I find myself needing to set up a quarantine tank for a flame angel that I recently purchased. Unfortunately, he seems to have some fungus - cloudy eye and tufts on skin. Sound familiar?! Now my question, how do I minimize a cycle of the q. tank? I do not want to put the fish under any additional stress. Should I use water from the original tank? I was thinking of using a bio wheel hang on for filtration. Should I put a piece of LR form the tank in the q. tank? My concern would be that everything on the LR would then die. What to do?

Thanks for the help. Looks like I may be in the hospital business tomorrow.

PDDII

Originally posted by PDDII:
Should I use water from the original tank? I was thinking of using a bio wheel hang on for filtration. Should I put a piece of LR form the tank in the q. tank? My concern would be that everything on the LR would then die. What to do?

PDDII

The best thing to do is use water from your main tank. Is the bio-wheel already cycled? If it is it will work great. I wouldn't use any live rock in a hospital tank.

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Jeff

http://www.homestead.com/jeffsreef/index1.html

I don't use any type of substrate or live rock in my QT. I simply fill the tank with tank water, put a sponge filter and a heater in it and that is about it. I also put a couple of clean broken clay flower pots in my QT to give the fish a place to hide. They tend to freak out if they can't hide, so it is better to let them hide and keep the stress level down. Some of the medications will kill all the bacteria in the tank so I just do a water change daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels in check.

Andrew

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I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart. e.e.cummings

My Q tank is a 29 gallon tank that is set up just like a FO with base rock. It has a bare bottom, aquaclear 500 with ceramic rings, and a cheap skimmer (upgrading to a prism). This has worked great. It houses one fish at a time for extended periods until I put it in the main tank. Really, it is just like a 2nd FO tank, but very lightly stocked. I just put a tiny copperband and cherub in there. The copperband is smaller than a lettuce clip. They will eventually go into my new 230 gallon. A nice setup like this lets you feed finicky eaters a lot because the tank can easily handle the load.

Scott

Doesn't running a skimmer or having other filtration defeat the purpose of what the QT is for? Aren't you pulling out what ever meds are in the QT? I have mine set up with a bare bottom, a few fake rocks (celpore), a heater, and some circulation.

Sharky, I just turn the skimmer off or remove the carbon if this is required for treatment. You do not always have to treat. Also, the fish are much less stressed, IMO, with a more natural landscape and the ability to nibble on some rocks and algae. Also, you can run everything if you treat with hyposalinity. I think one of the most under rated advantages to a Q tank is stimulating the fish to eat and fatten them up.
Scott

[This message has been edited by outerbank (edited 04-05-2001).]

Moved to Tanks, Filtration & Basic Equipment forum.