Quarantine Tank questions

[citymouse]

I have a 20g long quarantine tank that I'm setting up. In the past I never quarantined fish or snails...I've been lucky. BUT I did just breakdown the old tank that I treated with copper, I had a sick fish, I had just got the extra tank when I decided I need to start quarantining etc etc. I want to buy snails and other invertebrates so I decided to just dump the old tank and replace it, clean start.

Anyway:
Do I have to quarantine snails and hermit crabs? In the past I literally just tossed them into the tank...I know that's not the best idea, but a post on here made it sound like quarantining them wasn't necessary.

Can I put sand in my quarantine tank? if not, why?

Best cheap heater for the QT? I have a jager but it was in the copper treated tank and now I'm afraid to use it! I'm not sure if there is silicone holding anything together, assuming the suction cups are rubber, does anyone know? I tried searching this info. but nothing came up.

Thanks!

 

[jda]

If you want to QT inverts, then you need to make sure that they have something to eat. Set the tank up, wait for the algae to come and then you can add snails. You can feed the hermits with sinking pellets or flake food with the flow turned down/off.

Do not sweat the copper. Just clean the stuff and you will be OK. If you are really worried about it, but a rock in there and the aragonite will bind up any remaining copper... or it will get skimmed out.

 

[Antics]

Do I have to quarantine snails and hermit crabs? In the past I literally just tossed them into the tank...I know that's not the best idea, but a post on here made it sound like quarantining them wasn't necessary.

I wouldn't consider this good advice. Quarantining (to prevent fish diseases) is definitely necessary for Corals as well as Inverts/CUC. If you choose not to do so its because you're willing to entertain that risk (however small).

There are definitely people out there who only quarantine fish and nothing else, but you often see posts in build threads from such tanks with "no idea how velvet/ich got into my tank" etc etc. I personally would not risk all the time, effort, and money that goes into quarantining your fish and just say "oh well!" when it comes to the other half of the equation.

Can I put sand in my quarantine tank? if not, why?

Best practice is to only use it when absolutely necessary, such as a with a burrowing wrasse. In that scenario you'd want to use a small Tupperware container of sand, not the entire bottom of the tank. The reasons include better water quality, less likelihood of medications being over or under therapeutic levels and ease of cleanup.

Sand that is used should be tossed out when done.

 

[citymouse]

If you want to QT inverts, then you need to make sure that they have something to eat. Set the tank up, wait for the algae to come and then you can add snails. You can feed the hermits with sinking pellets or flake food with the flow turned down/off.

Do not sweat the copper. Just clean the stuff and you will be OK. If you are really worried about it, but a rock in there and the aragonite will bind up any remaining copper... or it will get skimmed out.

Live rock? I just removed the one I had and got rid of it to avoid issues, people said I needed to. I replaced the tank, all of the filter media and I'm going to use red sea to cycle it.

 

[jda]

The rock was probably fine to keep on using. If you had it in this tank before, then it probably did bind up all of the copper already. Tanks that use copper cannot use aragonite at all since it soaks up copper like crazy - this is why you need to be bare bottom with plastic hiding places and stuff.

People get too freaked out about copper... I guess that they want to be better safe than sorry, but in most cases and without continuous dosing, the stuff is not an issue.

 

[citymouse]

I wouldn't consider this good advice. Quarantining (to prevent fish diseases) is definitely necessary for Corals as well as Inverts/CUC. If you choose not to do so its because you're willing to entertain that risk (however small).

There are definitely people out there who only quarantine fish and nothing else, but you often see posts in build threads from such tanks with "no idea how velvet/ich got into my tank" etc etc. I personally would not risk all the time, effort, and money that goes into quarantining your fish and just say "oh well!" when it comes to the other half of the equation.

Best practice is to only use it when absolutely necessary, such as a with a burrowing wrasse. In that scenario you'd want to use a small Tupperware container of sand, not the entire bottom of the tank. The reasons include better water quality, less likelihood of medications being over or under therapeutic levels and ease of cleanup.

Sand that is used should be tossed out when done.

Ok good, that's what I thought, that anything new should be quarantined.

The rock was probably fine to keep on using. If you had it in this tank before, then it probably did bind up all of the copper already. Tanks that use copper cannot use aragonite at all since it soaks up copper like crazy - this is why you need to be bare bottom with plastic hiding places and stuff.

People get too freaked out about copper... I guess that they want to be better safe than sorry, but in most cases and without continuous dosing, the stuff is not an issue.

It was in the tank I replaced, Petco had their $1 a gallon sale, so I went and grabbed a new one. The rock was in the old tank forever, I dosed with copper only once and then forgot all about it months later when I bought some hermit crabs, put the their and wondered why they hadn't moved for 2 days , then I remembered and felt horrible! I had never had to medicate a fish in the 8 years I've had a saltwater tank for even my freshwater which I've had much longer. So it completely slipped my mind. This is why I'm paranoid now.