What Can I Keep In My Quarantine Tank?

What I mean is, what kind of fish, snails, etc am I able to keep in a QT at all times. I'm new to aquarium keeping and just started my cycle yesterday in my main tank, which is a 60 gallon 48x15x18 that I plan on having as more of a community one, a couple of dwarf cichlid species in there. I understand the actual purpose of the QT tank, and if there's something that can keep some kind of bio load going 24/7, id like to do that. I was thinking of a pleco to keep algae in check as well, or snails or shrimp. Can anyone offer some more insight into this please?

 

Of all things not to keep in a hospital tank, snails and shrimp would be at the top of the list and, to a smaller degree, plecos.
In your quarantine tank you will be using different methods of treatment : medications, high heat, and salt, for instance. When snails and shrimp are present in a hospital tank there are many medications that you can't use - to the detriment of the sick fish. If the snails and/ or shrimp were not in your hospital tank you would of picked med "x", but because they are you have to choose a less effective med, "Y," because the more effective med is unsafe for snails and/or shrimp. For Plecos, they are more sensitive to salt, that is why they are not a good candidate for the hospital tank.
I don't keep a quarantine running at all times. When I treat my fish for illnesses I want a sterile environment. When they get sick I set the tank up, add treatments, change 75% of water daily (using prime and stability with each water change), been doing this method for around 15 years- works great.

 

QT tank should be kept running but as clear as possible. If you keep another fish in there its not a QT anymore its just a tank,. and those fish are at risk of disease from anything sick that's put in there to heal.

your 60 gallon will need a lot of stocking and I QT new fish for 4-8 weeks plus the likelehood of one of your many fish in there coming sick means it'll be in constant use for a while yet anyways. And when you get through the orogional big buffer of new fish, just take down the QT when you don't need it.

 

I have 3 tanks that I can and do quarantine in when needed. All three of said tanks are also used for my African cichlid fry. When I need to quarantine new fish, I will move the fry from one tank to another, this way which ever tank I need to use is already cycled and relatively disease free. I do run the risk of infecting the quarantine tank with the new fish and then infecting the fry when I move them into the recently used quarantine, but I have yet to have issues with that as I am pretty meticulous with water changes and gravel vacs in my fry tanks.

Your best bet on keeping a tank cycled w/o fish is to use Mystery snails. They are more of less resistant to many fish disease, but they can be susceptible to some. If you have to use meds that may harm the snails, simply move them to a bucket, different tank, or breeder basket within a less than snail friendly tank. Just be sure to feed the snails, they need food like any other fish and can't survive on algae alone.

 

You can keep the cycle going by doing a fishless cycle with ammonia when fish aren't in it. Then when you need it, do a 100% water change with dechlor water and you should be good.
That's if you want to keep it up all the time. Large daily water changes keeps the water nice and clean but will cost you more in meds.

 

When I need to use the QT tank I take it out of the garage pull the sponge filter out of the canister and let that system run. I don't see the need to have a empty tank running at all times. If I did that I think my wife would have a problem with it since a 10 gallon tank can take so much space in the kitchen.

 

Of all things not to keep in a hospital tank, snails and shrimp would be at the top of the list and, to a smaller degree, plecos.
In your quarantine tank you will be using different methods of treatment : medications, high heat, and salt, for instance. When snails and shrimp are present in a hospital tank there are many medications that you can't use - to the detriment of the sick fish. If the snails and/ or shrimp were not in your hospital tank you would of picked med "x", but because they are you have to choose a less effective med, "Y," because the more effective med is unsafe for snails and/or shrimp. For Plecos, they are more sensitive to salt, that is why they are not a good candidate for the hospital tank.
I don't keep a quarantine running at all times. When I treat my fish for illnesses I want a sterile environment. When they get sick I set the tank up, add treatments, change 75% of water daily (using prime and stability with each water change), been doing this method for around 15 years- works great.

Thanks - my main concern is if/when I see a sick fish I wouldnt want to have to wait for a cycle or anything to complete before I transfer the fish for treatment. It felt like if I had to use the QT tank, Id have to set it all up, wait for cycle, etc before I can put them in there, which could take days....

 

When I need to use the QT tank I take it out of the garage pull the sponge filter out of the canister and let that system run. I don't see the need to have a empty tank running at all times. If I did that I think my wife would have a problem with it since a 10 gallon tank can take so much space in the kitchen.

Yea it seems like pulling media out of the canister would be the way to go if I needed to set up a QT tank. Based on your experience, from the moment I notice a sick fish that needs to be transferred to where I can actually safely transfer the fish into a cycled tank, what kind of timeframe are we looking at...approximately?

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It seems like it would likely be best to just have the empty tank on standby and use existing media to quickly cycle. I do plan on running 2 Fluval 306 filters in my main tank and likely going to have a slightly different media setup for each one...it looks like ill make sure to have an extra biofoam in one of them for the QT tank when needed.
I still feel like ill mess something up on this since Ive never done it before, but only way to learn is to try!

 

Thanks - my main concern is if/when I see a sick fish I wouldnt want to have to wait for a cycle or anything to complete before I transfer the fish for treatment. It felt like if I had to use the QT tank, Id have to set it all up, wait for cycle, etc before I can put them in there, which could take days....

Actually, no, you don't need a cycled tank for a quarantine/hospital tank. When I quarantine/medicate fish I change 75% of water daily.
These water changes for new fish/sick fish is the best medicine- as preventative and cure. There is no need for a "cycle" in this case, it is irrelevant.