Quarantine New Fish for a newly cycled empty tank?

[FishRKool28]

I have a 10 gallon planted tank that finally finished cycling last week. I ordered 10 Chili Rasboras and 10 Cherry Shrimp from AquaHuna and they just arrived today. I had setup a quarantine tank the night before based off of GirlTalksFish videos because I already had all my neon tetras die but that was my fault for being impatient with cycling process. I added the rasboras to the quarantine tank and added Fritz AQ salt and Fritz Ich-X and then fed them before going to work… only to rewatch Irene’s video and realized she doesn’t feed week 1 of quarantine. 
 

Sorry for rambling, my question is 2 parts. 
Do I even need to be quarantining the rasboras since there’s no other fish in my 10 gal? Most of the rasboras are still young, should I feed them or stick to Irene’s (GirlTalksFish) plan?

Also I’m kind of worried because I had ordered another sponge filter and airstone for my quarantine tank and it was supposed to be delivered yesterday but wasn’t 😭, so right now it’s just a quarantine tank w one fake plant, heater of course, and 2 catava leaves, Will they be ok without sponge filter until tomorrow?? 
 

[CJs Aquatics]

Quarantine is highly debated as to whether or not it’s necessary/ beneficial as well as how to properly do it. With this being said I will give you my opinion based on my own research and knowledge for you to decide whether it works or not. Very simply put, I believe it to be a good practice to quarantine any new fish you receive as a preventative measure. If they display obvious signs of illness then quarantine is definitely appropriate and adjusted but as a preventative I think of it like this. If your fish are sick, and you medicate them, they may get better, if your fish aren’t sick and you medicate them, on a very basic level nothing happens. Obviously this is very vague but I didn’t want to dive too deep into it, my 2 cents is, quarantine is effective. As far as how there’s a few popular ways:

1. In a new set up tank using medications

2. put them in a new set up tank and just monitor them for a set period of time looking for signs of illness

3. using “natural” things with medicative properties 

I’m sure there’s more but these are the ones I run into most often.

I would do exactly as the coop has suggested and does for there fish even if it’s just to learn the practice (quarantine + med trio).
 

as far as will they be ok without a filter till tomorrow, I would assume so, perhaps set up the air you were going to hook the sponge filter up too to create some surface agitation and add oxygen to the water. Hope this helps

Feeding or not feeding  during quarantine is another topic of debate, short answer is it’s often recommended not to, or if you do to feed things like live baby brine or things easy to digest. Personally, I feed during quarantine and have never seen a difference or any ill effects but it’s a personal choice.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

1. I would add at least an air stone until the sponge filter arrives. You want the oxygenation and surface agitation to gas exchange. 
 

2. I quarantine (and med trio) all the fish that enter my house. The times I haven’t, I wish I did. If you don’t medicate, I still believe it’s a good idea to have a separate tank to monitor new fish for at least a few weeks. At this point, I’ve invested too much time into my tanks to let new, possibly sick, fish wipe out 3+ year healthy and seasoned ecosystems. 
 

3. I don’t feed for 4 or so days while quarantining and medicating. Considering it sounds like your quarantine is brand new with a brand new (incoming) sponge filter I would suggest you don’t feed for a few days at least. And then, when you do start feeding, feed very lightly. You’re essentially going to have to do a fish-in cycle since the set up is brand new. The fish will create waste, which will create ammonia, and if you feed on top of that you will have even more ammonia and a harder time with cycling your quarantine set up. 
 

-It’s totally your choice, but you may have better odds putting the Chili’s in your now cycled tank because, well, it’s already cycled. My thought there is that 1. The tank is already cycled and actually ready for fish. 2. If they are the only fish, you’re essentially already “quarantining” them. 3. Cycle your actual quarantine tank, and wait until it’s fully cycled before buying any additional fish. Then, use the quarantine tank to actually quarantine fish before adding them in with the Chili’s. Just my $0.02.

[Mmiller2001]

A non cycled quarantine tank sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Especially for the shrimp. I would put them in the cycled tank and have meds ready if you need them. A 10 gallon is easy to dose anyways.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Agreed with @Mmiller2001. I think your best bet is to put everything in the already cycled tank, and especially the shrimp. Shrimp tend to do much better in a tank that is seasoned, has algae, microfauna, etc.

[Odd Duck]

I quarantine every fish that comes in the house, even when they come from a trusted source where I know they have been healthy for weeks to months.  I do this because the stress of catching, bagging, shipping (or transport across town) can suppress the immune system and trigger disease expression.  I have on rare occasion put them directly into a species only tank if it’s a species that is very unlikely to carry intestinal parasites.  I quarantine anything that will eventually go into another tank with other fish.  If I add more of the same species to a species only tank, they get quarantined before they join their eventual friends.  I have angels in quarantine right now that I intend to go into the 100 G angel tank.  They are done on the 13 of next month if they don’t show any issues.

[FishRKool28]

Yea I put the shrimp immediately in the 10 gallon, I already have a slight ammonia spike in the quarantine tank and that was an hour ago when I checked. I added an airstone to help with agitation and I’ve been using Prime. I assume the spike is because I fed them before re-watching GTF video again. 
 

I just did a 25% water change in the quarantine tank to dilute the ammonia, should I just put them in the 10 gal?

On 7/19/2023 at 9:09 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

A non cycled quarantine tank sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Especially for the shrimp. I would put them in the cycled tank and have meds ready if you need them. A 10 gallon is easy to dose anyways.

Yea I didn’t expect the sponge filter not to come, I was going to take the seeded one in my cycled 10 gal and put it in quarantine tank. Really considering just putting them in my 10 gallon, I already had 1 DOA

[Mmiller2001]

On 7/19/2023 at 10:01 PM, FishRKool28 said:

should I just put them in the 10 gal?

Get them in the cycled tank and monitor.

[FishRKool28]

Just put them in, poor guys just swimming around all over the place

[Mmiller2001]

On 7/19/2023 at 10:40 PM, FishRKool28 said:

Just put them in, poor guys just swimming around all over the place

Turn the lights off for a decent amount of time and monitor ammonia and nitrite. Twice a day.

[FishRKool28]

On 7/19/2023 at 11:59 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Turn the lights off for a decent amount of time and monitor ammonia and nitrite. Twice a day.

I have it on a timer already so they’re off, I really appreciate yours and everyone’s input, hopefully they get settled in with the  Cherry shrimp and have no issues 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/19/2023 at 6:10 PM, FishRKool28 said:

Do I even need to be quarantining the rasboras since there’s no other fish in my 10 gal? Most of the rasboras are still young, should I feed them or stick to Irene’s (GirlTalksFish) plan?

You can feed them.  Keep to light feeding and keep in mind that you definitely don't want to overfeed.  I would feed every other day or every 3 days.

Your 10G can act as your QT tank.  You can use something else to hold plants while you need to, if you need to.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/19/2023 at 8:50 PM, Odd Duck said:

I quarantine every fish that comes in the house, even when they come from a trusted source where I know they have been healthy for weeks to months.  I do this because the stress of catching, bagging, shipping (or transport across town) can suppress the immune system and trigger disease expression.  I have on rare occasion put them directly into a species only tank if it’s a species that is very unlikely to carry intestinal parasites.  I quarantine anything that will eventually go into another tank with other fish.  If I add more of the same species to a species only tank, they get quarantined before they join their eventual friends.  I have angels in quarantine right now that I intend to go into the 100 G angel tank.  They are done on the 13 of next month if they don’t show any issues.

1000%

I had this happen with known good fish that I ran meds through weeks before shipping.  One small stress, a hot day, a slight delay, a dropped box, it can stress the fish so much and that does some very stressfull things to the fish. 

I have also had fish that went through QT, then had issues right after they were done.   It happens in all forms.  The longer you can observe them, let the plants and tank do what need be, the better.

[Andy's Fish Den]

If I have set up a new tank, and there are no other fish in the tank, I just put whatever the new fish are in that tank, that is where they will quarantine and then continue living. Shrimp are the same way for me, but I only have one color/ strain to a tank, so I'm not adding new ones to a tank after the initial ones. 

 

[JChristophersAdventures]

Important question.

Lots of really good and consistent advice! In my opinion, the first fish should quarantine in the newly cycled main tank (especially if it is a small tank or you don't mind spending more on meds to medicate a larger tank if needed). In effect, you are following a fish-less cycle with a fish-in cycle, and cautious is always better than sorry. Really, every time we gradually add new fish we are doing the same thing... cycling the tank to the "next level".

The main purpose of quarantining is to prevent a catastrophe from happening to an already established, stocked tank. As pointed out by several already, the quarantine tank concept is not without its own problems. We can only guess how many times a quarantine has gone wrong not because there was anything wrong with the fish to begin with, but because the quarantine tank parameters made the fish sick.

This is why a lot of fish keepers have quarantine tanks going all the time, well established with something like a few shrimp and/or snails to keep them cycled and ready for new fish or emergency quarantine situations. Thanks. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 7/20/2023 at 8:02 AM, JChristophersAdventures said:

This is why a lot of fish keepers have quarantine tanks going all the time, well established with something like a few shrimp and/or snails to keep them cycled and ready for new fish or emergency quarantine situations. Thanks. 

Yup. If I’m not quarantining fish, there’s definitely snails in my quarantine tank to keep it cycled. If I have 0 plans to bring in new fish, then the quarantine tanks becomes a grow out tank for fry. My quarantine tank is always up and running. 

[FishRKool28]

Update**
 

This morning I had one dead Rasbora, the others are swimming around fine in a school and looks like their red color is starting to come back. I have 8 rasboras left which I feel is not enough. Cherry Shrimp are thriving and doing what they do, cleaning. I ordered more rasboras and cherry shrimp last night.

 

Water parameter check this morning was good, 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrites, 25 ppm Nitrate, GH about 120, KH about 40

 

Reading everyone’s advice, when my new sponge filter shows up I’ll take my seeded sponge filter and put in my quarantine tank to get it cycled, and maybe add some snails. My quarantine tank is only 3.5 gallons, is that serviceable? 

Thanks everyone for the help, hoping I come home today to no dead fish 🙏🏻, I will keep posting updates until I feel they’ve all settled in and call it home.

[Odd Duck]

3.5 gallons is a very small tank for quarantining anything more than a few small fish.  I mostly use one of my 10 gallons that are used either for quarantine or growout depending on what I need at any given time.  Sometimes I’ll use a 20 or a 29 gallon depending on how many and what type of fish I need to quarantine.  But I have the luxury of having multiple tanks to choose between.

With enough water changes, you can make a very small tank work, but it’s nearly always going to be more stress on the fish.  That could be good or bad, making them more likely to get sick but also more likely to reveal if they’re going to get sick before they go into the main tank.  Personally, I would rather have them more comfortable and watch them longer - I’ve quarantined for over 3 months before if I didn’t think the whole group looked right, a 2 month quarantine isn’t uncommon at my house.

The very old rule of an inch of fish per gallon is a very mediocre and arbitrary way to get an idea of whether a tank is overstocked.  It only applies to small fish at best.  For instance, anybody with a functioning brain and a shred of common sense would never put an 8” Oscar into an 8 gallon tank.  Long finned, deep bodied, or thick bodied fish don’t begin to fit the rule.  Highly territorial fish bust the rule to shreds, etc, etc.  There are a million reasons why the rule doesn’t work.  BUT, for small tetras, rasboras, danios, or maybe even cories, for instance - non-territorial, shoaling or schooling species, you can kind of use the rule for quarantine with plenty of filtration, aeration, and hiding places.  So a 3.5 gallon tank would only hold about 3-4 fish at a time for quarantine depending on the species, size, etc.  Bigger is nearly always better and easier to maintain when it comes to fish tanks.  Within certain limits on “easier” because I’m not likely to scuba dive or even snorkel to clean a tank anytime soon.  😝 

[FishRKool28]

On 7/20/2023 at 3:24 PM, Odd Duck said:

3.5 gallons is a very small tank for quarantining anything more than a few small fish.  I mostly use one of my 10 gallons that are used either for quarantine or growout depending on what I need at any given time.  Sometimes I’ll use a 20 or a 29 gallon depending on how many and what type of fish I need to quarantine.  But I have the luxury of having multiple tanks to choose between.

With enough water changes, you can make a very small tank work, but it’s nearly always going to be more stress on the fish.  That could be good or bad, making them more likely to get sick but also more likely to reveal if they’re going to get sick before they go into the main tank.  Personally, I would rather have them more comfortable and watch them longer - I’ve quarantined for over 3 months before if I didn’t think the whole group looked right, a 2 month quarantine isn’t uncommon at my house.

The very old rule of an inch of fish per gallon is a very mediocre and arbitrary way to get an idea of whether a tank is overstocked.  It only applies to small fish at best.  For instance, anybody with a functioning brain and a shred of common sense would never put an 8” Oscar into an 8 gallon tank.  Long finned, deep bodied, or thick bodied fish don’t begin to fit the rule.  Highly territorial fish bust the rule to shreds, etc, etc.  There are a million reasons why the rule doesn’t work.  BUT, for small tetras, rasboras, danios, or maybe even cories, for instance - non-territorial, shoaling or schooling species, you can kind of use the rule for quarantine with plenty of filtration, aeration, and hiding places.  So a 3.5 gallon tank would only hold about 3-4 fish at a time for quarantine depending on the species, size, etc.  Bigger is nearly always better and easier to maintain when it comes to fish tanks.  Within certain limits on “easier” because I’m not likely to scuba dive or even snorkel to clean a tank anytime soon.  😝 

Yea I guess I’ll just use the 3.5 gallon for a hospital type tank and buy a bigger tote. I would have kept them in the quarantine tank for a couple weeks but because I screwed that up I took advice from ppl on here and just put the Rasboras in my cycled 10 gallon last night. 
 

Even though i had a casualty this morning the rest seem fine, although they were all glass surfing which I’m reading up on now. Is this a normal behavior for new fish that were just added to a new tank? 
 

What I’m trying to avoid is killing off my entire tank again, RIP to the 18 Neon Tetras

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I would encourage you to simply squeeze the existing sponge filter in the quarantine tank to seed the new sponge. The existing sponge squeezing will contain bacteria, detritus, etc. I would heavily encourage you to just squeeze the filter into the quarantine tank and leave the cycled sponge filter in the tank with the fish and shrimp. Your current tank is just barely cycled and surely isn’t seasoned. Moving the entire sponge into the new quarantine tank is just asking for additional instability, problems, and additional deceased fish. The tank that currently has fish and shrimp needs as much stability as possible. 
 

I would also encourage you to get a 10 gallon quarantine tank if possible. It’s super easy to dose meds, if and when needed, as most are “1 packet per 10 gallons” or “X ml per 10 gallons”. Takes all the guess work out of it. 

Edited July 20, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[JChristophersAdventures]

@Odd Duck Agreed... @FishRKool28 The only thing I would add is that depending on your 3.5 setup, you might be able to adapt it to a 10 gallon, which Pet-Co still has on sale for $12.49 during their tank sale. If the components like heater, filter, etc are not "built-in" and can be transfered, then the only thing left would be to cut a piece of plastic or wood to fit as the lid for the 10 gallon but with a hole cut out in it to fit the 3.5 light and you would be good-to-go pretty cheap and quick.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 7/20/2023 at 2:31 PM, FishRKool28 said:

Even though i had a casualty this morning the rest seem fine, although they were all glass surfing which I’m reading up on now. Is this a normal behavior for new fish that were just added to a new tank?

My Chili Rasboras school around together and often spend time surfing glass and riding the bubbles coming out of the sponge filter. 
 

I moved some Cory’s to new tanks yesterday. I hatched those guys from eggs and grew them out myself, and even just changing tanks they’re surfing around and doing what Cory’s do. 

[Odd Duck]

I think you’re OK with putting the rasboras in since they’re the only fish in the tank right now.  I would keep them as the only fish in the tank for a full month, ideally.  Then when you’re ready to add more, quarantine them.  If you can set up a quarantine tote now, you could order more to go into the tote.  Then when everybody is done with quarantine and everybody has been healthy the whole time, they can go right into the tank.  I essentially wait until everybody is healthy, nobody has died, etc, for at least 4 weeks before I combine groups of fish.

[FishRKool28]

On 7/20/2023 at 3:35 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I would encourage you to simply squeeze the existing sponge filter in the quarantine tank to seed the new sponge. The existing sponge squeezing will contain bacteria, detritus, etc. I would heavily encourage you to just squeeze the filter into the quarantine tank and leave the cycled sponge filter in the tank with the fish and shrimp. Your current tank is just barely cycled and surely isn’t seasoned. Moving the entire sponge into the new quarantine tank is just asking for additional instability, problems, and additional deceased fish. The tank that currently has fish and shrimp needs as much stability as possible. 
 

I would also encourage you to get a 10 gallon quarantine tank if possible. It’s super easy to dose meds, if and when needed, as most are “1 packet per 10 gallons” or “X ml per 10 gallons”. Takes all the guess work out of it. 

I was just thinking that, should I do like Cory does and take a plastic bag around the cycles sponge filter and squeeze it and let all that bacteria get trapped into the bag, then put cycled sponge filter back in gravel and add the plastic bag of water and bacteria to the quarantine tank w the new sponge filter? Bear with me my apologies, I’m a newb and wanna get this right! 
 

Just ordered a 60 QT tote from Home Depot for the “new” and improved quarantine tank

On 7/20/2023 at 3:37 PM, JChristophersAdventures said:

@Odd Duck Agreed... @FishRKool28 The only thing I would add is that depending on your 3.5 setup, you might be able to adapt it to a 10 gallon, which Pet-Co still has on sale for $12.49 during their tank sale. If the components like heater, filter, etc are not "built-in" and can be transfered, then the only thing left would be to cut a piece of plastic or wood to fit as the lid for the 10 gallon but with a hole cut out in it to fit the 3.5 light and you would be good-to-go pretty cheap and quick.

Yea I just ordered a 60 QT plastic tote with lid from Home Depot, I already have heater, just need my damn order from Aquarium to get here lol. I need to get some maracyn (prob Mis-spelled) and Paracleanse

[FishRKool28]

On 7/20/2023 at 3:38 PM, Odd Duck said:

I think you’re OK with putting the rasboras in since they’re the only fish in the tank right now.  I would keep them as the only fish in the tank for a full month, ideally.  Then when you’re ready to add more, quarantine them.  If you can set up a quarantine tote now, you could order more to go into the tote.  Then when everybody is done with quarantine and everybody has been healthy the whole time, they can go right into the tank.  I essentially wait until everybody is healthy, nobody has died, etc, for at least 4 weeks before I combine groups of fish.

Yea I got worried that the Rasboras are already down to 8 so I ordered 10 more from AquaHuna, since they’re from same place and same species I should be able to just add them in upon arrival? I think my biggest problem is thinking too much and too much question surfing, I was worried since they only have 8 they’ll be even more stressed