How do you Quarintine Fish?

[mike j]

I am going to get a 10g QT tank a little while from now. I was thinking, since some species, such as hippo tangs, are extremely easy to stress out and need plenty of room. However, they are also very disease prone and shouldn't be placed in your display tank right away. I don't know about where you guys come from, but the more delicate species seem to never be smaller than 3 inches in the stores.
So my question is, how do you quarintine a fish that is somewhat large, easily stressed out, and very disease prone for 21 days?
Thanks guys!

 

[moby da goby]

Hello from snowy Medicine Hat!
You have almost the exact set-up I have and the same problem. I learnt my lesson about QT after losing all my fish to velvet before Christmas. Since then I've successfully had 2 small fish in QT that have been moved to my larger tank. The only death so far in QT is the flame angel I purchased, most likely from stress. I am completely unsure about purchasing the more delicate species since I would hate to have them die in QT but at the same time I don't want to infect my main tank with anything. I do use water from the main tank to fill the QT so the water chemistry is exactly the same. The fish selection here in Med Hat is not that great either so it's eitehr trips to Calgary to peruse the stores or keep looking here.
I'll be watching here because I need to know the same answer!

 

[adivedog]

If you don't want to buy another aquarium, you can go to Wal Mart and probably use a rubbermaid type of container. You can get a 20 or 30 gallon one for $5-10

 

[mike j]

so you guys are saying I should be getting a rubbermaid container for them? Then I would probably have to spend money on lighting...
Lighting isn't a necessity for QT tanks is it? I mean, can I use room lighting for that purpose?

 

[moby da goby]

Lighting isn't necessary. I'm using an old FW tank that still has the old incandescent bulbs and that works fine. I have read before that the reduced lighting actually lessens any stress on the fish. I just have a cheap hang on walmart filter, heater and put in a small powerhead to move the water around more. Put in a piece of clean black PVC or a dark cup so the fish have a safe place to hide. No substrate needed either.

 

[fshhub]

even a 6 inch fish, in a 10 gallon for just a couple of weeks for quarentining is much better than not doing it at all, now a 15 inch fish would defininitely be a different story, but for a couple of weeks a 10 or 20 will manage with most fish, yes bigger would be a bit better for a tang, but if not available, this would still be better tahn not at all
HTH and good luck

 

[mike j]

thanks a lot fishhub and moby, that helps. Do I need a powerhead? Could I get away with using one from my main tank? (There are three in there).
Sorry for all the questions!