No time for quarantine tank cycle!!!

boalgf

boalgf

Member
Hey Beth, I had a question for you or anyone else who knows about quarantine tanks.
I have a 10gal quarantine tank that I just set up. i really need to put my adult emperor in there, even though it may be too small for him. He has crazy ich!
I don't have time to cycle the quarantine tank, will he be ok in there if the tank hasnt cycled? How do I keep it from cycling?? Should I use the main tank water which has good levels or use fresh saltwater?
Someone please help, I don't want to lose a $150 dollar fish!
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Put him in there with water from the main tank and every day test the ammonia, trites and trates and at the sign of any small spike be prepared to do water changes... Just to be safe I would anticipate a daily 25% change anyway since the fish is a rather large one... But don't fret, even if your tank WERE cycled the copper would kill the beneficial bacteria leaving you with an uncycled tank after all...unless you go the hypo route, then nevermind the last part... :D
 
boalgf

boalgf

Member
I am going with hypo since I heard angels dont do well with copper. So hopefully a 25% a day will keep it clean and uncylced for a month. Ugh. fish can be so stressfull!
 
boalgf

boalgf

Member
I have purchased a 75 gallon tank that will have to cycle before it can be a quarantine tank for my fish. I am going to put the naso tang, foxface and emporer all in there. I have a few questions though.
1. How long will it take for the ich in my display tank to die if there are no fish in there?
2. I have a zebra eel, do I need to put him in the quarantine tank with the 3 other fish? I don't want there to be any chance that ich will still remain in the tank at all after all the fish have been treated with hypo.
Thank you all for your help. Hope the comments keep coming.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Use 100% water from the display to setup the QT, as long as the display water is good quality. Throw in some sacrifical LR and a few cups of sand from the display. This will kick start your QT.
BTW, all fish exposed to ich will need to be treated. If you are using hyposalinity, then the process of diluting the water will also help with keeping ammonia down. Keep your ph at 8.0, since ammonia is less toxic at lower pH levels.
 
boalgf

boalgf

Member
Thanks for the advice beth. When you said all fish exposed to ich need to be treated, do you mean I should put the eel in the quarantine tank too?
Can eels get ich?
I'll use as much display tank water as I can to start it off.
 
boalgf

boalgf

Member
Does everyone agree on that? I'd hate to leave my eel in the tank if he can be a host for ich.
Thanks for the reply Vanos.
 
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