Quarantine Question ?

[D.Barta]

I’ve had a salt water tank for 8 months now. I had nothing but problems a
and almost gave up. Most of this was due to lack of knowledge. I’ve put
things on hold and have been reading different internet sites (wetwebmedia,
reef central,etc.) and just heard about and joined MAAST.

I will never put another fish into my main tank without a proper quarantine.
I have a 10 gallon Q tank which has a heater, air stone, power head with a sponge
which has been cultured in main tank. I plan on acclemating new fish by floating
bag in Q tank for 30 minutes , pouring water from Q to bag slowly. I will then
pour into net and place in quarantine for 2 weeks. I also want to do a fresh water
dip using mathalane(?) blue.

I don’t know when to perform the dip during this process?
Is what I just described a good practice?
Please!!!! Share your knowledge and suggestions.

[D.Barta]

O'KAY..

[captexas]

D -
Sounds pretty good. Most people don't take the time to quarantine so you are way ahead. I admit I am guilty of it even though I paid for a 10g tank, power filter, and such to set up a quarantine tank! It just takes patience.
The only thing I would have a question on is the Methylene Blue. I have never used it before, so I can't tell you if it is good or bad to use. I read that it should only be used in a quarantine/hospital tank. It sounds as though a simple dip in it may not be that effective. I think a freshwater (RO/DI) dip will be fine prior to placing in the quarantine tank and prior to placing in your main tank.

Hopefully a few others can chime in with their methods. Hang in there, sounds like you are on the right track!

[robertpower3]

If you are going to quarantine the fish I don't think you will need to do the dip. but if you do dip it, don't use the methanynol blue or at least I wouldn't. it is pretty hard to get the correct dose for a dip. Oh and you would want to dip it prior to putting it in your quarantine tank if you were going to do it. I think it will cause un needed stress. Be careful how much and how often you feed on your quarantine tank. Its very easy to have ammonia spikes in a bare tank with a very small biological filter. just my 2 cents

[Isis]

The dip is more than likely unnecessary since the quarantine is a preventative and not a treatment. The QT tank is meant to discover IF anything exists, not to stress the fish to the point of creating a problem. You might want to actually quarantine the fish for 4 weeks since two weeks isn't really adequate to discover diseases, let alone the latency period of ick is approximately 30 days. Also, the methalyne blue isn't always good on all fishes, and the same goes for the fresh water dips...

As for ammonia spikes, you shouldn't have any problems if you are using the cultured sponge from the main tank and you don't overfeed. Also, remember to keep the items in the tank to a minimum and with NO substrate. You should only have a few items for the critters to hide and sleep in.

[D.Barta]

Just wanted to thank everyone for your input.

D.Barta