Quarantine setup for Clown loaches

ozwald

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What would be the requirement for a quarantine setup for Clowns? I've seen various size and bareness of quarantine tanks in the forum, but no one really saying how long to keep fish quarantined for.
I've just lost my last Clown loach after having to move the tank and probably changing too much water and filter cleaning at the same time. I'd love to pickup a group of 10 or so, but it's a financial risk that I want to avoid any losses on.

Should I even need to quarantine if there aren't any clowns in the tank anymore?

Current tank inhabitants are filament barbs, Yoyo loach, and some pleco's.
I'm not looking to do this yet until the tank has settled for a few months at least.
 
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tlindsey

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What would be the requirement for a quarantine setup for Clowns? I've seen various size and bareness of quarantine tanks in the forum, but no one really saying how long to keep fish quarantined for.
I've just lost my last Clown loach after having to move the tank and probably changing too much water and filter cleaning at the same time. I'd love to pickup a group of 10 or so, but it's a financial risk that I want to avoid any losses on.

Should I even need to quarantine if there aren't any clowns in the tank anymore?

Current tank inhabitants are filament barbs, Yoyo loach, and some pleco's.
I'm not looking to do this yet until the tank has settled for a few months at least.
Hope this is useful.
 

duanes

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I try to quarantine at least 3 months (longer if any starts to look amiss).
A friend who is an aquatic curator at a public zoo quarantines at least 6 months.
For me the process is not only about keeping diseases out of the main tank, but also allowing the new fish time to acclimate to bacteria living in my already established tanks.
The Q tank gets new water at first, but every day I add a small amount of water from the established tank, so by the time QT is up, the new fish have become accustomed to the tank they are going into, and have built up immunity to any the bacterial flora and fauna they will live with.
I realize this sounds anal, but after having a large population of my fish became infected by a new addition, before I started this practice its the least I can do.
Treating a QT tank is a whole lot easier than a large established tank.
When I first set up the tank I have now in Panama, all fish were wild in the same river, and came in with a few ick spots, and at least 1 parasite, so the entire system needed to be treated, so it wouldn't go epidemic (Didn't have a QT tank yet)
This meant treating 200 gallons, with 20 gallons of sea water, from the ocean across the street, kind of labor intensive.
 

ozwald

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Thank both. It's a really interesting topic, understandably everyone does it differently.
I've had whitespot on clowns before and it's not fun treating the whole tank. Makes sense to treat a quarantine, but then how big a tank should you get for 10 loaches to live in for 3 months or more...
I used to run 2 tanks and it was an option or at least allowed some flexibility, but I don't want 2 permanant tanks at the moment.

I guess I was particularly interested in what others do for clown loaches too and whether I should worry if there are no clowns in the tank which white spot could pass to.
 

duanes

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Because most fish I keep have been on the large size, I use 55 or 75 gal tanks for quarantining.
And because I run sumps, that fishless tank, or easily made fishless tank is part of my normal system.
When new fish are acquired, that tank is easily taken off line, with the closure of a valve, and because it has been part of the filtration system all along, is already cycled and ready for any newcomer.
But beyond that.....any wild caught fish be it clown loach, or any other species is subject to being a parasite carrier, to me ick is fairly easy to treat compared to other more sinister diseases, those that often are not obvious until the fish has spent a fair amount to time being observed.
Although all you need to do is read the thread below to see the importance of a sufficient quarantine, be it ick or anything else.
Ich?
 
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ozwald

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Yep I've had casualties before, had to treat ich and since only bought from reputable suppliers. I know that's not a guarantee, but it's a lot less risky than certain chain shops. Never quarantined yet though.
 

David R

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In the past I've quarantined new-from-the-LFS fish for 2-3 weeks before adding to the main tank with Clowns, just to be on the safe side with my main concern being white spot. How big is your existing tank? If you can get good healthy clowns from an LFS you trust then I'd be inclined to add them straight to the tank to avoid any extra stress, unless your tank is huge to the point where treating a white spot outbreak is going to be a real hassle.

I always keep my quarantine tanks pretty simple; bare-bottom, no/minimal lighting, and just enough decor to keep the fish comfortable. But as you can see from my thread that someone else linked to I've had a couple of bad experiences with setting the tank up recently, so it's not without potential problems. If you do decide to quarantine then make sure your tank is well established before adding the clowns.
 

esoxlucius

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In the past I've quarantined new-from-the-LFS fish for 2-3 weeks before adding to the main tank with Clowns, just to be on the safe side with my main concern being white spot. How big is your existing tank? If you can get good healthy clowns from an LFS you trust then I'd be inclined to add them straight to the tank to avoid any extra stress, unless your tank is huge to the point where treating a white spot outbreak is going to be a real hassle.

I always keep my quarantine tanks pretty simple; bare-bottom, no/minimal lighting, and just enough decor to keep the fish comfortable. But as you can see from my thread that someone else linked to I've had a couple of bad experiences with setting the tank up recently, so it's not without potential problems. If you do decide to quarantine then make sure your tank is well established before adding the clowns.
duanes duanes hit the nail right on the head. If you have the means to just switch a valve in your plumbing which can isolate one of your tanks to use as a quarantine tank, then in effect you then have a well established quarantine tank, immediately. This gives any new fish the perfect start.

I've never ran multiple tanks close together where duanes method was ever an option for me. So I just used to throw a tank together pretty quick, put some seeded media in and away I went. And over the years I've had no end of problems doing it this way, simply because my new quarantine tank was no where near as established and settled as my display tanks.

If I ever had a system running like duanes used to, i'd go back to quarantining my fish in a heartbeat but for now i'll carry on the way I do.
 
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