# How to do a quarantine tank



## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

I have a 20 gallon planted tank with 1 guppy fry (all the other guppies died), 1 dwarf gourami, 1 bristlenose pleco, and 1 queen loach (planning to get 2 more as soon as they're available... who knows when). The gourami has what I believe to be hole in the head disease (see pic below, unfortunately the best I could get), and may have also been the cause of many recent guppy deaths, so I want to quarantine him for a while to get him healthy and then either re-introduce him or get rid of him. (Side note: the guppy is about 1.5 cm long - do you think he is big enough to avoid getting eaten by the loach or pleco once I remove the gourami? Or would either of those even be interested in him?)

But... I must admit I've never really properly done a quarantine tank before; I have a little 1.5 gallon that I've used as essentially fish hospice, but I haven't really known what I was doing. Knowing that the 1.5 was way too small for the gourami to have a chance, I purchased a 5 gallon tank to use for him, and to have as a future quarantine or fry tank when the gourami is no longer there. I have a filter, heater, and light for it.

So, I've read a bit but still have many questions.
1. If you have a quarantine tank for new fish (or I suppose a hospital tank for sick fish), do you run it all the time, or only when needed?
2. If you run it constantly, does the water quality and bacteria and all that stay ok even when there aren't any fish in it, or do you have to do something to keep everything in shape? (I read somewhere about putting some fish food in every few days so it can decompose and etc...)
3. If you only run it when needed, can you keep the filter on the main tank the rest of the time and fill it with water from the main tank to obviate the need for cycling? Or at least cut way down on the time required? Because if a fish is sick, you might not have that much time...
4. When you medicate, I know you're supposed to remove the carbon from the filter, but what about the bio-part? The filter that came with this little tank has a "bio-sponge" thingy. If you do remove that, where do you keep it in the meantime?
5. If the tank is likely to have sick fish in it, what about substrate - should I have any? I'd probably do gravel, if anything.
6. If the tank runs constantly (rather than just when needed), how about some live plants? I assume they would only help with keeping water quality and bacteria and such in appropriate form, but are they likely to be killed by medications, or will I likely need to do disinfecting that would kill them?
7. As mentioned in #6, when (if ever) is it necessary to disinfect a quarantine/hospital tank? Between every inhabitant, only with certain diseases, etc...? And how? I've read about using a diluted bleach solution.
8. How much light should a sick fish have? The light that came with this tank seems pretty dim, but how many hours a day, or none at all? Where it's located, the tank would only get at most very very indirect sunlight, and a little bit of artificial light from the lamps in the room.
9. I have an extra air pump; any particular reason to add (or not add) bubbles to the tank?

I'm sure I'll come up with more, but that should keep you all busy for a while! If there's anything else you think I ought to know about this process, please feel free to tell me.

Gourami with potential hole in the head; if it matters greatly, I can try to get a better picture tomorrow, but he tends to get excited and start "pacing" when I approach the tank so it's hard to focus.



Thanks for any and all input!


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

1. The pleco shouldn't eat the guppy unless the guppy dies first... then it's fair game. Don't know about the loach.

2. I would think you would have to run the tank all the time, or the good bacteria in the filter will die. Keep lights off though, so you don't grow algae. You will have to look up how to keep the bacteria alive when there's no fish in it... I would think adding some fish food every few days would help... but then you would probably end up having to do a bit of a gravel vacuum if it starts to accumulate....
*Not sure if you can keep the filter running on the main tank when there are no sick fish in the hospital tank... this is a good idea in theory, so it'd be nice if someone could answer that!!

3. Never used a bio sponge... only ever used Biomax, and I was always told to leave that in the tank even when medicating..... if I'm wrong someone correct me...

4. As for substrate... I have heard of people doing bare bottomed hospital tanks or just a very thin layer of gravel.

5. Not sure about the live plants... some people don't put anything in their hospital tanks

6. I would think a bleach solution would disinfect the tank, aquarium salt would work too... just rinse everything well. Keep in mind, if you disinfect the filter and filter media, you will have to re-cyle the tank.

7. As mentioned before, no lights when fish are not in it. Don't know if a sick fish really would appreciate light.... probably could get away with just ambient room lighting.

8. As for the air pump, I'm not sure... some medications can remove oxygen in the water therefore, more oxygenation would be needed... but then again, they say not to use a filter or air stone when acclimating fish because it throws of the 02/C02 balance or something like that, so, someone else should probably answer this last one....

I don't have a hospital tank. I never have. I usually treat the entire tank if one fish is sick, since they all live in the same water. I basically treat it as "if one has it, they all have it." I know they are great to have if you have the money to set one up and the space for one, but I have neither, and I've been fine so far. Yes, I have lost a few fish in the past, but never have I had complete tank decimation... *knock on wood... lol.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I don't keep a quarantine tank running all the time. I always have a couple of extra filters running on an established tank and when I need to quarantine, I fill the tank with dechlorinated water add a few plastic plants and move the filter over. When done, I clean the tank and plants in very hot water. toss the sponge, put in a clean one and its back on the established tank till needed.


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

The gourami's a bit camera shy, but here are the best of the photos I was able to take this morning:


The sore did not originally extend all the way down to his eye, as you can see here that it now does.


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## Pigeonfish (Jun 23, 2011)

Keep up with water changes to prevent an infection.


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## Robotunicorn (Jul 22, 2011)

Simple and to the point...when one is sick they could all be sick! Best to just treat the whole tank. Better safe then sorry.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

I'm not sure if it's HITH or not... I've read a few sites that said gourami's never get it, but that doesn't make sense to me..... I'm thinking it definitely should be treated for something though, as the spot is getting bigger and there is also one on it's underside...

Google Images Here's an Oscar with HITH.

Google Images Nother Oscar with HITH.

I've read that it can be hard to get rid of and can be caused by poor water quality... do you know what your tank parameters are?


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

Weird, because I've read that dwarf gourami's DO get it, though not as frequently as oscars and such. And yeah, I'm not sure that's what it is either, but what he has looks more like that than like anything else I've seen pictures of.

As far as I know, he doesn't have a spot on his underside - which picture did you see that in? Perhaps a spot on the glass or something (I hope).

As of August 6, 1 day after a 30% water change:
pH 7.2
Ammonia 0 ppm
NitrIte 0 ppm
NitrAte 30 ppm
GH 120 ppm
These are pretty much the norm for my tank. Today, I was finally able to (reliably) measure KH and it's 5 dH.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Sorry, that was the spot from the top view - when I looked at it, for some reason I was thinking it was looking from the belly up, (which would also make you an amazing photographer, hahaha.)

You could always try treating for HITH. I think there are specific medications out there for it. Or, you could try a fungal or bacterial medication if you're not sure of what it is.

Good luck - he's a pretty fish!


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

Update - I moved the gourami (Tommy) to a 5-gallon quarantine tank and treated him over the weekend with API General Cure (metronidazole and praziquantel), which is indicated for HITH. His sore never started looking better, and during treatment he developed long, empty-looking (clearish-white) feces in addition to the occasional normal-looking stuff. He refused to eat any antibacterial food (didn't react to it as if it was food at all), so was just being fed his normal flakes. Last night, he ate; this morning, he didn't really eat, and this afternoon, he died.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Sorry to hear that. Are the other fish still ok? Do you think you will try gourami's again some time?


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Might have had BOTH HITH and parasites. Sorry for your loss.

How are the others doing?


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## Suzanne (Jun 10, 2011)

I only have 3 fish left, at the moment - bristlenose pleco, queen loach, and a juvenile (but I'd say no longer "fry") guppy. They all seem fine, though the pleco and the loach both have surface blemishes (of different types) that I'm keeping a very wary eye on - with the pleco, I think/hope it's just her color-changing stunts; the loach is either getting a new stripe (don't know if this is possible; she's not particularly young) or has a little spot of some kind in the head/neck area. Very slim chance for a picture of that I think, as it's quite small and she's sooo shy.

As to whether I'll try gouramis again, not for a while at least. If/when I do, maybe not dwarfs. It just sort of seems like fighting a losing battle, if things are really as bad as I've read.

My immediate plan is to ascertain that my 3 remaining fish are healthy, get my quarantine tank (which I just disinfected after the gourami died there) fishlessly cycled, then get some more guppies, who will also have to prove themselves healthy before they get introduced into my main tank. Also, to buy 2 more queen loaches if/when the LFS ever gets them in... I'm totally squeamish about buying fish online.


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