Most economic way to set up quarentine/hospital tank??

Question

I'm sure many of you have noticed that I'm asking lots of questions about changing my tanks around and adding fish. So far I have been lucky with the fish I have purchased but I don't want to gamble much more then I already have. So I'd like to know how some of you set up quarentine tanks with everything needed for the least amount of money? And how long should a fish be quarentined before it's safe to release?

Answer 1

What I did was I went to walmart and got a 10 gallon plastic bin for $4. Then I went over to the fish section and spent $10 on a cheap filter and $10 on a heater. I keep the filter running on one of my tanks so the bacteria doesn't die, and when I need to treat a fish, or get a new fish, I just take the filter and hang it on the plastic bin. You can't see the fish too good this way, but it is dirt cheap and easy to store.

Answer 2

Best way of course is with a small aquarium so it's east to see the fish but....

You can use a medium sized rubbermaid plastic storage container to hold the water and fish. Use a small heater adequate to keep it at the right temperature and I would suggest a sponge filter for filteration. You can keep your sponge filter running in another tank most of the time then when needed fill your container mostly from the tank you have the sponge in move the sponge over and top of the tap with conditioned tap water. You will most likely need a good flashlight and a net to be able to get a good look at the fish if you have any question about it's health.

The sponge filter will provide instant bio filtration and of course water circulation, but will not remove any medications you need to use in the "tank". After quarentine time has passed, wash out the sponge with really hot water (over 140 F) for a few minutes then alow it to completely air dry before returning it to a tank.

Keep your eye open at yard sales and flea markets and you should be abvle to find a used 10 gallon for this tank for practically nothing.

I usually treat all new fish for parasites before adding them to an established tank even if they don't show signs. Parasites are common and easily missed on a new fish and very easy to prevent with just a quick treatment.

MM

Answer 3

what kind of fish are you having? New fish are kinda giddy and stressed, stressed fish preferes to hide, so let them. Should you have an aquarium, shut the glass so no light can get through. also have a cover for the aquarium with a mesh, new water makes fish jumpy (ph difference)

water condition have to be immaculate, it has to be the same or better quality than your aquairum or pond.

Depending on the fish, adding salt to the water 0.1%-0.3 % may calm some species.

for new fish you can float the bag with the fish inside for 10minutes-2hours (depending on the species) in the quarantine pond, then open the bag, let some new water mix abit with the water in the plastic, should the fish seem fine, carefully and quickly take the fish with your hand or net and put it in the q tank. the water in the bag is old and who knows what's in there.

depending on your fish and needs, quarantine may take weeks, as you do not want to risk your other collection.

make sure the q tank is well aerated, dont feed for a couple of days , let them rest, change 20-30% of the water every 3 days, even though filters are used.

dont over stock the qtank,

heating is also recomended depending on the species. should the fish have harmfull parasites, the warmer water shall accelerate whatever harmful pathogens the new fish is bringing.

cheers

Answer 4

depending how many fish you have who are sick and how big they are. I have a 1 and 2.5 gallon tank. i got them from walmart, the 1 gal is a minibow1 and it comes with an undergravel filter, and light, the other is a minibow2.5 with a whisper internal filter, light, water conditioner, food and the such. just buy gravel, water conditioner, and stresszymes for the beneficial bacteria. or use the gravel from your already established tank. the minibow1 cost me like 15 dollars and the minibow2.5 cost me 25 dollars. gravel was like 3 dollars for a 3lb bag. good luck!! quarentine the fish at least 2 weeks it can be longer, but the most common fish aliment is ick, and adding the fish to a new home will or could stress out and have an outbreak of ick if it came from a tank already infected. ick in a normal life cycle is 4 weeks, 1 week with a heater. use aquai-sol when adding new fish. it is highly recommended by my local fish store and also on www.aquariumfish.net good luck!!

Answer 5

10 gallon tank with sponge filter, heater, filter... Do not add gravel. You can get a 10 gallon set up at walmart complete with what i mentioned for 40.00-50.00. If you do not place gravel in there. Your quarentine tank can also be used as a hospital tank and a grow out tank for baby fry. Use water from one of the tanks that are already estiblished everything up and let it cycle. When using it as a quarentine tank put your new fish in there for a min. of 2-3 weeks. Checking them often for signs of illness. At first sign of a problem treat them with the proper medicine, do 20 % water change 24 hours after last dose of medicine. Wait a week after treatment. If ok intrudes them into the main tank. Do 20% water change again after the fish are placed in your main aquarium. Leave the tank running then in the cause of one fish getting sick say for instinace One fish came down with gill flukes. You would want to treat only him, so you would move him to the same tank and begin treatment on him. Gill flukes for instance are hard to treat and the medicine is hard on the fish, and if you left him in the main tank he would infect everyone in there. this is a good example of the need for a hospital tank. And 1 week after treatment if all is good and the fish completly recovers he can be returned to the main tank. Remember to do 20% water change again, then it will ready the next time you need it. This same tank can be use to hatch fry and grow out babies in safety, without being eaten by other fish! Hope this helped! JULIE!

Answer 6

All you need is a small tank, a cover, a cheap sponge filter with an air pump to run it, and a heater. That's it. By running the sponge filter on a mature tank, you can then move it over to the quarantine tank and not worry about cycling. You don't need substrate and if you get a fish that really needs a hiding spot you can use pvc pipe, or anotehr cheap alternative.

Because some diseases can be dormant for a time, longer is better then shorter, but typically a week of quarantine is enough to get a good idea.

Answer 7

I'm lucky in that one of the privately owned fish stores near me does a lot of display tanks for aquarium club shows. The tank and all equipment is used for a weekend to a week only. Since it's been used, they can't resell the equipment as new, so they hold "used equipment sales" periodically. They also offer display tanks, ornaments, fish food & gravel that's been opened, filters, heaters, etc. They have a tank set up with water so you can test all equipment before you buy. Another fish store also sells used equipment, but tanks only. On average, the equipent goes for about 1/2 the store price and tanks go (roughly) for about $1 per gallon of volume.

You could check into this with your local fish stores, too - private stores are more inclined to do these sales than chains. Also check local aquarium clubs, flea markets, yard sales, "trader" listings in local stores, etc. Another place you can try is www.freecycle.com - these are wanted and classified adds for local areas of free items. Just be sure to test for water leaks before you buy a tank and clean all items thoroughly with a dilute (3%) bleach solution and rinse well before using.

Answer 8

Set up q-tanks just like big tank. Use the gunk in the filter of the main tank to "seed" the q-tank so there will be no cycling. Yes all of the gunk. Use air, heat and filter just like the main tank. Quarintine for 3 to 6 weeks. You can even use the water from the main tank. Fill it 1/2 tank water and 1/2 fresh. Good job quarintining!

Answer 9

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