Quarantining

fishlover0815

fishlover0815

Member
Hi, will a 5 gallon tank be good QT for 2 clowns? I wanted to use 10 gallon but they don't have it in my town... It's just for a short period of time like a month... If yes how many water change?
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
was talking about your QT if it is cycling or not

If a five gallon tank is all you can have right now and it is cycling . It is better than nothing. Remember dilution is your friend. If your tank is cycling and you are not overfeeding your water change will basically deal with nitrates. I personally would only do a 25% change in a month. That will of course change if you have to medicate or lower your salinity to fight Ick BTW by cycling i mean ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates
 
fishlover0815

fishlover0815

Member
florida joe said:
was talking about your QT if it is cycling or not

If a five gallon tank is all you can have right now and it is cycling . It is better than nothing. Remember dilution is your friend. If your tank is cycling and you are not overfeeding your water change will basically deal with nitrates. I personally would only do a 25% change in a month. That will of course change if you have to medicate or lower your salinity to fight Ick BTW by cycling i mean ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates
Click to expand...
I got a 10 gallon instead, turns out there was a mistake there... So can you tell me about the maintenance for the QT?
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I don't keep my QT cycled. I pull it out when I need it. I haven't added any fish since February. I just do frequent water changes maybe 25% every 3 days and I check the ammonia at least once a day. I use a SeaChem ammonia badge that hangs in the tank and alerts me to ammonia. You can get these on Amazon.com for about $10.
Good job staying patient and doing this the right way. Not many kids your age have that kind of dedication.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Honestly, I like to do daily water changes, or every other. Its much gentlier on animals and tank system and much less a hassle on aquarist as well. For a 10 gal, try 1/2 gal every other day. If your display tank has good quality water, use that water for the QT. Does the display have fish? If so, do the water changes on display water with freshly batched, well mixed FW for the water changes. What is the size of your display?

If you use display water that has been maintained your fish will be well acclimated to watrer conditions in the display once they are ready to move to the permanent tank.

Also, when you move fish, don't net them. Netting is a big risk of causing injury as well as diseases to fish. Instead, corral your fish into a ziplock with water, or other container. If you use the procedure above, and the temps in the display and QT remain the same, then you do not need to acclimate your fish to the display.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Just so i understand your method of Qt. Your rely on a 25 % water change ever 3 day to deal with ammonia
 
D

deejeff0442

Active Member
Me I put 2 hob filters on my Dt when it cycled.
Got a 30 gallon qt and put the hob filters on the qt
Been using it ever since not 1 problem
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
florida joe said:
Just so i understand your method of Qt. Your rely on a 25 % water change ever 3 day to deal with ammonia
Click to expand...
More if necessary. I monitor it closely. I usually take the fish through tank to tank transfers first for 2 weeks. 100% water change into a sterile tank every 72 hours then 21 to 30 days of observation depending on how the fish is doing. I use 10 gallon tanks for transfers but not full so maybe 7 or 8 gallons with only an air stone during tank transfers then an HOB on a 20 gallon for the rest of the QT period. I've never lost a fish this way and ammonia hasn't been an issue. I do QT only one fish at a time.
 
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