water changes in a QT

[Japheth]

First off I want to say thank you for the wonderful article. I had to QT my fish about 4-5 months back and lost all but one in the process because of mistakes I made throughout the time I had then in QT. These mistakes have been made clear to me since and I knew which mistakes I made but not completely how to fix them for next time.

After reading your article I feel that I have a much greater knowledge of what I will be doing next time I do QT.

The question that I have is that you did not mention water changes in your article. Are water changes necessary on a regular basis or are they only to be used if the tank parameters are getting out of control.

Thank you again, and I look forward to reading your next article.
Japheth

 

[Fuse]

Regular water changes are always a good idea; 5-10% per week. Why wait until things get out of control? IMHO, it is a lot easier to do a little preventative maintenance instead of trying to fix things once they've gone bad.

 

[Japheth]

I agree that they are good, I just don't know what the rule is for how often.
I've heard everything from 5-10% daily to 5-10% weekly . . .
just trying to figure out where to draw the line.

 

[Fuse]

There isn't really an exact answer -- it depends on the bioload of the tank. I think it is more important to do regular water changes with smaller tanks, as problems can develop much more quickly than with large tanks.

 

[Steven Pro]

Just as their is no one answer for how often or how much of a water change to perform on your display, I can't give you a set rule for the same in a quarantine tank. Really, it comes down to what works best for your and your animals.