Salt, q-tank, other questions

[stompbox]

Posting this in a couple of places. Please excuse if you see it
multiple times, I am looking for various opinions and experiences.

Scenario:
Plan to get 1 to 2 new fish soon. LFS fancies, on the smaller side. My
two "boys" were bought at LFS in April. I moved them to a 55Gal in
August. They are still about 3" at most.

I am setting up a quarantine tank for the incoming:
10 Gallon tank with cycled, healthy Eclipse bio-wheel Hood.

Cleaned and refilled has been running for 7days. Added some fish food
to maintain biological filtration. Water parameters are fine.

Put in 40 teaspoons of salt. (4teaspoons per gal) I was following the
reccomended dosage of salt as per the GoldfishConnection web site.
Seems like a lot of salt (1cup = 48 teaspoons) so I removed the
biowheel and put it in my 55Gal. I am letting it float around in
there.

My questions:

- Is this too much salt to put a new fish in (as opposed to a really
sick fish)?
- Can I put 2 fish in this 10 Gal quarantine tank or should I do 1
fish at a time?
- Will this much salt kill the biomass on the bio-wheel?
- Should salt be kept in a main aquarium?

thanks
francis

[Geezer From The Freezer]

that seems like an excessive amount of salt. IS this for
treating a sick fish?

[LoaderLady]

I think it seems like alot, too. Besides that, you actually want the fish
to get used to it and bring it up gradually, especially since, chances are
the LFS fish have never been in a tank with salt before. I would remove all
the salt (big water change, maybe 2). Put the fish in and add the salt
gradually, and I don't use that much. One teaspoon per gallon is dissolved
and added. In 12 hours, add 1 tsp/gallon again and 12 hours after that, add
another tsp/gallon. This gives 3tsp or 1tbsp per gallon which is plenty for
a quarantine tank. I think what you read must have been referring to a dip,
and not a regular tank.

As for the main tank, to salt or not depends. I have snails in my main tank
now, and that made up my mind not to use salt in it. I also want to add
live plants eventually and they also don't like salt, or so I have heard. I
have heard it mentioned that 1 tbsp per 10 gallons is a good measure for
maintenance, if you want to add it. I think it's up to you, but definitely
don't put new fish in the other tank with that much salt in it.

Tammy

"stompbox" > wrote in message
om...
> Posting this in a couple of places. Please excuse if you see it
> multiple times, I am looking for various opinions and experiences.
>
> Scenario:
> Plan to get 1 to 2 new fish soon. LFS fancies, on the smaller side. My
> two "boys" were bought at LFS in April. I moved them to a 55Gal in
> August. They are still about 3" at most.
>
> I am setting up a quarantine tank for the incoming:
> 10 Gallon tank with cycled, healthy Eclipse bio-wheel Hood.
>
> Cleaned and refilled has been running for 7days. Added some fish food
> to maintain biological filtration. Water parameters are fine.
>
> Put in 40 teaspoons of salt. (4teaspoons per gal) I was following the
> reccomended dosage of salt as per the GoldfishConnection web site.
> Seems like a lot of salt (1cup = 48 teaspoons) so I removed the
> biowheel and put it in my 55Gal. I am letting it float around in
> there.
>
> My questions:
>
> - Is this too much salt to put a new fish in (as opposed to a really
> sick fish)?
> - Can I put 2 fish in this 10 Gal quarantine tank or should I do 1
> fish at a time?
> - Will this much salt kill the biomass on the bio-wheel?
> - Should salt be kept in a main aquarium?
>
> thanks
> francis