125 gallon just finished cycle - now some questions on quarantine

[Steven Goff]

I've come to the conclusion that I will need to quarantine my fish to be successful in this hobby. I do have some questions:

1. I picked up a 15 gallon nano tank for quarantine - should I just cycle this tank and keep in running all the time? If so - should I put 1 fish in the tank to keep the cycle going? And what type of fish?

2. Now that the display tank is cycled - for my first few fish - can I go to my LFS (which is very good) and buy 2 clownfish and 2 royal gammas, put them into display tank. And then take any out to quarantine - almost like making my display tank the quarantine tank at first.

3. Should I treat new fish in quarantine or just watch? (point me to a good article or post and I will read up on this)

4. How come all the clean up crew like to hang out on the back on the live rock so I can't see them? LOL

5. How do I know when to do water changes? Should I just do 10% every week no matter what?

This hobby is interesting, but nothing good happens fast (but bad things seem to happen fast)

 

[Irishman]

1. In my opinion I wouldn't cycle the tank and keep one fish in it. Then you'll end up buying stuff for that tank and keep it as a regular fish tank.
2.If you want to go the QT route then no, do no put the fish in the display tank. You want your DT to be free of parasites as well as other things.
3. People may do this different, but when I QT'd I only treated if necessary, like when the fish start showing signs. Other's just treat right away although there might not bein something wrong with the fish.
5. Your tank will show signs that it will need water changes, especially if you try to keep coral. I would get in the habit of doing 10 every other week.

 

[Steven Goff]

I'm wondering if I already made a big mistake?
I have put the clean up crew in the display tank already- snails, crabs, shrimp. I didn't QT these. Now should I wait to put fish in DT? What steps do I need to do now?

 

[Irishman]

I'm wondering if I already made a big mistake?
I have put the clean up crew in the display tank already- snails, crabs, shrimp. I didn't QT these. Now should I wait to put fish in DT? What steps do I need to do now?

I wouldn't say you messed up, if you really worried about it you can QT them but I would say you're fine. There are some people who go the extreme and QT their CUC (clean up crew), I didn't however.

 

[Steven Goff]

I wouldn't say you messed up, if you really worried about it you can QT them but I would say you're fine. There are some people who go the extreme and QT their CUC (clean up crew), I didn't however.

Would you wait like 2 months before adding any fish to the DT? I'm reading on how to QT now. I'm think of having an observation QT only. Then transferring to a second QT to do any treatment.

 

[Irishman]

Would you wait like 2 months before adding any fish to the DT? I'm reading on how to QT now. I'm think of having an observation QT only. Then transferring to a second QT to do any treatment.

From my understanding is that most parasites need fish to live off of. So if you don't have any fish in your system yet, they wont survive if you decide to wait the two months. If you are doing the QT for the month period, what people do normally, then you'll be fine to add them after your QT period with the fish, without any repercussions to the best of my knowledge.

You also wouldn't need a second tank for QT treatment, unless your going to go with a cycled observation tank then a separate treatment tank.

 

[scott11106]

i have 2 qt tanks and was running them 24/7 and i am now going to break them down as it is too much trouble to keep them going all the time, easier to start fresh each time i think. plus i was starting to just put things in it so that is not a good answer either.