Easy as QT-Pie

One of the things that most hobbyists have to face at one time or another is the need to set up a quarantine tank - either to acclimate a new fish to eating frozen food, or to treat a disease or injury, or as a time-out for an aggressive fish. While setting up a quarantine tank is often done under stressful circumstances, here are a few steps that will help promote success.

First of all - contrary to popular belief, size really does matter. Since a quarantine tank will have limited natural filtration, it’s important to maximize water volume. Get as large a quarantine tank as you can. If you stocked your display tank based on the rule of thumb that for every inch of fish you need five gallons of volume, then in a quarantine tank, strive for seven gallons per inch of fish. Secondly, limited natural filtration does not mean no natural filtration. When you’re thinking about setting up a quarantine tank, place a piece of filter floss in your sump. In a week to ten days, it will become colonized by the healthy bacteria that process toxic ammonia into nitrate. When setting up the QT (quarantine) tank, place this filter floss in a HOB (hang on back) filter. Monitor, monitor, monitor. A QT tank’s parameters are likely to change rapidly. Medications can harm or even destroy what little natural bacterial colonies exist in a qt tank. Changing salinity, as happens during a hypo treatment for ich, can impact those bacterial colonies as well. Even without either of those two conditions, a tank without a clean up crew is going to have more detritusbuildup and rising nitrates, to say the least. Don’t be afraid to do water changes, but if the tank contains medications, check with the manufacturer about how water changes affect the dosage.

Given an appropriately sized tank with a HOB filter hosting nitrifying bacteria, frequent monitoring, and water changes to keep levels in line, QT can be successful. Whether it’s to treat disease, ensure a new arrival is healthy and eating well, or just breaking the territoriality of a bully, quarantine makes sense. It protects your current livestock as well as your new acquistions. Here’s hoping these tips will make it a less stressful experience.