Our story stars 7 years ago…..I had a beautiful 300 liters plant tank with discus and tens

of Neon tetra and cardinal Tetra, I had some fish from the catfish family also,

problems starts after adding new fish to my established tank.

Fish starts to swell, suffers from deadly gills damage and all kind of mysterious diseases,

I starts quickly with water changes and all kinds of medicine treatments in order to save my tank,

after two days I lost more then 60 fish despite my experience.

This was the first time that I realised that quarantine tank  is must…

When we talk about quarantine we have to divide it to two, freshwater quarantine and saltwater quarantine.

Used to think that in freshwater we can pass quarantine because they are suited to captivity.

To my opinion freshwater fish from wild must have quarantine because they carried a lot of

hidden parasite on them,In cases such as tank raised fish the quarantine less necessary but there always

a possibility of sick fish in the tank that need quarantine.

For saltwater keepers quarantine is not an option to renounce on, in saltwater tank 99%

of the fish come from the wild, because they are wild caught they are not use to live in captivity.

If it's not enough those saltwater fish have a long journey (and stressful) till they "visit" your tank.

The long journey and the stress are good catalysing to parasite bursting. Another problem in

saltwater is the fact that no keeper want to expose his main tank to medicines because of the present of

live rocks, corals and invertebrates, that why quarantine can be useful. 

QUARNTINE SETUP: 

80 liter tank will be suitable for quarantine, hang on filter will be great but don’t use any carbon,

we don’t want the carbon to remove medicine from the tank.

Recommended to use heater (any type) also because some parasite are sensitive to high

temperatures and it will be easier to treat them that way.

Basic test kits such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH are must in quarantine,

Powerhead is also recommended in order to increase surface agital.

In cases of acclimate freshwater fish we want to used them to water for a period of three to four

weeks, we should monitor  water parameters with tests kits every 2-3 days and

check for visible parasites.

If the fish got sick we have to treat him with the right medicine and quarantine

should continue till he recovers.

After the fish get healthy it's the right time to acclimate it to the main tank.

Always fill your quarantine with main tank water it will be easier to acclimate the fish.

When we acclimate newly saltwater fish we want to used them to water for a period of 4-6 weeks,

we should monitor the water parameters with tests kits every 2-3 days and check for visible parasites.

If the fish got sick we have to treat him with the right medicine and quarantine

should continue till he recovers, after the fish get healthy it's the right time to

acclimate him to the main tank.

In order to be ready I can recommend you to have some saltwater ready in cases

you need to change water.

After my personal experience I know that quarantine is not something I can concede on. 

What about you?