Hi everyone, I’m new to the hobby. I’m just setting up my new salt water tank. I want to do the right thing from the get go and want to quarantine fish and corals. However, I am wondering if I skip the quarantine for the first fish so that my tank can cycle? Or do I quarantine the first fish, cycling in the quarantine tank, then add the fish and some bio media from the quarantine tank into the display tank to then cycle it? Any help is appreciated
Quarantining during cycling
- Thread starter KadeC
- Start date
- Tagged users None
IslandLifeReef
Valuable Member
While I don't quarantine fish or coral, if it something that you want to do and do right, any fish that isn't quarantined and placed into your display tank runs the risk of infecting the tank. If you have to treat the fish in the tank, then you may not be able to put coral in that tank for a very long time if ever, depending on the medication you use. It would be hard to get that medication out of the rock. If you take the fish out of the tank to treat, you would still have to leave the display tank fallow until the life cycle of the infective organism ran its course which in some cases could be up to 70 days.
So, IMO, if you want to run a quarantine tank and quarantine all fish and coral, do that. But have separate tanks for each.
So, IMO, if you want to run a quarantine tank and quarantine all fish and coral, do that. But have separate tanks for each.
Azedenkae
Valuable Member
So you don't have to cycle an aquarium with fish in that aquarium.
Might be good to have a read of this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cycling-an-aquarium.306554/, goes into enough detail of cycling re: why cycle and how to cycle and all that.
NeonRabbit221B
2500 Club Member
QT fish requires a medicated tank and QT corals requires a separate setup that is unmedicated.
To cycle the display tank I typically would recommend cycling the rock in a bucket with SW (1.018) a heater (82 F) and some flow (air or powerhead). Use ammonia chloride and bottle bacteria to cycle and not fish. Ghost feeding can provide the ammonia source to cycle. Remove rock after two weeks and transfer to the display.
To cycle the display tank I typically would recommend cycling the rock in a bucket with SW (1.018) a heater (82 F) and some flow (air or powerhead). Use ammonia chloride and bottle bacteria to cycle and not fish. Ghost feeding can provide the ammonia source to cycle. Remove rock after two weeks and transfer to the display.
