How To - Quarantine/Accimation?

[phastroh]

Ok so here is the question.

What do I need to be able to keep fish in before and/or when they are sick?

I can't exactly have 2 of everything needed for a tank.

What do you use?

Can I get a 10Gal with a HOB filter? What do I put in it? How do I get it water? Do I use old tank water?

These are the kinds of things I want to know. I am just starting to put fish and things in my tank and I was thinking what the heck am I going to do when and if something happens.

Example: I had a starfish that was fine with no problems and then one day I saw his arm had something wrong with it. So I let it be but it was like one after another white spots started appearing.

The first thing I thought was how I read they can be toxic when dying so I had no choice but to leave him in there. I was thinking he could not be happy so I took him out and put some tank water and the newly mixed water in a medium sized rubbermaid container.

I let him stay there overnight and dumped out some water and put new in. The water was the same parameters before this happened as when it was going on. My salinity was low at .021-.022 - I like it that low and am actually trying to raise it to .023 right now.

I did try to give it a drop of liquid food even though I am pretty sure that isn't their main diet.

So the bottom line is that he never got better and died. I actually couldn't say he was 100% head and I always feel like I could have done better. That is why I was to find out what I need to do to make this better.

Just as a side note/question: What could I have done to help this star that I thought was awesome? He was gorgeous.

Thanks a lot.

 

[ErinCahir]

First, the star probably wouldn't eat the liquid food. What kind of star was it?

I acclimate with an airline and a bucket. I start a siphon from the main tank, put the bucket on the ground, and tie a knot in the airline so it only drips once every twenty seconds or so. Inverts you should drip for at least two hours.

I don't have a QT, but if I ever needed to get one together, I would use a big rubbermaid container.

 

[phastroh]

I don't remember what the sign said and so far I can't even find one to compare it to but I will take a pic if you want to see it later.

I just wanted to know how you can keep a fish on the side with no water flo or filters.

 

[ErinCahir]

I meant I wouldn't go out and buy a whole tank just for a QT... you would of course need something for flow, heat, and places for the fish to hide. PVC is a good option.

 

[phastroh]

Well the store over here sell those small 10Gal Aqueon tanks cheap. I was going to get one just for my refugium but then I need another pump.

I was going to have the skimmer dump the water into it and then pump that back to the skimmer chamber from the refugium so it can flow into my return chamber and I can control it with the return pump valve and not worry about adjust the refugium pump.

I would have to glue in a piece of plexiglass so the pump had its own chamber.

I don't know the rate at which water exits the skimmer. I only know how much the skimmer pump does going in.

 

[bojangles93]

I dont know if I am reading your description correctly, but it sounds like you want to divert water to a second tank and then back to the display. If that is correct, then it really defeats the purpose of a QT tank because if you treat with anything it will end up in the display.

I think a 10 or 20 would be fine for a QT and change the QT water with tank water with while performing small waterchanges on the display. I dont QT at the moment, wife would kill me if i buy one more thing, but this is my eventual goal and how I am thinking to set it up. :twocents:

 

[phastroh]

No that was me just saying that the tank I was going to buy for a quarantine tank(the 10gal Aqueon) I was going to buy one to make a refugium out of it since I no longer can use the second chamber of my Proflex sump anymore for that purpose.

The quarantine tank would just be the same 10Gal tank but not the same physical one.

Sorry I should have made it more clear now that I read it.