to matching the water as to where the fish is coming from. If it's the DT match the DT if it's a bag match the bag as much as you can.

 

[finksmart]

Yeah I don't want to add copper unless left with no choice. Going with hypo first to see if it works. Plan is to vigorously change water and syphon out the bottom and feed well. Thanks for the well wishes. I can't wait to see my water bill for the next two months.

 

[KathyC]

Yeah I don't want to add copper unless left with no choice. Going with hypo first to see if it works. Plan is to vigorously change water and syphon out the bottom and feed well. Thanks for the well wishes. I can't wait to see my water bill for the next two months.

Are you putting the fish into a QT while doing the hypo? :scratch:
How many fish and what kinds are they?

 

[finksmart]

Of course in the QT.

Right now I have 1 false perc, 1 royal gamma, 3 chromis, 1 firefish and 1 scooter. Royal gamma is the only one with symptom and its status unknown cos I can't find it. Last time I saw it was yesterday. Because I plan to get tangs in the future I wanna do this thing right since we all know about tangs and ich.

Another bummer is there's nothing I can do right now until next Monday because I have to travel out of town from Thurs - Sun. The QT is up and running but I don't want to get the fish in there and leave for 4 days for family members to look after, just too much involved. Until then I'm feeding them a variety of food and hoping for the best.

 

[KathyC]

Of course in the QT.

Sorry, it was your 'siphon out the bottom' that caused me to ask the question. My brain was thinking 'sand'..lol
Of course it can't hurt but I'm skeptical as to whether it will help lessen the time frame of getting rid of the parasites.

Best of luck to you and let us know how they are doing when you get back home on Monday.

 

[finksmart]

No worries. Also my fear has been confirmed. Found bones of the gamma. =(

 

[ECFENCING]

As Chief mentioned QT your fish to begin with. It was a royal gramma, I believe, that I picked up from a member that I placed in my display tank without placing it in a QT that caused every one of my fish to die with the exception of a puffer. Since I didn't have a QT/hospital tank I was SOL.

Because of that ich episode I have been away from the hobby for about a year.

Good luck and I hope you beat it.

 

[TNT125]

I think using water from the etablished tank is fine ... the whole reason for a QT is so you can treat what you have to treat without messing with the main tank. Therefore having the same water could be crucial to helping in the healing process.

Remember to much change to fast could be deadly!!