Aren't You Breaking Proper Quarantine When You...?

[dinnese]

I read a lot of posts where people use already seeded sponge filters from their established tanks to use in their quarantine tanks. If cross contamination and sterilization is of the upmost importance during the quarantining of new arrivals, wouldn't that be considered breaking quarantine? I know that some may say that as long as you don't have any known problems with your main tank you shouldn't have any problems. But you still would be considered breaking quarantine because your taking something from one tank and introducing it into another tank that is suppose to be 100% sterile. (Proper quaratine also includes not using the same water hoses, nets etc..) With that being said, if one were to use an unseeded sponge in a quarantine tank and with the proper amount of water changes that we as Discus keepers are accustomed to, how would there be opportunity for Ammonia,Nitrites and Nitrates to elevate? (Again, staying on top of our water changes) It just seems to me that when it comes to quaratining new fish we do everything we can to provide a completely sterile environment but then are easily ready to break that by using our seeded sponges. Thanks. Hoping to get some helpful input.

[Pices]

When I introduced new fish to my sterilized 75 gal, it was recommended to get seeded sponge filters from my discus supplier. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense in my view.
Patty

[LizStreithorst]

You're right. Using a sponge from your existing tanks presents a risk.

[TexMoHoosier]

The main point of quarantining new arrivals it to keep the new ones from spreading disease to your other ones. As mentioned above, there is risk of spreading disease from your "old" fish to the new ones, but that's a whole other issue if your old ones are unhealthy. Plus, I guess it's presumed that you're going to be mixing them (either physically or at least sharing water/equipment/etc.) so they're going to be exposed your old fish at some point anyway. As for the ammonia/NO3/NO4 part, I think you're playing Russian roulette just trying to quarantine in an un-cycled aquarium. It does not take much ammonia to cause problems and it's produced easily/quickly. Unless you're doing 100% water changes multiple times a day, I would not try to cycle after getting the discus. Besides, there are several variations of fishless cycling available that work well.

If you're buying good quality, healthy discus, they're not as fragile as people often elude to. They may take a while to settle in (the older they are, the longer it takes), but as long as you practice good husbandry while they're in quarantine (as well as after) they'll settle in just fine. I think people are also too quick to medicate (both in quarantine and otherwise) and that causes more problems than it fixes. They'll often get better on their own with frequent, large water changes.

[Willie]

Keeping discus healthy is a matter of risk management, not risk avoidance. There's no such thing as keeping your fish 100% safe. Risk management is a matter of taking reasonable precautions.

I keep extra seeded sponges in my pleco tank, which has no discus. The chance of discus picking up a pleco disease is minimal in my experience - I've simply never had it happen in 25 years of discus keeping. I'm not against using ammonia to produce cycles, but it's not an easy thing to do. Most of the posts I read on this forum involves unsuccessful cycling with ammonia.

With the amount of poo the plecos produce, the sponges are seeded with very heavy microbial populations. I also put these sponges in my hospital tank so that it's immediately cycled. After treatment, I let the sponge fry out for a couple of weeks and then put them back to be reseeded. It's easy as pie... :D

Willie

[rickztahone]

OP, if you want to take the safest approach, you want to start your QT tank with ammonia you buy at the hardware store. This requires weeks of dosing your fishless tank with ammonia until your BB can consume a certain amount of the ammonia in a 24hr period.

The most common approach is to reach out to the breeder and provide you with a seeded sponge filter since that bacteria is one they are already swimming in at the distributors location anyway.

[Willie]

That's my preference. For newbies in the Twin Cities area, I usually offer seeded sponges at no cost if they're starting discus tanks.

Willie

[Pices]

Wow Willie-free seeded sponges? I had to pay for mine! You are very nice to your peeps!
Patty

[Filip]

You are right Dinnese . Using seeded sponge from other tanks for a QT tank with new arrivals almost defeats the purpose for QTiing.

As others have said using seeded sponge from the breeder him self is the safest and best Bet iMO.
I also had luck In a past with quick bacterial colony products -Sera product to be exact.
I put the bottle of bacteria , put ammonia or decend amount of dissolved fish food along with it , i leave it for 3 days and do a 100% WC prior introducing my new discus in a QT .It has worked for me in the past , no bacterial blooms , no cloudy water and no ammonia , nitrite spikes .