Quarantine Tank Location

Did you know that the location of your Quarantine tank matters? It really needs to be as far away from your other tanks as possible preferably in another room.

Why you might ask? Because theres less a chance of you cross contaminating tanks is one reason. The separate location reinforces the need to be careful. The other more serious reason is because many pathogens that spread tank to tank can do so in the air by water.

There was a time decades ago when viral disease hit angelfish breeders.. it spread like wildfire from tank to tank wiping out many fish. Tanks not even touched by the people there were hit. Discus Plague..probably the same virus or similar to it hit many hobbyists and breeders in a similar fashion. The spread was probably water droplets.. micro droplets in the air.

If you look through the forum you will see other examples.. I know many breeders that have been " wiped out" I experienced it myself ..whole rack tanks got sick. All separate tanks.

Its not just virus and bacteria though. I came across a study that found that oodinium..aka velvet can spread at least 10 feet from a tank.

If possible keep your quarantine tank separate from you main tanks. A garage is ideal. Even if its unheated space a tank heater can easily fix that for quarantine.

Al

I used the kitchen for QTing new Asian imports. All seperate nets and other equipment. From now on, if I buy any Discus at all they will be domestically bred and I won't need to go to such huge lengths.

I moved the quarantine area to a outdoor shed because the virus was going from one room to another,
from downstairs to upstairs. At the same time I was having a liver problem due to breathing in the virus, weekly blood test was necessary, by the time my blood test was normal the virus was gone.