quarantine questions

oogpister

Sorry, more questions from ME! I read Bob's Fishless cycling for dummies and he made a good point of not putting sick fish in your nice new tank. I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to avoid that. I don't have a tank that is already cycled..... I guess I could :
1) Wait until my tank is cycled, put some of that water in a smaller tank (how small? 1-2 gal ? ) and hold the fish there for a couple of weeks (and hope my inexperience doesn't do them in...)

2) Get some water from the tank at the fish store and hold them in the small tank for a couple of weeks (inexperience still applies)

Somebody bail me out again, please.

somerton16

i too dont have an empty tank laying around to setup for a Q tank. however i havent really needed one, i guess i've just been pretty lucky. if i needed one though i would get a bowl and keep them in there with some already cycled tank water, and put an airstone in there. my theory for not haveing one is pretty stupid lol. i only but healthy fish. i know i know doesnt always happen that way

RJRofFL

Forgive me for jumping in here, but I kind of think you're missing the point here.

The bacteria from a cycled tank does not reside in the water, but in the filer, filer media, substrate and to some small degree on the glass walls.

If you fill another tank with water from your main tank, all you will have is another tank of just water.

To cycle a quarantine tank, take some substrate (gravel or sand) from the cycled tank and place it into Q tank. Also, if can, take some filter media from the established tank. Wait a few days and then test the q tank. With any luck you might be OK.

Also, to keep Q tank cycled when not in use, keep feeding fish flakes into the tank, as if there were fish in it. That will keep the little bacteria buggers from starving.

Hope this helps.

Bob

oogpister

you know, I read that. I knew that (that the bacteria are not in the water) I guess I sort of misspoke. But you answered my question, Keep a seperate tank cycled. I don't want you to think you weren't clear in your instructions. thank you for writing fishless cycling for dummies.

somerton16

hey bob i tend to disagree in your statements. when i set up my 10 gallon tank i filled it with water from my 55 gallon tank. and never went through a cycle not even a mini one. the reason i disagree is that the water from the 55 cycled tank had no chlorine or chloramine in it so it was safe for fish. i added fish the next day and havent lost one due to the tank not cycling. i dont really know how else to explain it but i got through it with out problems.

Tommy Gun

Hey all,

I just wanted to chime in here and throw 100% of my support behind at least most of the advice and ideas being relayed here....

1. It is very true that most of what we refer to as beneficial bacteria resides primarily on an object of some sort (e.g. filter media, substrate, decor...just like Bob points out) versus swimming freely in the water. In fact, if you think about it, if this bacteria was free swimming, filter media wouldn't be nearly as useful.
2. With the above in mind, the only thing anyone is guaranteed to move by filling a new tank with water from an established tank is some ammonia, nitrite, and/or nitrate...with the potential of moving only a tiny amount beneficial bacteria
3. While they serve an extremely large purpose, a quarantine tank does not have to be anything special and unless you are trying to put a 4 foot fish in a 10 gallon tank, this is a situation where it would be benefits greatly outweigh the cons of keeping a potentially large fish in a small tank...obviously because it will not be there forever.

Regarding the cycling of a q-tank, I feel as though this is also a situation in which the benefits outweigh the cons of placing fish in a uncycled tank. To be extremely blunt...you shouldn't really be bringing fish home on a whim so if you plan things out, you can find a way to cycle the tank before you buy the fish.

On the other hand though, for the past year or more I have been filling my q-tank(s) with water only when they need them and empty them when they have served their current purpose. Even though I know some won't agree with me, I have been able to 'get away' with this simply by performing a lot of water changes. IMO, this is actually a decent idea when the q-tank is needed to treat a fish that is already in an established tank since many meds require water changes between doses and some may even kill off beneficial bacteria as well as the 'bad' bacteria.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you are trying to say here but all we have to do to ensure that our fish are safe from chlorine/chloramines is use a quality dechlor product...so I am not sure why taking the water from the 55 gallon tank would differ from filling up a new tank with tap water.

Additionally, and I apologize if it seems like I am picking on you somerton16 and I definitely respect your experience but IMHO, we sometimes place a little too much stock in what other people have experienced; particularly when it comes to experiences that seem to rub against logic....or in other words, just because one person has appeared to skip cycling entirely, it does not mean that everyone will experience the same. So, IMO, a very strong argument can be made in favor of 'sticking to the book' by following steps and procedures that have withstood the test of time and are still proven to be successful; especially as it relates to cycling.

Lastly, we should keep in mind that there are a huge array of variables to consider with cycling an aquarium. For example, somerton's experience would be less of an exception if some substrate or decoration was also moved from the established tank to the new one if there are live plants in the new tank, etc...etc...etc...